Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Jean Erdman [sound recording].

Author

Erdman, Jean.

Publication

1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• McDonagh, Don.
• McDonagh, Don. dnr
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Description

2 sound discs (ca. 94 min.) : digital, stereo; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Part 1, disc 1 (ca. 47 min.). Jean Erdman speaks with Don McDonagh about discovering Martha Graham's work when Graham taught classes at Sarah Lawrence College, where Erdman was a student; being inspired by Graham; the fact that Graham's dances were grounded in body and strength; Graham's dance outfit when she taught at Sarah Lawrence; deciding to dance because one could choreograph one's own work, and then dance it; Graham's classes with floor work; attending Bennington and performing in Anna Sokolow's dance; an anecdote of borrowing a white leotard from Graham, and considering it a holy thing; returning the leotard to Graham and being asked to join Graham's company; delaying joining the Graham company in order to travel around the world with her family; returning to Graham after travels; having to learn four dances in ten days, proving to be an exciting initiation into the Graham company; Erick Hawkins joining the company at the same time, with American document being his first performance; taking ballet lessons from Hawkins; Graham's use of the ballet bar in her classes; the fact that Graham's area of movement began to change with Hawkins' arrival, due to the fact that men took the space that had once been occupied by women; Graham sending Merce Cunningham to ballet school; her marriage to Joseph Campbell; Louis Horst and his appreciation and knowledge of art; Graham's relationship with Horst after male dancers arrived; Graham's need to create male and female tension in the dances; playing the role of the spectator in Every soul is a surface, in Letter to the world; the costumes used for the dances; her duet with Hawkins at Bennington, and getting to know him; an anecdote when Graham told Erdman that Erdman had the same kind of underwear as Hawkins, which was the first the company learned of Graham's personal relationship with Hawkins.
• Part 1, disc 2 (ca. 47 min.). Jean Erdman speaks with Don McDonagh about Graham's eating habits; Graham's aloofness from the company; Graham's tendency to call her husband, Joseph Campbell, at home to discuss mythology; Graham's interest in mythology; beginning to choreograph solos, with Louis Horst composing the scores, especially Medusa, with Charlotte Trowbridge's costume designs; working with Carlos Dyer; leaving Graham's company to start her own dance company; her studio on 5th ave.; working with Merce Cunningham at Bennington, choreographing a piece that was chiefly improvised, a fact that shocked the other dancers; choreography taken from a story written by Cunningham; after leaving Graham's company; studying various dance forms; teaching classes in dance fundamentals; eventually creating her own technique; recalls a teacher at Sarah Lawrence, Marion Knighton, and her influence; changes in Graham's company in later years; Graham's use of male dancers; Graham's issues with alcohol consumption; Ron Protas's influence on Graham; opinion of Ron Protas [abrupt end].

Subjects

• Graham, Martha
• Graham, Martha > American document
• Hawkins, Erick
• Sarah Lawrence College
• Horst, Louis > Influence
• Erdman, Jean > Interviews
• Cunningham, Merce
• Campbell, Joseph

Note

• Interview with Jean Erdman conducted by Don McDonagh on Oct. 4, 1993.
• Each disc ends abruptly.
• Open as of August 22, 2012.

Funding (note)

• Recording was preserved through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Source (note)

• Don McDonagh;

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2567

OCLC

262557873

Author

Erdman, Jean. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Jean Erdman [sound recording].

Imprint

1993.

Funding

Recording was preserved through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Local Note

Archive orig. : *MGZTCO 3-2567, nos. 1-2

Dubbing master : *MGZTD 4-2567, nos. 1-2

Source

Gift; Don McDonagh; 2007

Added Author

McDonagh, Don. Interviewer

McDonagh, Don. Donor

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2567 sound disc