Martha Graham’s name is synonymous with modern dance. But she did not advance dance so much as take it back to its roots as the original theater – a theater capable of responding monumentally to events, even in a solo, in a manner very public and deeply personal at the same time. During her lifetime, Graham refined a visible language, a vernacular of formal economy and expressive power. Her signature oarblade hands and full-skirted accordion kicks seem to spring from an inner poetry.

The Martha Graham Company opened its New York season at the City Center on Wednesday with a program highlighting Graham’s collaborations with sculptor Isamu Noguchi (“Errand Into the Maze”) and musician Louis Horst (“El Penitente”), as well as the legendary “Sketches From Chronicles.” The centerpiece of the evening, however, was the world premiere of “Sueno,” Martha Clarke’s much-anticipated new work commissioned by the company.

“Sueno” is modeled in part on the paintings of Francisco Goya, especially his “Los Caprichos,” a graphic series of grotesque images capturing the political, social, and economic turmoil of late 18th-century Spain. In works such as “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,” Goya shares with Graham an expressive grandeur and allegorical weight. Ms. Clarke makes an effort to reproduce several of the images on stage. In “Sueno,” we come across a hangman’s noose, a hunchback, and a towering figure of death.

Split into vignettes, the work begins with disturbing gestures before escalating into an orgy of violence. Ms. Clarke lays considerable stress on theatrical components, making extended use of dialogue (in a foreign language) and character mime to create the depraved portraits of villagers. The rhythmic score of Franco Piersanti adds flavor, kicking off with a bombastic roll on the tympani and moving in and out of Spanish folk melodies. Riccardo Hernandez creates an eerie landscape with two stainless steel walls, which are used as blinding reflective surfaces in Christopher Akerlind’s lighting design.

Occasionally, choreography takes the lead, as when the women pace in and out of light watching a distant spectacle. But on the whole, movements disappear under a load of period costumes (embroidered lace throws, heavy wool capes) and a jumble of shadows. Amid all of the busyness and stage directions, the enormous talent of the Graham dancers is wasted.

In “Errand Into the Maze,” the formidable Fang-Yi Sheu plays Ariadne as she finds her way though the “maze of the heart’s darkness,” where fear lurks in the image of the Minotaur. Ms. Sheu’s rhythmically textured movements are accomplished with strength and nuance. She builds a sense of urgency and momentum as she crisscrosses the rope running along the ground to Noguchi’s large wishbone.

Ms. Clarke and her collaborators might have paid attention to how this work unites the set pieces and dancing into one experience. Provocatively abstract, Noguchi’s sculptural musings have their own rhythm. As the Minotaur, Martin Lofsnes deftly negotiates the yoke and double ram’s horn as he rolls, stomps, and thunders.

Alessandra Prosperi always impresses in the multiple roles of “El Penitente” – the Virgin Mary in a white hoop dance, the seductive Magdalen parading her ovaries around in the form of a heart-shaped apple, and the anguished mother. Christophe Jeannot as the Penitent achieved outward signs of asceticism, but he struggled to show the feeling that Tadej Brdnik has developed in the role as one suffering internally as well. The work displays a Noh influence, enriched by Horst’s oriental score. Maurizo Nardi, making his debut as the Christ Figure, adopted flawlessly the contemplative yet vigorous role.

In “Sketches From Chronicle,” Elizabeth Auclair showed poise and elegance in her role as the grieving heroine in the introductory solo; I noticed echoes of “Lamentation” and the early articulation of “Deep Song.” The second section finds the entire female ensemble stepping out in silence. Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch leads them with an iron assurance. They limp rigidly in austere rhythm across the stage, gripping their shoulders in identical fashion, elbows out as if they were embracing themselves.

The arms are utilized to mesmerizing ends. In a march across the stage, each dancer firmly maintains her arms in a different position, recalling different gears and implements in a giant machine. Hands are held tightly in fists throughout, flexing in Rosie the Riveter persona. Indeed, the long, dark skirts give the dancers a statuesque, sexless grandeur.

Martha Graham’s originality and unique power come through in full force in “Sketches From Chronicle.” Reconstructed from Barbara Morgan’s photographs and film clips, the momentous work is one modernist’s response to a historic period in time, insisting upon the relevance of the dance art as a check on Europe and America’s march to war.

Until April 17 (W. 55th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, 212-581-1212).