The Department of Theater and Dance is hosting a screening of "Event for Television", a 1977 PBS Great Performances episode featuring the work of the great dance choreographer Merce Cunningham. This is the third of four screenings.
This video includes dance performance by Merce and his company, music by John Cage and David Tudor, and sets by Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg.
Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) studied dance at the Cornish Institute in Seattle, and then moved to New York City in the 1940's. He danced for Martha Graham, before forming his own company in 1953. He collaborated with composers, musicians, artists, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, filmmakers, and software engineers. His most famous collaborations were with composer John Cage and artist Robert Rauschenberg; other notable collaboration partners included artists Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns.
Cunningham created a style of dance every bit as complete as ballet, but radically different. He experimented with the using the various articulations of the body in unusual ways. To explore possibilities he would not have thought of, Cunningham employed what he called “chance operations,” for example rolling a dice to decide what moves came next.
He decentralized the stage, so that interesting things could happen in any place on the stage (not just front or center). He was a pioneer in the use of film to capture dance, treating it not just as a means to record the dance, but to create dance designed for camera, with the filmmaker as a full artistic collaborator. In the 1990's he experimented with choreography on computers, which he then incorporated into his dances.
Cunningham was a dance choreographer first, but also a great collaborator. This film series should be interesting to visual artists, composers, musicians, filmmakers, costume designers, lighting designers, and even software engineers.
Schedule of Film Viewings
All film viewing will be on Sundays in October, from 6:00-7:30, in Fenton 108
Week 3: Sunday, Oct. 18 Video: Event for Television
Event for Television is a film version of one of Cunningham's famous
"events." These were performances of mixed sections of dances in
site-specific locations. This event was filmed for television and
features the Merce Cunningham company in a 1977 performance.
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 25 Videos: Cunningham Dance Technique -
Intermediate level, and Biped.
An introduction to the elements that comprise Cunningham technique for
dancers. Merce's commentary provides an explanation of the exercises and
combinations demonstrated by his dancers. Directed by Merce Cunningham
and Elliot Caplan. This film gives dancers an inside look into
Cunningham technique. Biped is a work created in 1999 using the computer
to design the choreography. The set includes a scrim set in the front of
the stage, with computer generated images projected as décor. Directed
by Merce Cunningham and Charles Atlas, with computerized sets by Paul
Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar.
Contact for information:
Julie M Schillaci—schi8216@fredonia.edu
Christina J. Tucker—tuck0899@fredonia.edu
Jonathan Chausovsky—jonathan.chausovsky@fredonia.edu
Sponsored by the SUNY-Fredonia Department of Dance
