Chris Komar speaks with David Vaughan about his background in rock and roll music and ballroom dancing; he speaks about his dance training at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee; his reaction to seeing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for the first time in 1968; taking his first master class in Cunningham technique with Chase Robinson; seeing a performance of Second hand (1970) and his reasons for being drawn to Cunningham's works, especially the rhythmic aspects; his relationship to music and how he is drawn to movement; his approach to music in his own choreography; he speaks about reading Cunningham's Notes on choreography, and how it inspired him; briefly, the satisfaction he gets from teaching; assisting Cunningham in staging Duets (1980) on American Ballet Theatre; he speaks about how ballet dancers rely on the music to carry movement; the process by which ballet dancers incorporate Cunningham's choreography over time; Komar speaks about the history of ballet in the 20th century and current trends in ballet choreography; he speaks about Peter Martin's Calcium light night (1977); he speaks about ways that ballet choreography could develop and become more independent from music; Komar speaks about some of the exercises Cunningham gave in the 1981 choreography course at the University of Surrey that encouraged students to separate music and dance; he speaks about the use of tasks and musical cues in choreography, using Twyla Tharp as an example; he speaks about the ways he thinks ballet choreography can be more complex and creatively challenging; he speaks about George Balanchine and speculates on his working with a contemporary composer; his admiration of Balanchine's Symphony in C (1947); they speak briefly about choreographer Richard Alston; Komar speaks more about how ballet choreography can grow; he speaks about Cunningham choreographing Jour ou deux (1973) on the Paris Opéra Ballet and the success of it; he describes his day's activities.
Alternative title
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
David Vaughan interviews Chris Komar, probably in [New York, New York], on June 4, 1982. This interview was created as research for David Vaughan's book, Merce Cunningham: Fifty years (New York, Aperture).
Title and date provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten note on original container and cassette.
Handwritten note on original original container: "Chris Komar / Valda Setterfield". Handwritten note on original original cassette: "A. Chris Komar ; 4 June 1982".
Contains side a of the archival original cassette.
Sound quality is mostly good; there are background noises and the recording volume lowers ca. 7:42.
Access (note)
Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
Source (note)
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation
Linking entry (note)
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
Author
Komar, Chris, interviewee.
Title
Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04.
Production
June 4, 1982.
Playing time
003936
Type of content
spoken word
Type of medium
audio
Type of carrier
audiocassette
online resource
Digital file characteristics
audio file
Event
Originally recorded in, [New York, New York], 1982 June 4.
Restricted access
Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.