- Additional Authors
- Found In
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Description
- 1 streaming video file (57 min) : sound, color
- Summary
- Rehearsal footage and an audio-only interview with Merce Cunningham conducted during rehearsals for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's contribution to the event Grand Central Dances. This performance was part of an evening created by the arts organization Dancing In The Streets in which multiple dance companies and individual dancers performed at various locations within and around Grand Central, providing free entertainment for all passing through the station. The Cunningham piece for which rehearsals are shown is, per a contemporary New York Times review, simply titled "Event". During this rehearsal footage, the off-screen voices of the unknown director and camerapeople filming the event can be heard. Following the rehearsal footage and a couple of sound checks, there is an audio-only interview with Merce Cunningham regarding the piece and the event. Topics in order of discussion include: the genesis of the piece for the Grand Central Dances project; the challenges and positive aspects of performing in an open, uncontrolled environment such as Grand Central Station; audience response and the chance to expose new audiences to dance that are provided by a free, spontaneous attendance event; the need of any special choreography for the unique space; the ways in which space and time were incorporated into the choreography; Cunningham's personal view of Grand Central Station and whether the act of creating this piece has changed that viewpoint at all; the music created for the piece; how dancers handle performing in an open space where the public surrounds them and has direct access to them; the relationship between the music for the piece, generated as a free-form composition by the musicians as the performance was taking place, and Cunningham's choreography.
- Alternative Title
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Moving image materials.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Dance.
- Music.
- Video.
- Filmed performances.
- Filmed dance.
- Interviews.
- Dance rehearsals.
- Sound recordings.
- Note
- Title provided by cataloger, based on original container label; statement of responsibility and credits taken from documents provided by Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation.
- Access (note)
- Patrons can access streaming video file online only on site at the Library for the Performing Arts.
- System Details (note)
- Source (note)
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Call Number
- *MGZIDF 3751
- OCLC
- 922889456
- Title
Grand Central Dances: Merce Cunningham Dance Company rehearsal and interview, 1987-10-09.
- Production
1987.
- Country of Producing Entity
United States.
- Type of Content
two-dimensional moving image
- Type of Medium
video
computer
- Type of Carrier
online resource
- Performer
Merce Cunningham, interviewee; unknown interviewers. Rehearsal dances performed by members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
- Event
Recorded 1987, October 9. Grand Central Station, New York City.
- System Details
Streaming video.
- Original Version
Original format: 1 videocassette (VHS) ; 1/2 in.
- Restricted Access
Patrons can access streaming video file online only on site at the Library for the Performing Arts.
- Linking Entry
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Source
Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Cunningham, Merce, interviewee.
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation donor.
- Added Title
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Moving image materials.
- Found In:
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Research Call Number
*MGZIDF 3751