Virginie Mecene

Director of Graham 2 since 2007 and Director of Program at the Martha Graham School, Virginie Mecene is a former Principal Dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company touring the world and performing many roles of the repertoire from 1994 to 2006.

Her direction has focused on training the next generations of dancers for the Martha Graham Dance Company and other companies around the world as well as the next generations of Graham teachers through her pedagogic instructions.

She has served as the Director of the Martha Graham School from 2007 to 2015 maintaining and developing the School curriculum while sustaining the integrity of the Martha Graham technique and nurturing the process that continues its development. She created the Intensive Graham Teacher Workshop for teachers of all backgrounds. She has re-staged, reconstructed, and directed numerous works of Martha Graham in Universities and dance companies as well as taught the Graham TechniqueTM at multiple national and international conferences. 

In 2017, she reimagined and choreographed Graham’s lost solo, Ekstasis, for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Ekstasiswas featured at The Palais Garnier, in Paris, performed by Étoile and Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, Aurélie Dupont. 

Ms. Mecene’s choreographic work has been presented in other venues such as New York City Center, The Joyce Theater, in New York City, The Adrienne Arsht Center and the Broward Center, in Florida, and Kaastban International Dance Center, in New York State. Ms. Mecene was also Principal Dancer with Buglisi Dance Theater since its inception in 1994; the Pearl Lang Dance Theater; and Battery Dance Company.

A native of France, she graduated from the University of Bourgogne with a Licence Professionnelle in Artistic and Cultural Management. Ms. Mecene has also served as a Lecturer at Barnard College, NY, in 2004 and served as the president of EFSD (Emergency Fund For Student Dancers) regrouping member schools: the Ailey School, Limon Dance Institute, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Peridance Capezio Center, and the Martha Graham School, from 2012 to 2016. Ms. Mecene also serves as an adjudicator for dance competitions nationally and internationally.