TitleMerce Cunningham speaks about his choreography: and, April 26th rehearsal room, unidentified theater production
NamesMerce Cunningham Dance Company (Associated name)Cunningham, Merce (Speaker)Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association of Philadelphia (Host)
CollectionMerce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials
Dates / OriginDate Created: 1966-04-20Date Created: 1966-04-21Date Created: 1966-04-26
Library locationsRodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded SoundShelf locator: *LT-7-A 2350
TopicsCunningham, MerceMerce Cunningham Dance CompanySummerspace (Choreographic work : Cunningham)ChoreographyBlocking (Theater)Theater rehearsals
GenresLecturesLive sound recordings
NotesContent: The first part of this recording seems to be a rehearsal of a lecture by Merce Cunningham about his choreography, to be given at an unspecified date and location. The second part of this recording is of a rehearsal for an unidentified theater production. The relationship, if any, between the lecture and the rehearsal is unidentified.Content: Title provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten notes on original container.Content: Handwritten notes on original container: "Rehearsal Room, April 26th, Reel #1 [front] ; L Dem. tape ; Phila. YMHA : IV-20-66, IV-21-66 [back]". Index card insert with handwritten notes: "Rehearsal from April 26th, Reel #1 / L. Dem tape Philadelphia YMHA: IV-20-66, IV-21-66, includes LT rehearsal". Index card insert with handwritten notes: "L Dem ##
; 20, 10, 3 1/2, 33, 8:00".Content: A rehearsal on May 2, [1966], for the same unidentified theater production on a separate recording, with the classmark *LT-7-A 2354, is available for separate streaming at http://link.nypl.org/w2Wh4s5XQTehFMmcB4qgHQ8.Numbering: Donor's inventory number: R026.Venue: Recorded at the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1966 April 20, 21, 26, [The handwritten note on the front of the original container that supplies the date of April 26th, does not include the year, however based on the recording context, it was likely recorded in 1966].Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical DescriptionAudiotape reelExtent: 1 audiotape reel (48 minutes) : analog, 7 1/2 ips, half track, mono ; 7 in.Sound quality is good throughout Merce Cunningham's lecture. Sound quality is uneven throughout the rehearsal recording, and is sometimes inaudible due to the distance of the speakers from the microphone. A low whistle sound, possibly recording interference, runs through the last 17 minutes of the recording.
Description(0:00-19:46) Begins abruptly, Merce Cunningham speaks in short statements about various topics, followed by short silent pauses: his [Merce Cunningham Dance] Company's assessment of the various conditions of performance spaces while touring; his reply to students that seek to study dance technique with him; physical awareness and precision while dancing; a brief anecdote about a conversation that Cunningham had at a party; a possible journal entry for [a] Tuesday about dance in relation to space; his response to a recent Rockefeller report on the financial state of dance; [a] Sunday's rehearsal of Cunningham's works Suite and Antic Meet; [a] Friday rehearsal of Summerspace and the difficulty of dancers' execution of certain movements, especially running; the flexible cues in Summerspace for the dancers, especially in relation to one another; his composition class, from the previous summer, and their use of chance methods; [an unidentified machine is played, emits no sound, from 10:34-11:40]; statement on the Company residency at Connecticut College in the summer of 1958, including teaching classes, and rehearsing Antic Meet and Summerspace; Cunningham's intentions behind the title and some of the movements for Summerspace; more on rehearsing Summerspace during the residency including the choreographic structures and chance methods that he devised to make use of the ballroom rehearsal space; his attention to individual dancers' pathways in Summerspace and the experience of assembling the dancers in the piece; more on the residency including the premiere of Summerspace and his perception of the audience response; [brief whispering; silence until 19:32].
(19:33-48:11) Abrupt switch in the recording to unidentified speakers in a rehearsal for an unidentified theater production on April 26, [1966?]; a female director and the actors converse about the props, cues and movement aspects within a scene; the cast rehearses part of the script; the director and actors continue to negotiate and rehearse aspects of the play [low whistle sound on recording starts at 31:00 and continues through 48:11].
Type of ResourceSound recording
LanguagesEnglish
IdentifiersRLIN/OCLC: 880585902NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20209236Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 13108b20-b3fa-0133-b746-3c07547a230f
Rights StatementThis item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
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