TitleSoundtrack excerpts from: Merce Cunningham (Television program) for London Weekend Television, and, Merce Cunningham & Co (Motion picture)
Additional title: Merce Cunningham (Television program)Additional title: Merce Cunningham and co (Motion picture)Additional title: South Bank show (Television program)
NamesMerce Cunningham Dance Company (Associated name)Cunningham, Merce (Interviewee)Armitage, Karole (Commentator)Brown, Carolyn, 1927- (Commentator)Dunlop, Geoff (Television director)Jacquot, Benoît, 1947- (Film director)Jacquot, Benoît, 1947- (Interviewer)Komar, Chris (Commentator)London Weekend Television (Firm) (Television producer)
CollectionMerce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials
Dates / OriginDate Created: 1979Date Created: 1981
Library locationsRodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded SoundShelf locator: *LTC-A 1190
TopicsCage, JohnCunningham, MerceMerce Cunningham Dance CompanyChoreographyDance -- Study and teachingMusic and danceDance
GenresMusicInterviews
NotesContent: Title, dates, speakers and locations provided by cataloger based on handwritten note on original container, audition, and information provided by the Merce Cunningham Trust.Content: Television program special on Merce Cunningham on the occasion of the Dance Umbrella Festival, London. The interviews with Merce Cunningham, (and other unidentified speakers), are interspersed with musical clips that accompany Cunningham works.Content: Handwritten note on original container and cassette: "Merce Cunningham - LWT ; A 40 min. ; Merce Cunningham + Co - INA ; B first 1/3 of tape, approx 15 min.".Numbering: Donor's inventory number: C354.Venue: Merce Cunningham (Television program) broadcast on the South Bank show, London Weekend Television, in London, England, 1979.Venue: Merce Cunningham and co (Motion picture) recorded at Cunningham's Westbeth Studio in New York, New York, 1981.Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical DescriptionAudiocassetteExtent: 1 audio cassette (52 minutes) : analogSound quality is good.
DescriptionStreaming file 1, Merce Cunningham, excerpt: Begins abruptly; host introduces the Dance Umbrella festival and Merce Cunningham; Merce Cunningham speaks about his philosophy on dance, early dance classes [with Maude Barrett] and theater training; he briefly speaks about collaborating with composer John Cage and other artists; dancer [Chris Komar] speaks about reading Cunningham's book [Changes:] Notes on choreography (1969), and joining the [Merce Cunningham Dance] Company; Cunningham tells a short anecdote about his interest in animal movement while visiting the zoo; he speaks about walking, movement, and rhythm; choreography and innovating movement; briefly, working with individual dancers; [Karole Armitage?] speaks about her approach to Cunningham's chorography; Cunningham speaks on his approaches to choreography as relating to the audience experience of his works; more on the individualistic nature of his work; [Carolyn Brown] compares larger art trends in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s; Cunningham briefly speaks about his work in the early 1950s at Black Mountain College and his exploration of the time element as the link between dance and music; Komar briefly comments on the relationship between dance and music in Cunningham's choreography; Cunningham tells a brief anecdote about Bob [Robert] Rauschenberg; briefly, working with visual design elements and props; briefly, the use of space in his choreography; [Brown] speaks about Cunningham as an older performer, especially in relation to his current Company, and changes in the Company over time; Cunningham speaks about teaching dance; training his students to find a larger range both physically and mentally; clip of Cunningham teaching a class exercise; [Armitage and Brown] each briefly describe their perceptions of how Cunningham coaches his dancers; [Brown and Armitage] each speak about sharing roles in dances and the reasons for this; Cunningham speaks about directing a dance company; clip of Cunningham in rehearsal; Cunningham briefly speaks about choreography for the camera; Cunningham speaks about his interest to investigate new ideas in dance and on the influence of television.
Streaming file 2, Merce Cunningham and co, excerpt: An overdub of an unidentified speaker translating the French soundtrack, with speakers Benoît Jacquot and Merce Cunningham, into English.
Type of ResourceSound recording
LanguagesEnglish
IdentifiersRLIN/OCLC: 913795658NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20730818Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 2b36ae80-b8cd-0133-ebbf-60f81dd2b63c
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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