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PillowTalk: Dancing For Cunningham, 2009-07-25

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LIBRARY DIVISION
Jerome Robbins Dance Division

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COLLECTION
Merce Cunningham Video Archive

This Item

PillowTalk

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Title
PillowTalk: Dancing For Cunningham, 2009-07-25
Names
Cunningham, Merce (Creator)
Swinston, Robert (Panelist)
Toogood, Melissa (Panelist)
Keefe, Maura (Moderator)
Collection

Merce Cunningham Video Archive

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 2009-07-25
Library locations
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Shelf locator: *MGZIDF 3737
Topics
Cunningham, Merce
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Dance -- United States -- History
Modern dance
Genres
Panel discussions
Notes
Statement of responsibility: Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Archives
Content: Title provided by cataloger, based on original container label.
Performers: Maura Keefe, moderator; Robert Swinston, Melissa Toogood, panelists.
Venue: Recorded 25 July, 2009. The Berkshires, Massachusetts.
Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical Description
Videodisc
Extent: 1 videodisc (DVD) (49 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Description
A conversation at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival between dance historian and Jacob's Pillow scholar-in-residence Maura Keefe and Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) dancers Robert Swinston and Melissa Toogood. This was held as part of a season celebrating Cunningham's 90th birthday, and has the perhaps unfortunate distinction of being the last public event centered around Merce Cunningham prior to his death, which occurred the following day. Swinston, who had been with the company for close to 30 years by this point, was also Cunningham's assistant choreographer, and would become Director of Choreography for a time following Cunningham's death. Toogood, by contrast, had recently joined the company, arriving in 2007. Keefe opens by asking whether Cunningham believed that dancing was built on simplicity at its core, as some of Cunningham's public remarks seemed to indicate he believed. (2:40) Swinston is asked how dance training has changed between the time he came into the company and the present day. Toogood is asked to describe the current experience of working directly with Cunningham on updated versions of classic repertory pieces. (4:00) Both dancers were trained in Martha Graham technique prior to joining the company, as was Merce Cunningham in his student days. They describe how this has helped or been a challenge to them in their MCDC work. (5:55) Their first exposures to Cunningham's work and their initial responses to it. (8:20) Keefe wonders whether the panelists feel that Cunningham's corpus of works can be divided into distinctive historical and creative periods, a la Picasso's 'Blue Period', etc. (12:20) Following this, the dancers consider the challenges of moving from a background of highly structured, continuity-based work into Cunningham's free-flowing, improvisational dances. (15:16) By the same token, Cunningham's pieces often contain music and dance that are not seamlessly connected to each other, and the panelists discuss whether this poses a particular challenge. (18:35) Swinston then speaks about the Cunningham work, CRWDSPCR, the first one the choreographer created using the DanceForms software program, and the changes in choreographic training and within the company itself created by this technological and artistic shift. (20:20) In addition to their Cunningham work, both Swinston and Toogood were former students at Jacob's Pillow, and Keefe asks about their experiences and the differences between student life in the early 1970s and the late 2000s. (24:08) Following this, the panel discussion concludes and a Q&A begins. The first questioner asks about differences in Cunningham's choreography over the years as he and other dancers aged. (28:33) The following query asks about the role of emotion in the panelists' training and dancing. (30:55) A questioner who recalls seeing an early collaboration between composer John Cage and Cunningham in the 1950s asks about their relationship and the history of their mutual projects. (34:06) This leads into a question regarding the piece Eyespace, which allows audience members to use a provided IPod to select what parts of the score they will hear at any given moment. (36:50) This segues into a consideration of the type of training necessary to maintain stamina while learning, and performing, Cunningham's often demanding choreography. (38:11) Additionally, the Cunningham corps always rehearsed in silence, without music, and often, depending on the piece, performed in this way as well, leading to a question regarding how dancers maintain time and collective rhythm under such circumstances. (39:12) The panel concludes with a question about the role of the audience in Cunningham's work, and whether Stinson and Toogood respond differently to audiences when performing Cunningham's pieces as opposed to those of other choreographers. (42:22)
Type of Resource
Moving image
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 922889635
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20809320
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 85fec960-a9ae-0133-7500-60f81dd2b63c
Rights Statement
This 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).

Item timeline of events

  • 2009: Created
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "PillowTalk" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 2009. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/91c8d060-a9ae-0133-b6c9-60f81dd2b63c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "PillowTalk" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/91c8d060-a9ae-0133-b6c9-60f81dd2b63c

APA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. (2009). PillowTalk Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/91c8d060-a9ae-0133-b6c9-60f81dd2b63c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/91c8d060-a9ae-0133-b6c9-60f81dd2b63c | title= (moving image) PillowTalk, (2009)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=April 24, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

PillowTalk