Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Jerome Robbins. June 10, 1980 [sound recording]

Author

Robbins, Jerome

Publication

1980.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Gill, Brendan, 1914-1997

Description

1 sound disc (ca. 31 min.) : digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Track 1 (ca. 25 min.) [Begins abruptly; ca. 2 min. of sound tests; audio is poor at first, then becomes better.] In a interview conducted for the television program, An evening of Jerome Robbins' ballets, Jerome Robbins discusses collaborating with composer Leonard Bernstein on the ballet Fancy free (1944); his career as a dancer on Broadway and in ballet [break]; his various ballet roles; his decision to create a ballet about contemporary events; his various sources of inspiration for Afternoon of a faun (1953) [break]; George Balanchine's choreography. Robbins discusses the narrative structure of his ballet The cage (1951); the use of narrative in contemporary dance; his decision to give up dancing; the connection between music and dance; his evocation of Saul Steinberg's drawings in the ballet, The concert (1959); television's effect on the viewer's perception of time versus the perception of time in live ballet; choreographing for television versus the theater; dancers' use of a mirror to perfect their dancing; the "kinetic memory" of dancers and their role in dance reconstruction; the archiving and preservation of dance; his recent revival of Fancy free; the changes in the musical theater over time; logistics of casting dancers in a given ballet and the creative freedom afforded him by working in the ballet; closing comments on his activities outside of dance [ends abruptly].
• Track 2 (ca. 6 min.) Robbins responds to interview questions concerning his youth and education, giving up dancing to become a choreographer, the necessity for a choreographer to have been a dancer, the relationship of an empty stage to choreographic creation, the dancer's use of a mirror, the portrayal of dance on live television [ends abruptly, then tape rewind noise].

Series Statement

Jerome Robbins Collection

Uniform Title

Live from Studio 8H.

Alternative Title

Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

Robbins, Jerome > Interviews

Note

• Interview conducted by Brendan Gill on June 10, 1980.
• Title on container (handwritten): Live from Studio 8H: an evening with Jerome Robbins.

Access (note)

• Permission required.

Funding (note)

• Preservation made possible in part with public funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Source (note)

• WNET/13

Biography (note)

• On July 2, 1980, WNBC-TV telecast the second program in its series, Live from studio 8H, entitled An evening of Jerome Robbins' ballets. The program was produced by Alvin Cooperman and Judith De Paul. It featured five of Robbins' ballets performed by members of the New York City Ballet.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-3083 JRC

OCLC

NYPT03-R18

Author

Robbins, Jerome, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Jerome Robbins. June 10, 1980 [sound recording]

Imprint

1980.

Series

Jerome Robbins Collection

Access

Permission required.

Funding

Preservation made possible in part with public funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Local Note

For videorecording of the program, An evening of Jerome Robbins' ballets, see *MGZIA 4-36.

For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3083 JRC. The transcript was created by WNET/13 in connection with the documentary: Jerome Robbins: Something to dance about.

Archival transcript: *MGZMTO 3-3083 JRC.

Biography

On July 2, 1980, WNBC-TV telecast the second program in its series, Live from studio 8H, entitled An evening of Jerome Robbins' ballets. The program was produced by Alvin Cooperman and Judith De Paul. It featured five of Robbins' ballets performed by members of the New York City Ballet.

Local Note

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-3083 JRC nos. 1 and 2

Preservation master: *MGZTP 10-3083 JRC

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-3083 JRC

Source

Transcript Gift; WNET/13, 2008. NN-PD

Connect to:

Request Access to Special Collections (Dance Division) material

Local Subject

Audiotapes -- Robbins, J.

Ballet in television. Evening of Jerome Robbins' ballets.

Added Author

Gill, Brendan, 1914-1997, interviewer.

Added Title

Live from Studio 8H.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-3083 JRC