Streaming file 1, Side a: Host John Gruen introduces Merce Cunningham; Cunningham and Gruen briefly debate the description of Cunningham's work as intellectual; Cunningham speaks about generating unique movement in his choreography; his 10's with shoes (1981), including the origin of the title and its upcoming premiere; Cunningham's interest in the independence of the performance elements of decor/design, sound, and dance; his Fielding sixes (1980), including briefly the origins of the choreography and its title; his Channels/Inserts (1981), and working with dance for the camera; Gruen speaks about Cunningham as a performer; Cunningham speaks about his theory of dance and movement, especially in relation to ballet; more on innovating movement and his interest in activating the mind of the viewer; briefly, his interest in pedestrian movement; his use of chance methods in choreography and the challenge it poses to a dancer; excerpt of music for Fractions (1977), Jon Gibson's Equal distribution no. 1 (1977), 23:46-26:45; they briefly discuss the abstract nature of Cunningham's work; Gruen announces Merce Cunningham Dance Company performances at City Center, March 17-29, 1981; Cunningham speaks about his intentions as a choreographer and how he envisions communicating with his audience; Cunningham speaks about sources of artistic influence outside of dance; Gruen quotes a New York Times article on Cunningham's influence on post-modern dance; Cunningham speaks about some of the changes in the field of dance from when his career began; briefly, his relationship to Martha Graham as an apprentice, rather than a disciple; the dance qualities he learned from Graham that he continues to use; his approach to teaching and the structure of his dance technique classes; more on re-thinking movement as a result of working with dance on camera; briefly, how Cunningham chooses dancers; ends abruptly.
Streaming file 2, Side b: Begins abruptly, Merce Cunningham, continues to speak with John Gruen about the qualities he looks for in dancers and coaching dancers; excerpt of Equal distribution no. 1, 2:09-3:37; Cunningham briefly speaks about how the dance Fractions has its own phrasing, separate from the music; more on the relationship between the music and choreography, including how his dancers navigate the structures of both disciplines; Gruen concludes the show; unidentified live musical theater performance begins abruptly, 9:13-30:38.
Uniform title
Sound of dance (Radio program)
Alternative title
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
Local note
Transferred from original analog cassette by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; two preservation files were created based on cassette sides: C374a, and, C374b. The sound quality of these files are very poor and the content is partially inaudible.
Re-transferred from original analog cassette, (due to the poor sound quality), by the New York Public Library's Audio and Moving Image Preservation (PAMI) sound engineering staff at the Library for the Performing Arts on April 24, 2015; two preservation files were created based on cassette sides: myh_ltca1197_v01f01_pm, and, myh_ltca1197_v01f02_pm.