- Additional Authors
- Found In
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Description
- 1 streaming audio file (54 minutes) : digital, stereo
- Summary
- Begins abruptly; Merce Cunningham speaks with Meredith Monk about selecting artistic collaborators; creative inspiration for Winterbranch (1964); Monk and Cunningham speak about selecting dancers, including the qualities they look for such as a balance between precision and freedom in movement; Cunningham speaks about planning his BAM [Brooklyn Academy of Art] season [October 14-19, 1997], including the construction of the Events to be performed; certain challenges of teaching past works to new generations of his [Merce Cunningham Dance] Company; how watching movies and working with dance for camera has influenced his choreography; drawing; choreographing with the computer program, Life Forms; Cunningham recollects an instance of stage fright as a young child; short anecdotes on his tap dance training with Mrs. [Maude] Barrett, and doing exhibition ballroom dancing with her daughter, Marjorie; briefly, speaking to his father about his wish to be a performer; attending Cornish School of the Arts and the influential people he met there including John Cage; Monk describes a prepared piano work by John Cage that accompanies Cunningham's Dream (1948); Cunningham tells an anecdote about Septet (1953), in which he recalls the way David Tudor and John Cage played the accompaniment; briefly speaks about working with Takehisa Kosugi as the current Company's Musical Director; Monk describes her experience as a musician for Cunningham's Events; in response to Monk's question on his "typical day," Cunningham tells a few short anecdotes on getting up, then describes briefly his morning routine and his daily routine at the dance studio; Cunningham speaks about passing his work on to the next generations and briefly, the reconstruction of his works, including that of Sounddance (1975); Monk describes her experience of watching Sounddance; Cunningham's reasoning for not using improvisation in his works; his choreographic use of re-ordering set movement phrases from performance to performance; briefly, his solo, Root of an unfocus (1944), and its exploration of fear and risk; they briefly discuss Cage's exploration of the "Nine Indian emotions," and Cunningham's related work, Sixteen dances for soloist and company of three (1951); the choreographic process for Ocean (1994); Cunningham speaks about his interest in how present day children are taught with the use of layered images, while his generation was taught with words; Monk and Cunningham briefly discuss the speed of visual stimulation in society, including impacts on both the human nervous system and the perspectives of audiences; closing remarks; Cunningham speaks about his house plants and they briefly discuss the relationship between creativity and gardening.
- Alternative Title
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Interviews.
- Sound recordings.
- Note
- Title and date provided by cataloger based on handwritten note on original DAT and audition.
- Handwritten note on original DAT container: "Interview - Meredith Monk of Merce Cunningham ; 7-4-97".
- Sound quality is good; there are occasional distant background sounds of drums and voices.
- Donor's inventory number: D381.
- Access (note)
- Patrons can access streaming audio file online only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Event (note)
- Recording location is unidentified; however, the background sounds indicate that it was likely recorded in a dance studio.
- Source (note)
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Call Number
- *LTD-A 897
- OCLC
- 897373807
- Author
Cunningham, Merce, interviewee.
- Title
Interview with Merce Cunningham : conducted by Meredith Monk, 1997-07-04.
- Production
July 4, 1997.
- Playing Time
005346
- Type of Content
spoken word
- Type of Medium
audio
- Type of Carrier
audiocassette
online resource
- Digital File Characteristics
audio file
- Event
Recording location is unidentified; however, the background sounds indicate that it was likely recorded in a dance studio.
- Original Version
Archival original: (1 audio DAT cassettes (54 minutes) : digital, .3209 ips, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit, two track, stereo) in *LTD-A 897.
- Restricted Access
Patrons can access streaming audio file online only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Linking Entry
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Local Note
Transferred from original DAT cassette by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
- Source
Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Monk, Meredith, interviewer.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, donor.
- Added Title
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Found In:
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Research Call Number
*LTD-A 897