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In search of Lovers: the birth of a dance work

Title: In search of Lovers: the birth of a dance work [sound recording].
Publication: 1966.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	discs 1-5	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTL 4-121 discs 1-5	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Description

5 sound discs (ca. 286 min.) : digital; (4 3/4 in.)

Summary

Disc 1, tracks 1 - 7 (ca. 33 min.) Interview with Glen Tetley. GlenTetley speaks with an unidentified interviewer [Jac Venza] about his career including the formation of his first company and the first full-length performance consisting solely of his works; what it is to be a choreographer including sources of inspiration; how dancing has made him more sensitive to other art forms; defining dance that is considered art; his new dance, Lovers, with which he plans to open his next program [part of the Hunter College Dance series], including the music by Ned Rorem, entitled Lovers; the costumes [by Willa Kim]; [gap of ca. 40 sec. beginning at ca. 1:35 min. into track 4]; choice of the music as a very difficult part of choreographing; creating the costumes for a new work; economic aspects of creating and performing a new work, including in the case of the Hunter College Dance series performances; a commission from a [well-funded] company as the ideal environment in which to create a new work; reasons he is creating the new work Lovers; the audience he anticipates for this program; the future he hopes this work will have and the impossibility of knowing whether a work will be a success; how he feels about choreographers, including himself, performing in works they have choreographed.
Disc 1, track 8 - ca. 1:40 min. into track 11 (ca. 17 min.). This section of the recording consists of very brief excerpts from Ned Rorem's composition Lovers, ambient noise, technical directions, and comments by one or more unidentified people as well as additional remarks by Glen Tetley, including with respect to the process of choreographing and his new work Lovers. The section beginning ca. 1:50 min. into track 11 - ca. 1:40 min. into track 12 (ca. 5 min.) consists of ambient noises from what sounds like a live audience, and a backstage conversation between unidentified speakers.
Disc 1, track 12, from ca. 1:45 min. - end of track 14 (ca. 10 min.). Interview with Scott Douglas. Scott Douglas speaks with an unidentified interviewer [Jac Venza] about his career as a ballet dancer, until recently with American Ballet Theatre, including why American Ballet Theatre is an ideal environment for ballet dancers; the diminishing of the walls between ballet and modern dance; the qualities of an ideal male ballet dancer; the qualities of a modern dancer; partnering, in both modern dance and ballet [ends abruptly; interview continues on disc 2].
Disc 2, tracks 1- 6 (ca. 28 min.). Interview with Scott Douglas, cont. Scott Douglas continues to speak with an unidentified interviewer [Jac Venza] about his career as a dancer, including the importance of daily training; preparing for a performance; the dedication required to be a dancer; teaching dance, including the qualities a teacher should have; differences between dancers in the U.S. and Europe; drawing on one's personal background in dancing a role; reasons he wants to perform in this work [Lovers]; economic aspects of a career in dance and of dance companies.
Disc 2, tracks 7 - 12 (ca. 31 min.). Rehearsal of Lovers. Track 7 - ca. 1:30 min. into track 8 is substantially ambient noise as a group of people enters a room; the remainder of the recording is the sounds of Glen Tetley rehearsing the dancers [Carmen de Lavallade, Scott Douglas, and Mary Hinkson] in Lovers.
Disc 3, tracks 1 - 6 (ca. 32 min.). Interview with Glen Tetley. [The first ca. 2:50 min. is ambient noise.] Glen Tetley speaks with an unidentified interviewer [Jac Venza?] about his career including the circumstances of his decision to become a professional dancer; discipline and hard work as essential; how much he learned from his experiences performing outside of New York City; various aspects of being a dancer in the U.S., including as compared with Europe; the breaching of the walls between ballet and modern dance; the dancers in his new work: Carmen de Lavallade, Scott Douglas, and Mary Hinkson; his transition from focusing on technique to choreographing [ends abruptly].
Disc 3, track 7 - ca. 2:20 min. into track 14 (ca. 34 min.). Discussion with Willa Kim and Glen Tetley. Willa Kim and Glen Tetley discuss the set, costumes, and overall look for his new work Lovers. An unidentified person contributes a few questions and remarks. The remaining portion of the recording is ambient noise including what sounds like a group of children in a class.
Disc 4, tracks 1 - 5 (ca. 23 min.). Interview with Carmen de Lavallade. The recording begins with the continuation of the sounds of the group of children heard on the prior disc; against this aural background, several unidentified people speak with Carmen de Lavallade about various matters including the children, her daily routine, and other unrelated topics [gap]; De Lavallade speaks with an unidentified interviewer [Jac Venza?] about her career including how she first became interested in dance and her early training; coming to New York City to perform in the musical comedy House of flowers, where she met her husband [Geoffry Holder]; [brief technical discussion; a person, who may be Holder contributes a remark]; De Lavallade speaks about her children; more on meeting her husband and their careers; working with Glen Tetley as a choreographer and as a dancer; working as a dancer with a choreographer including with respect to Tetley's new dance, Lovers.
Disc 4, tracks 6 - 11 (ca. 24 min.). Interview with Norman Singer. [First ca. 11 min. is substantially ambient nose with occasional fragments of conversation about the set for Lovers; interview with Norman Singer begins ca. 1:05 min. into track 8]; Norman Singer, administrator of the Hunter College Concert Bureau, speaks with an unidentified interviewer [Jac Venza?] about the reasons for creating the Hunter College dance series; the economic aspects of producing dance concerts in New York City; the kinds of artists he seeks for the series including why he invited Glen Tetley; more on the producing of dance concerts including possible reasons why there are more solo dance concerts in the U.S. than in Europe; the audience for the series [interview ends abruptly at ca. 2:30 min. into track 11].
Disc 5 (ca. 48 min.). Rehearsal of Lovers. This part of the recording is primarily the sounds of rehearsals of Lovers including excerpts from Ned Rorem's composition, Lovers. There are numerous gaps, ambient noise, and, beginning on track 6, occasional loud tape hiss. The final ca. 15 min. of the recording sounds like a technical rehearsal and is very poor sound quality.

