In the years to follow, Capucilli became a prominent figure on the Graham stage, touring the world and performing in all of Graham's major work. Dancing a diversity of roles, they include Jocasta in
Night Journey, The Bride in
Appalachian Spring, The Principal Sister in
Deaths and Entrances, She Who Dances in
Letter to the World (with
Kathleen Turner as She Who Speaks), Hecuba in
Cortege of Eagles, Joan in
Seraphic Dialogue, Mary Queen of Scots in
Episodes, She Who Seeks in
Dark Meadow, Medea in
Cave of the Heart, Empress of the Arena in
Every Soul is a Circus, The Virgin in
Primitive Mysteries, The Woman in
Errand into the Maze, the title roles in
Hérodiade,
Phaedra,
Heretic, and
Judith and Graham's classic solo,
Lamentation, among others. Roles created for Capucilli include The Chosen One in
The Rite of Spring, Graham's 1937 solo,
Deep Song, was reconstructed for her in 1988 and in the years to follow, Capucilli continued to be instrumental in the research and reconstruction of many early Graham solos, bringing to the stage
Salem Shore, (performed with, and narrated by
Claire Bloom) and not seen since 1947, and "Spectre-1914", from the 1936 work
Chronicle, last performed by Martha Graham in 1938. She assisted Sophie Maslow in the reconstruction of its final section, "Prelude to Action", becoming historically the first dancer after Martha Graham to perform this work as well as
Deep Song and "Spectre-1914". Lecturing often on the nature of the reconstructive process, she has since developed lectures delving deeply into the journey of the interpretive artist. On film, she danced
Errand into the Maze in
An Evening of Dance and Conversation with Martha Graham for WNET and for Tokyo's NHK, where she also filmed the "Lament" from
Acts of Light. At the Paris Opera, she filmed
Maple Leaf Rag. In works choreographed for the Graham Company, roles were created for her by Twyla Tharp (
Demeter and Persephone), Robert Wilson (
Snow on the Mesa), and Lucinda Childs (
Histoire). Capucilli appeared in historic performances in 1987 of
Appalachian Spring dancing the role of The Bride to
Mikhail Baryshnikov's Husbandman and
Rudolf Nureyev's Preacher and was invited in 1988 to perform
Errand into the Maze at the Soviet-American Making Music Together festival in Boston. She was partnered again by Baryshnikov in Graham's
Night Journey (at the 1989 ABT/Graham Gala at the MET) and in 1991,
El Penitente at
City Center. subsequently touring the work with Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project in Paris and London. Capucilli was invited by
Vanessa Redgrave to perform in UNICEF's The Return festival in art-starved
Pristina, Kosovo, in 1999. Capucilli is an associate founder and dancer of Buglisi Dance Theatre (formerly Buglisi/Foreman Dance) a company formed with colleagues
Jacqulyn Buglisi, Donlin Foreman and
Christine Dakin. Since 1991, she has collaborated in numerous works choreographed for her including
Runes of the Heart,
Threshold,
Field of Loves,
Suspended Woman,
Requiem,
Frida, and the solo,
Against All Odd, an 11-minute tour de force on
Sarah Bernhardt. Appearances have included the
Joyce Theater; the
Kennedy Center; San Marino Stage, Italy;
Melbourne Festival; the
Jacob's Pillow Festival;
Teatro Nuovo in
Milan, Italy with
Carla Fracci's Italian Ballet; Prague's International Dance Week '93; Kaatsbaan; seven guest appearances at the
Chautauqua Institution; Oriente-Occidente Festival 2009 in
Rovereto, Italy, and residences throughout the world. She appears in eleven BDT works commissioned for filming by the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Capucilli serves on the faculty of the
Juilliard School and in 2008 she staged and directed Martha Graham's
Appalachian Spring for the department's annual Spring Dances. Ten years prior, Capucilli had set and coached the
Colorado Ballet in Graham's
Appalachian Spring, which marked the first time in history that this classic work was performed by any company other than
Martha Graham's. Highly sought after as a teacher and lecturer, Capucilli recently collaborated in launching danz.fest, the first international summer school/dance festival in Cattolica, Italy, now in its third year. The program brings together for the first time the classical ballet of the
Paris Opera, the technique of
Martha Graham and
Butoh dance philosophy taught by the masters of their art to young dancers through the professional level. She is featured in photographs by Lisa Levart and
Martha Swope in Donlin Foreman's book ''Out of Martha's House''. In 1999 she was invited by
Susan Sontag and
Annie Leibovitz to be photographed for Leibovitz's book
Women and for her Pirelli Calendar series. Capucilli is a recipient of a 1985/86 dance fellowship from the
Princess Grace Foundation-USA and the following year was awarded the Princess Grace Statuette. In 2001 Capucilli was honored with the
Dance Magazine Award and, in 2010, with the Presidential Distinguished Alumni Award from
Purchase College. A Special Projects Grant from the
Princess Grace Foundation—USA was awarded to Capucilli in 2014 in support of her film, ''Lawrence 'Reed' Hansen: The Sacrosanct Accompanist—a musical journey through Martha Graham's dance technique''. Produced, directed and co-edited by Capucilli it was filmed at
The Juilliard School and The
Martha Graham School in NYC documenting Hansen's vast knowledge of
Martha Graham's physical language. The only film of its kind, it takes the viewer into the spontaneous triangular energy of teacher, dancer and accompanist in the dance classroom and is filmed, uncommonly, from the accompanist point of view. It is a portrait of the artist as well as an educational tool taking the viewer through Graham's floor work, which is so vital to the technique.
The Juilliard School awarded her The John Erskine Faculty Prize 2017 for her work to archive the film and its raw materials. == References ==