Errand into the Maze Errand into the Maze Errand into the Maze is a Martha Graham ballet based on a poem by Ben Belitt set to music by Gian Carlo Menotti. The surrealistic set was designed by Isamu Noguchi, the costumes by Graham herself. The dance uses the Greek myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur to explore the theme of conquering one’s inner demons, more specifically the fear of sexual intimacy. The piece premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on February 28, 1947, with Graham as the protagonist, a sort of female Theseus, and Mark Ryder as the Minotaur-like character. The original program notes describe
Seduction of the Minotaur the doctor allows himself to be shot because he is loved only as a doctor and never as a man, perhaps patterned after her understanding of Otto Rank's death. The title refers to the Freudian concept of a "monster" in the subconscious confined by a "labyrinth". Since one should not kill one's own mind, the repressed feelings must be "seduced" by developing conscious insight. An earlier version was published in 1958 with the title "Solar Barque", after a ship found in an Egyptian pyramid. Seduction of the Minotaur Seduction of the Minotaur is an autobiographical novel by the mixed nationality