Subjects

Note

Recorded in 1966 for the motion picture, In search of Lovers, which was produced by Jac Venza and Virginia Kassel for National Educational Television and Radio Center. The recording contains interviews, discussions and rehearsals relating to the process of creating Glen Tetley's dance, Lovers. Jac Venza is the interviewer in a number of the segments.
Sound quality ranges from very poor to very good. The recording includes frequent sections of ambient noise, directions from the technical crew, and numerous gaps. In addition, voices, in particular that of the interviewers, at times are too soft to be intelligible. However, the interviewees' voices are almost always at normal volume and clear.

Funding (note)

The assistance of the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts is gratefully acknowledged.

System Details (note)

Transferred from 11 sound reels (ca. 286 min.; 5 in.; 3 3/4 in. per sec.; acetate; reels 1-5, 2 channels; reels 6-11, 1 channel; half-track; originally recorded in 1966) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2012. The original catalog record noted that reels 1-6 are full track but the condition report created when the reels were digitized indicates that all of the reels are half-track.

Source (note)

National Educational Television and Radio Center

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-121

OCLC

81670325

Title

In search of Lovers: the birth of a dance work [sound recording].

Imprint

1966.

Funding

The assistance of the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts is gratefully acknowledged.

System Details

Transferred from 11 sound reels (ca. 286 min.; 5 in.; 3 3/4 in. per sec.; acetate; reels 1-5, 2 channels; reels 6-11, 1 channel; half-track; originally recorded in 1966) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2012. The original catalog record noted that reels 1-6 are full track but the condition report created when the reels were digitized indicates that all of the reels are half-track.

Local Note

For the completed film see *MGZHB 12-119.

Former call number: *MGZT 5-121 reels 1-11

Archive original: *MGZTO 5-121 no. 1-11

Added Author

Tetley, Glen.

Douglas, Scott, 1927-1996.

Kim, Willa.

De Lavallade, Carmen, 1931-

Singer, Norman.

Venza, Jac.

Rorem, Ned, 1923-2022.

National Educational Television and Radio Center.

National Educational Television and Radio Center. Donor

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-121

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