- Additional Authors
- Found In
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Description
- 1 streaming audio file (47 minutes) : digital, stereo
- Summary
- Begins abruptly, [there are several false starts to the interview until ca. 1:36], Nina Fonaroff speaks with David Vaughan about Merce Cunningham performing with the Martha Graham Dance Company in the Graham's Every soul is a circus (1939), Appalachian spring (1944), and Punch and the Judy (1941); they speak about the Bennington College concert in 1942 that Fonaroff co-presented with Cunningham [and Jean Erdman]; [brief interruption, ca. 6:41]; Vaughan speaks briefly about the text Cunningham wrote for Credo in us (1942) and mentions the other duets that Cunningham performed with Erdman at Bennington; Fonaroff speaks about the "animal" quality of Cunningham's dancing and choreography, especially his being vulnerable, practical, and articulate; she speaks about the experimental dance lessons that Valerie Bettis, Cunningham and herself taught each other; she speaks about Cunningham's study of ballet as well as his uniqueness in coming from a differing dance background from the rest of the Graham Company; Fonaroff speaks about taking ballet classes outside of the Graham Company and her subsequent leave from taking classes with Graham; they speak about Cunningham's working with Ballet Society [on his Seasons (1947)] and examples of ballet and modern dancers studying each other's technique; Fonaroff speaks about co-choreographing a duet with Cunningham for a commissioned score given to Graham, performed only once; she speaks about a shift in Graham's choreographic methods including her creation of sequences that were never used in performance; her leaving the Graham Company in 1946, a year after Cunningham; Vaughan speaks about how Cunningham was initially seen as iconoclastic; Fonaroff mentions her plans to show a film of RainForest (1968) at a summer school where she teaches; she tells an anecdote about a screening of Doris Humphrey's works that sparked a debate by the students; Fonaroff speaks more about Cunningham as an artist and her friend; [ca. 29:30-34:25, they look through photographs as Fonaroff describes aspects of them]; they continue to speak about Cunningham's roles as a dancer in Graham's Company; Fonaroff's dislike of dancing in Graham's American document (1938); her recollection of being in Miami with the Graham Company when World War II broke out as well as touring during World War II; changes to Graham's work when men began to join the Company; she speaks about Graham's early works, especially seeing Graham perform while a student at Cornish College of the Arts in the mid-1930s; returning to New York to dance with Graham including the usual daily Company schedule; she speaks about her pay while in Graham's Company, joining AGMA [American Guild of Musical Artists], and teaching to make her living; ends abruptly.
- Alternative Title
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Interviews.
- Sound recordings.
- Note
- David Vaughan interviews Nina Fonaroff in London, England, on July 30, 1980. This interview was created as research for David Vaughan's book, Merce Cunningham: Fifty years (New York, Aperture).
- Title, date and location provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten note on original container.
- Handwritten note on original container: "1. Interview with Nina Fonaroff, London 30 July 1980 ; 2. Interview with Marianne [Preger-]Simon, New York 27 March 1983".
- Sound quality is fair; the volume is low overall and the interviewee speaks some distance away from the microphone.
- Donor's inventory number: C373.
- Contains side 1 of the archival original cassette.
- Access (note)
- Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Source (note)
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Call Number
- *LTC-A 1196
- OCLC
- 913795283
- Author
Fonaroff, Nina, interviewee.
- Title
Interview with Nina Fonaroff, 1980-07-30.
- Production
July 30, 1980.
- Playing Time
004627
- Type of Content
spoken word
- Type of Medium
audio
- Type of Carrier
audiocassette
online resource
- Digital File Characteristics
audio file
- Event
Recorded in, London, England, 1980 July 30.
- Restricted Access
Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Original Version
Archival original: (1 audio cassette (93 minutes) : analog) in *LTC-A 1196.
- Linking Entry
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Local Note
Transferred from original analog cassette by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; two preservation files were created based on the cassette sides: C373a, and, C373b. The sound quality of these files are very poor and the content is partially inaudible.
Re-transferred from original analog cassette, (due to the poor sound quality), by the New York Public Library's Audio and Moving Image Preservation (PAMI) sound engineering staff at the Library for the Performing Arts on April 14 and 16, 2015; two preservation files were created based on cassette sides: myh_ltca1196_v01f01_pm, and, myh_ltca1196_v01f02_pm.
- Source
Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Vaughan, David, 1924- interviewer.
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, donor.
- Added Title
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Found In:
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Research Call Number
*LTC-A 1196