Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Alwin Nikolais [sound recording].

Author

Nikolais, Alwin.

Publication

1970.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

McDonagh, Don.

Description

2 sound discs (ca. 81 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Disc 1 (ca. 58 min.). [Begins abruptly.] Alwin Nikolais speaks with Don McDonagh about some of his early works including Choreography for Sabine women, Choreography for the world we live in, and Eight column line, including the sponsorship of the arts patron, Chick [Arthur Everett] Austin; his work The jazzy "20s"; his work Kaleidoscope, including its significance in his artistic development; his work Extrados; the various problems he encountered at the Henry Street Settlement including its poor physical condition and the administration's less than whole-hearted approval of Nikolais' programs; his scores, including the reasons he created his own; performing on tour, including adapting to stages of various sizes; the critical response to his work in Europe; performing his work Tent on tour; his childhood exposure to theater and vaudeville; his first venture into lighting design, including his homemade dimming device; his military service during World War II; his filming of his work for documentary purposes; when he uses plans or sketches, for example when filming for television; how he creates a sound tape; reasons he stopped choreographing dances with stories and specific characters and archetypes; critics and their reviews including Billy [Phyllis Winifred] Manchester, Margaret Lloyd, and H.T. Parker; Nikolais' impatience with critics who review his work solely as dance [ends abruptly].
• Disc 2 (ca.23 min.). Alwin Nikolais speaks with Don McDonagh about those of his works he particularly likes; creating work for television, including his first works, for the Steve Allen Show; technical innovations he introduced when filming for television and the resistance he encountered; his work for A time to dance [the Ford Foundation television series on WGBH-TV]; a portmanteau work he created for [the textile corporation] Spring Mills incorporating Pucci designs; future projects including a collaboration with Buckminster Fuller and a selection of his scores for a record to be released by Columbia Records.

Donor/Sponsor

• Oral history archive.
• New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008

Subjects

• Dance in motion pictures, television, etc
• Audiotapes > Nikolais, A
• Henry Street Settlement (New York, N.Y.)
• Nikolais, Alwin
• Time to dance

Note

• Interview with Alwin Nikolais conducted by Don McDonagh on April 13, 1970 in New York City, possibly at the Henry Street Settlement.
• Sound quality is fair overall. There is some distortion, and the recording is marred by extraneous noise, in particular by what appears to be a dance class or rehearsal, which is often quite loud.
• Open as of August 22, 2012.

Funding (note)

• Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.

Source (note)

• Don McDonagh

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2513

OCLC

319960637

Author

Nikolais, Alwin. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Alwin Nikolais [sound recording].

Imprint

1970.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2007-2008 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2007-2008.

Local Note

Spellings of the titles of some of Alwin Nikolais' works are taken from Don McDonagh's book The rise and fall and rise of modern dance, c1970, p. 196-200.

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-2513 nos. 1-2

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-2513

Source

Gift; Don McDonagh, 2007. NN-PD

Added Author

McDonagh, Don. Interviewer

McDonagh, Don. Donor

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2513 [sound disc]