Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Kraft, Susan, 1961-
2. National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.
3. New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008.

Description

1. 5 sound discs (ca. 288 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in. +

Summary

1. Disc 1, 5/20/08 (ca. 66 min.). Marilyn Wood speaks with Susan Kraft about her childhood and family, focusing on the six years when they lived in Puerto Rico; the influence of Caribbean culture and the Spanish language in her life; finishing high school in the Washington, D.C. area; choosing to attend Oberlin College; meeting music student, Bob Wood there; her marriage to Wood; studying dance in Chicago and with Hanya Holm in Chicago; moving to New York City and working with Alwin Nikolais; giving birth to twin daughters; studying with Merce Cunningham and the invitation to join his company.
2. Disc 2, 5/20/08 (ca. 60 min.). Marilyn Wood speaks with Susan Kraft about her dance studies with New York teachers including Doris Humphrey and James Waring; performing in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; balancing family life and a dance career; her appreciation of Cunningham's adaptability; reminisces about John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg.
3. Disc 3, 5/21/08 (ca. 66 min.). Marilyn Wood speaks with Susan Kraft about leaving Cunningham's company; the birth of her third daughter; renovating a Third Avenue townhouse and theater; teaching dance to children; working with Elaine Summers in kinetic awareness; forming an improvisation group based at Judson Church; participating in a workshop for dancers and architects led by Anna and Lawrence Halprin; creating large-scale events in public spaces throughout New York City and in Charlotte Moorman's avant-garde festivals.
4. Disc 4, 5/21/08 (ca. 56 min.). Marilyn Wood speaks about her class in structured improvisation and its evolution into a company called the Celebration Group; mutual influences among downtown New York artists who are her contemporaries; her first major international commission in Adelaide, Australia; her process when working with communities that have invited her to create a celebration event, including working with local artists, structure and rehearsal, and integration of the work into local life.
5. Disc 5, 5/38/08 (ca. 73 min.). Marilyn Wood speaks with Susan Kraft about creating works in urban plazas, especially the Seagram Building in New York City; inspiration about festivals derived from her childhood in Puerto Rico and later experiences in Bali, Indonesia; rituals that are personally important and help her to shape ceremonial events in a contemporary manner; the decision to move to Santa Fe, New Mexico; forming the International Center for Celebration; initiating projects such as her participation in the Earth Summit in Brazil and the Women's Conference in China; discussion of parallels between her public artworks and those of Christo [Christo Javachef]; her current focus as an elder in life; the organization of her archive.

Alternative title

1. Dance Oral History Project.
2. Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

1. Audiotapes > Wood, M
2. Group work in art
3. Holm, Hanya, 1893-1992
4. Site-specific art
5. Merce Cunningham Dance Company
6. Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008
7. Wood, Marilyn, 1929-
8. Celebrations Group (Company)
9. Dance festivals
10. Cunningham, Merce
11. Festivals
12. Summers, Elaine, 1925-
13. Nikolais, Alwin

Call number

1. *MGZTL 4-2585

Note

1. Interview with Marilyn Wood conducted by Susan Kraft on May 20, 21, and 28, 2008 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City as part of the Oral History Project.
2. For transcript see: *MGZMT 3-2585.

Access (note)

1. Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

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

Author

1. Wood, Marilyn, 1929- Interviewee

Title

1. Interview with Marilyn Wood [sound recording].

Imprint

1. 2008.

Funding

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

Restricted access

1. Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Added author

1. Kraft, Susan, 1961- Interviewer
2. National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.
3. New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008.

Research call number

1. *MGZTL 4-2585
2. *MGZMT 3-2585