Research Catalog

Title

Interviews with Pearl Lang [sound recording]

Author

Lang, Pearl, 1921-2009.

Publication

1982-1988.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• De Mille, Agnes
• DHCA.

Description

8 sound cassettes (4 hr., 30 min.)

Summary

• Cassette 1 (40 min.). Recorded November 29, 1982. Side 1. Ms. Lang discusses Graham's Judith and sexual imagery; difficulties of performing Graham's Clytemnestra; Zoe Caldwell as Medea; early days of Graham's company; Louis Horst's influence on Graham's choreography; Horst's generosity and his classes; Horst helping Lang get into Graham's company; Graham's health; coaching current repertory; today's dancers; Horst's rift with Erick Hawkins -- Side 2. Graham's Primitive mysteries, Appalachian spring, and Frontier; how union rules have changed Graham's working habits; Horst's conducting.
• Cassette 2 (55 min.). Recorded April 4, 1985. Side 1. Agnes de Mille, in summing up interview with Pearl Lang, discusses Graham's early company in contrast to today's dancers; learning roles; Lang's feeling that today's dancers lack artistic vision and direction; Erick Hawkins in Graham's Dark meadow; Graham teaching her own roles; Horst's heart attack; Graham's support of Lang's work; Graham's students; public reactions to Graham's work; biblical story of Judith; de Mille's properties [personal notes]; Graham's Greenwich Village follies; Helen Tamiris -- Side 2. De Mille discusses the time when Dorothy Bird and Nelle Fisher joined Graham's company; Graham's approach to dance; Denishawn; Ruth St. Denis' approach to dance; being stranded abroad; continuing the company despite severe financial problems; St. Denis' influence on Graham regarding costumes and her approach to dance; Graham's early reviews; Glen Tetley's knee injury "cured" by Graham's explanation of proper pliés; Graham's appearance; Graham's relationship with Hanya Holm; Graham's Dark meadow.
• Cassette 3 (10 min). Recorded November 5, 1986. Side 1. Ms. Lang discusses Graham's program in Paris, 1951; Graham's inability to dance; fights with Erick Hawkins; different versions of Graham's Judith; Graham's Song of Deborah; speaking Yiddish; the original dance school building. De Mille dictates personal correspondence for rest of Side 1 -- Side 2. Blank.
• Cassette 4 (35 min.). Recorded January 1, 1987. Side 1. Ms. Lang discusses Graham's Ardent song; Jane Dudley and The Place in London; Graham technique in Britain; plagiarism of Graham's works; replacing Graham in her roles; Graham's dancers; importance of dramatic training in Graham's work; Graham technique and becoming emotionally involved; importance of Louis Horst at the Juilliard school; Antony Tudor's lack of sensitivity with young students; Graham's support of Lang's work; the unitards in Graham's Acts of light -- Side 2. Ms. Lang discusses contemporary Graham dancers. De Mille makes some corrections to her research (most of side 2 is blank).
• Cassette 5 (20 min.). Recorded July 11, 1988. Side 1. Ms. Lang discusses Graham's Voyage and Ardent song on the 1954 tour; sewing costumes and improvising choreography; the idea of Kundalini yoga in Graham's technique; different works called Voyage. Ms. de Mille sums up, noting acknowledgements for book; describes her childhood memories; dictates correspondence concerning the Paris Opéra re-using her ballets; discusses Anthony Bliss -- Side 2. De Mille talks about her childhood (5 min.; the rest blank).
• Cassette 6 (30 min.). Side 1. Ms. Lang, reviewing the de Mille manuscript for the Graham book, discusses the premiere of Graham's Voyage in 1954; Jane Dudley teaching in London; filming of Graham's technique; "performing" in Graham's classes; Louis Horst at Juilliard; Craig Barton's importance to the Graham company; Bethsabée de Rothschild's contribution to the company; her own performance in Graham's Letter to the world; costume in Graham's Primitive mysteries. (Side 2 blank)
• Cassette 7 (35 min.). Side 1. Agnes de Mille discusses memories of her early dances in London. She continues with Graham material, discussing Graham's fear of the dark, inability to swim, temper tantrums and driving her car in the rain; Graham not allowing students to wear black in class; Colonel de Basil, René Blum, Sergei Denham and the various Ballet Russe companies; American versus European culture; dances lost over time; ballet dancers. (Side 1 ends with more personal de Mille information.) -- Side 2 (low volume in places). De Mille dictates memoirs for about 10 min. She continues discussion of Graham's early successes; Erick Hawkins' importance in the company and his relationship with Graham; 1936 Bennington season; Graham's American document.
• Cassette 8 (45 min.). Recorded March 13, 1985. Side 1. Ms. Lang discusses Graham sacrificing her life to art; the classroom as a choroegraphic laboratory; the biblical story of Judith and Graham's three versions; Erick Hawkins' role in getting work for Graham; Graham's Clytemnestra, Primitive mysteries, and "Punch" [Punch and the Judy]; Bill Carter's dancing; difficulty in replacing Hawkins' roles; Graham's Acrobat of God -- Side 2. Graham's health and work habits at age 91; Halston as costume designer; Graham's Rite of spring; Graham's choreographic vocabulary; role of fund granters in Graham's art; Ron Protas' role in casting; David Hatch Walker; herself as a teacher of Graham repertory; performing in large theaters

Donor/Sponsor

Oral History Archive. Gift of Agnes de Mille.

Subject

• Lang, Pearl, 1921-2009
• Graham, Martha
• Caldwell, Zoe
• Horst, Louis
• Hawkins, Erick
• Tamiris, Helen, 1905-1966
• Bird, Dorothy, 1912-1996
• Fisher, Nelle
• St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968
• Tetley, Glen
• Holm, Hanya, 1893-1992
• Dudley, Jane
• Tudor, Antony, 1909-1987
• Bliss, Anthony A., 1913-1991
• Barton, Craig
• Rothschild, Bethsabée de, Baroness
• Blum, René, 1878-1942
• Basil, W. de
• Denham, Sergei, 1896-1970
• Carter, William, 1936-1988
• Halston, 1932-1990
• Protas, Ron
• Walker, David Hatch
• Martha Graham Dance Company
• Denishawn Dancers
• Place (London, England)
• Opéra de Paris. Ballet
• Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
• Ballets de Monte-Carlo
• Original Ballet Russe
• Bennington School of the Dance
• Ardent song (Choreographic work : Graham)
• Theatre for a voyage (Choreographic work : Graham)
• Song of Deborah (Choreographic work : Lang, P)
• Sex in dance
• Dancers > United States > 20th century
• Dance > Economic aspects
• Modern dance > England
• Copyright > Choreography
• Copyright infringement
• Choreographers > Professional ethics
• Costume
• Dance > History > 20th century
• Yoga
• Ballet dancers
• Choreography

Note

• Interviews conducted by Agnes de Mille as part of her research for the biography of Martha Graham entitled Martha.

Call Number

*MGZTC 3-1627

OCLC

NYPY95-R20

Author

Lang, Pearl, 1921-2009. Interviewee

Title

Interviews with Pearl Lang [sound recording]

Imprint

1982-1988.

Local Subject

Musical comedies. Greenwich Village follies.

Trade-unions -- Dancers.

Biblical characters in dance.

Modern dance -- Technique -- Denishawn.

Modern dance -- Technique -- Graham.

Dance ethnology.

Dance company tours.

Dancers as actors.

Phonotapes -- De Mille, A.

Phonotapes -- Lang, P.

Added Author

De Mille, Agnes. Interviewer

De Mille, Agnes. Martha.

DHCA.

Research Call Number

*MGZTC 3-1627