- Additional Authors
- Found In
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Description
- 1 streaming audio file (40 minutes) : digital, stereo
- Summary
- Chris Komar speaks with David Vaughan about his background in rock and roll music and ballroom dancing; he speaks about his dance training at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee; his reaction to seeing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for the first time in 1968; taking his first master class in Cunningham technique with Chase Robinson; seeing a performance of Second hand (1970) and his reasons for being drawn to Cunningham's works, especially the rhythmic aspects; his relationship to music and how he is drawn to movement; his approach to music in his own choreography; he speaks about reading Cunningham's Notes on choreography, and how it inspired him; briefly, the satisfaction he gets from teaching; assisting Cunningham in staging Duets (1980) on American Ballet Theatre; he speaks about how ballet dancers rely on the music to carry movement; the process by which ballet dancers incorporate Cunningham's choreography over time; Komar speaks about the history of ballet in the 20th century and current trends in ballet choreography; he speaks about Peter Martin's Calcium light night (1977); he speaks about ways that ballet choreography could develop and become more independent from music; Komar speaks about some of the exercises Cunningham gave in the 1981 choreography course at the University of Surrey that encouraged students to separate music and dance; he speaks about the use of tasks and musical cues in choreography, using Twyla Tharp as an example; he speaks about the ways he thinks ballet choreography can be more complex and creatively challenging; he speaks about George Balanchine and speculates on his working with a contemporary composer; his admiration of Balanchine's Symphony in C (1947); they speak briefly about choreographer Richard Alston; Komar speaks more about how ballet choreography can grow; he speaks about Cunningham choreographing Jour ou deux (1973) on the Paris Opéra Ballet and the success of it; he describes his day's activities.
- Alternative Title
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- Interviews.
- Sound recordings.
- Note
- David Vaughan interviews Chris Komar, probably in [New York, New York], on June 4, 1982. This interview was created as research for David Vaughan's book, Merce Cunningham: Fifty years (New York, Aperture).
- Title and date provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten note on original container and cassette.
- Handwritten note on original original container: "Chris Komar / Valda Setterfield". Handwritten note on original original cassette: "A. Chris Komar ; 4 June 1982".
- Contains side a of the archival original cassette.
- Sound quality is mostly good; there are background noises and the recording volume lowers ca. 7:42.
- Access (note)
- Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Source (note)
- Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation
- Linking Entry (note)
- Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Call Number
- *LTC-A 1473
- OCLC
- 914487693
- Author
Komar, Chris, interviewee.
- Title
Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04.
- Production
June 4, 1982.
- Playing Time
003936
- Type of Content
spoken word
- Type of Medium
audio
- Type of Carrier
audiocassette
online resource
- Digital File Characteristics
audio file
- Event
Originally recorded in, [New York, New York], 1982 June 4.
- Restricted Access
Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.
- Original Version
Archival original: (1 audio cassette (83 minutes) : analog) in *LTC-A 1473.
- Linking Entry
Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Local Note
Transferred from original analog cassette by George Blood Audio on March 26, 2015; two preservation files were created based on cassette sides.
- Source
Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Vaughan, David, 1924- interviewer.
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, donor.
- Added Title
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.
- Found In:
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.
- Research Call Number
*LTC-A 1473