Research Catalog
Interview with Katherine Dunham.
- Title
- Interview with Katherine Dunham. Nov. 18, 1999 [sound recording].
- Author
- Dunham, Katherine.
- Publication
- 1999.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person. | Audio | Use in library | *MGZTL 4-2714 | Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Found In
- Popular Balanchine collection.
- Description
- 1 sound disc (ca. 63 min.) : digital; 4 3/4 in.
- Summary
- [Testing of recording equipment and statement of date as November 18th]. Katherine Dunham and Constance Valis Hill speak about photographs they are looking at of the musical comedy Cabin in the sky; Dunham tells an anecdote about having to alter their costumes in Boston, Mass.; an anecdote about Dooley Wilson and Ethel Waters; more discussion of photographs; the song Honey in the honeycomb including the extent of George Balanchine's contribution to the choreography set to that scene; Balanchine's first seeing her company [Katherine Dunham Company] in Chicago; the influence on her style of her training with Ludmilla Speranzeva; Balanchine's idea, originally, to have a Russian song in the opening scene in Cabin in the sky; reminiscences of Balanchine and Vernon Duke; more on the choreography in Cabin in the sky; the nature of the collaboration with Balanchine including the origins of Balanchine's idea for the Egyptian ballet [the scene set to My old Virginia home on the Nile?]; [short gap]; more on the choreography of Honey in the honeycomb; the racism she encountered in Hollywood; her thoughts on the relationship between her Plantation dances and Agnes de Mille's Americana dances; her admiration for ballet and its role in her work; Balanchine, her work Octoroon ball, and racism in the U.S.; discussion of possible reconstruction of Honey in the honeycomb; tells an anecdote about Ethel Waters and the dance set to the song Dem bones; more on Honey in the honeycomb; how helpful Balanchine was to her; the influence of the Chauve Souris theatrical troupe on nightclub acts in the U.S.; not being consulted with respect to the film version of Cabin in the sky [ends abruptly].
- Donor/Sponsor
- Marianna L. Collins, 2010-2011.
- Alternative Title
- Popular Balanchine collection Audio materials.
- Subjects
- Note
- Interview with Katherine Dunham conducted by Constance Valis Hill on Nov. 18, 1999, in New York City. The interview was conducted as part of Hill's researching of the musical comedy Cabin in the sky in connection with the Popular Balanchine project.
- Sound quality is good to fair. There is a faint extraneous hiss due to distortion in the original recording, and Katherine Dunham's voice is occasionally difficult to understand. There is also occasional extraneous noise.
- Funding (note)
- Preservation was funded by Marianna L. Collins, 2010-2011.
- Source (note)
- George Balanchine Foundation.
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of: Popular Balanchine collection. Audio materials.
- Call Number
- *MGZTL 4-2714
- OCLC
- 755904596
- Author
- Dunham, Katherine. Interviewee
- Title
- Interview with Katherine Dunham. Nov. 18, 1999 [sound recording].
- Imprint
- 1999.
- Original Version
- Original format : 1 micro sound cassette (ca. 63 min.; 2 channels). Originally recorded in 1999.
- Funding
- Preservation was funded by Marianna L. Collins, 2010-2011.
- Linking Entry
- Forms part of: Popular Balanchine collection. Audio materials.
- Local Note
- Archive original: *MGZTCO 2-2714 (microcassette)A subsequent interview with Katherine Dunham conducted by Constance Valis Hill on Jan. 15, 2000, is cataloged in the Library's Oral History Archive under the call number: *MGZTL 4-2715.Related materials including a transcript of all or part of this interview may be found in the Library's archival collections cataloged under the subheading Cabin in the sky, in Popular Balanchine dossiers, 1927-2004; call number: *MGZMD 146. The transcript was prepared by the George Balanchine Foundation and may have been edited.
- Source
- Gift. George Balanchine Foundation.
- Added Author
- Hill, Constance Valis. InterviewerGeorge Balanchine Foundation. DonorOral history archive.
- Added Title
- Popular Balanchine collection Audio materials.
- Found In:
- Popular Balanchine collection.
- Research Call Number
- *MGZTL 4-2714