Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Tom Rawe [sound recording].

Author

Rawe, Tom.

Publication

2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Friedman, Jeff, 1956-

Description

2 v. (108 l.); 30 cm.

Summary

• Aug. 27, 2001; p. 1-19 [corresponds to cassette 1, side A]. Tom Rawe speaks with Jeff Friedman about driving a taxi all night and auditioning the next morning for Twyla Tharp's company [Twyla Tharp and Dancers]; the requirement in Tharp's rehearsals to understand quickly her demonstrations of a movement phrase and mirror it back to her with added detail; how watching the practiced motions of a baseball pitcher, playing tennis, and his engineering education influenced Rawe's search in the studio for energetic movement produced by the least muscular effort.
• Aug. 27, 2001; p. 19-37 [corresponds to cassette 1, side B]. Tom Rawe speaks with Jeff Friedman about his practice of working alone after rehearsal to solidify his memory and prepare for the next day; Rawe and Friedman discuss Tharp's work The fugue and its many directional changes; they explore the concept of doing without thinking; Rawe discusses his wife Jennifer Way's different approach to mastering choreography, and their dancing as partners; he recounts his youthful experience playing trumpet, which brought him to Interlochen Academy, where he switched his major to dance.
• Aug. 27, 2001; p. 37-46 [corresponds to cassette 2, side A. Side B was intentionally left blank]. Tom Rawe speaks with Jeff Friedman about the importance of repetition in order to master sequences and make their performance automatic; Tharp's work Sue's leg, in which Tharp made movement so difficult that it had to be solved freshly at each performance; what characterizes an effective opening work on a performance program; his interest in photography, and taking pictures of Tharp's work Deuce coupe.
• Aug. 29, 2001; p. 47-65 [corresponds to cassette 3, side A]. Tom Rawe speaks with Jeff Friedman about his and Jennifer Way's contributions to the movement style of Twyla Tharp's company; what qualities he misses in current stagings of Tharp's work, especially working out of the ground, momentum, and swing; the resistance of company dancers to a choreographer; improvisation as not interesting in performance but a fertile studio method for building variations of movement phrases; memories of Tharp's work Country dances (later retitled Happily ever after), created in tandem with Making television dance (for WNET's New television workshop); the density of steps and energy demands of Country dances; brief description of In the beginnings, an earlier television work by Tharp which Rawe performed as a solo; changes in the company to scripted, acted works.
• Aug. 29, 2001; p. 65-84 [corresponds to cassette 3, side B]. Tom Rawe speaks with Jeff Friedman about various dancers in Tharp's company, describing their special physical and acting skills; the Broadway musical Singing in the rain as a turning point in the Tharp company's history; touring in Tharp's work In the upper room, then completely leaving dance. Rawe and Friedman discuss the economics of dance life; Rawe describes his career transition during which he renovated buildings and returned to school to train as a physical therapist; his present work in physical therapy with children; his interest the methods of Moshé Feldenkrais.
• Aug. 29, 2001; p. 64-104 [corresponds to cassette 4, side A]. Tom Rawe continues to speak with Jeff Friedman about the Feldenkrais method and physical therapy; his satisfaction in working with people; his frustration at the time limitations and perceived profit motivation of workshops; how Tharp company members worked together and helped each other during the group's final five years; his childhood in Alfred, New York; his family; his alternating periods of engineering study and dance study; his eventual commitment to dance and total immersion in the company work; discussion of the impact of reduced public funding for dance; thoughts about his current life and future possibilities.
• Aug. 29, 2001; p. 104-108 [corresponds to cassette 4, side B]. Tom Rawe speaks with Jeff Friedman about the reluctance of Tharp to create an ongoing administration as compared to Mark Morris's establishment of a studio in Brooklyn, New York; his interactions with Tharp, his readiness to question and challenge her through movement, not words; his commitment to hard work and Tharp's respect for that effort.

Donor/Sponsor

Oral history archive.

Subject

• Rawe, Tom
• Tharp, Twyla
• Way, Jennifer
• Twyla Tharp and Dancers
• Fugue (Choreographic work : Tharp)
• Sue's leg (Choreographic work : Tharp)
• Happily ever after (Choreographic work : Tharp)
• Feldenkrais method
• Career changes
• Physical therapy

Note

• Typescript.
• Sound quality overall is good, but the voice of the interviewee, Tom Rawe, is soft, and the recording contains occasional extraneous noise.
• Interview with Tom Rawe conducted by Jeff Friedman on Aug. 27 and Aug. 29, 2001 at the Gowanus Arts Exchange, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Access (note)

• Open as of March 19, 2009.
• Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Source (note)

• Jeff Friedman.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-2569

OCLC

230820789

Author

Rawe, Tom. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Tom Rawe [sound recording].

Imprint

2001.

Access

Open as of March 19, 2009.

Local Note

The summary of contents is organized based on the pagination of the transcript with the corresponding audio material noted. The transcript contains a portion of the interview not contained in the audio cassettes held by the Library, specifically, side A of cassette 1. Neither the original audio recording nor the transcript of this interview were created by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The New York Public Library Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image holds a videocassette recording of this interview.

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Local Subject

Audiotapes -- Friedman, J.

Audiotapes -- Rawe, T.

Added Author

Friedman, Jeff, 1956- Interviewer

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-2569 [transcript]