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Items Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston

Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston

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Library division & collection with this item:

LIBRARY DIVISION
Jerome Robbins Dance Division

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COLLECTION
Merce Cunningham Video Archive

This Item

Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston

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Title
Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston
Names
Cunningham, Merce (Creator)
Wood, Marilyn, 1929- (Interviewee)
Swinston, Robert (Interviewer)
Collection

Merce Cunningham Video Archive

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 2007-06-19
Library locations
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Shelf locator: *MGZIDF 3731
Topics
Cunningham, Merce
Cage, John
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Marilyn Wood & the Celebrations Group
Artistic collaboration
Arts -- Experimental methods
Choreography
Site-specific art
Modern dance
Genres
Interviews
Notes
Content: Title taken from original container label.
Venue: Recorded 2007 June 19 location unknown.
Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical Description
Videocassette
Extent: 1 videocassette (miniDV) (81 min.) : sound, color ; 1/4 in.
Description
Marilyn Wood recounts her time as a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the late 50s and early 60s. She discusses her transition from art to dance student; her time at Henry Street upon first arriving in New York; meeting Merce Cunningham and John Cage; Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns' first show at Leo Castelli's gallery; Rauschenberg's decision to travel with the Company on tour. Wood then recounts her time with the Company on the road; their daily schedule in the bus while driving around the country; playing Scrabble with Cage; Rauschenberg doing his drawings for Dante's Inferno in the back of the bus; meeting Cunningham's family in Washington; performing in Berkeley and Sacramento; seeing Cage perform in Los Angeles and attending a show for Rauschenberg; performing at UCLA and the end of the tour; her pregnancy and departure from the Company; the Pocket Theatre and the premiere of Satie's Vexations. Wood circles back to the early years of the Company and discusses difficult criticism and audience reaction; the technical difficulty of Cunningham's choreography on the road to mastering it; the enjoyment that comes from performance once the movement was mastered. Wood then discusses the need for personal expression that arose after her departure from the Company; her decision to step off the stage and focus her creative work on the community and to take her energy from the street; the formation of Marilyn Wood & the Celebrations Group; her work with improvisational forms that were free, visible and accessible to anyone; building a dance vocabulary; choreographing her first major event at the Seagram building. Wood closes with gratitude for the enduring influence both Cage and Cunningham would come to have in her work.
Type of Resource
Moving image
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 905872740
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20590364
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 570fd670-4b4a-0133-1fe8-60f81dd2b63c
Rights Statement
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Item timeline of events

  • 2007: Created
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 2007. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5920d7c0-4b4a-0133-a3d5-60f81dd2b63c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed November 24, 2024. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5920d7c0-4b4a-0133-a3d5-60f81dd2b63c

APA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. (2007). Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston Retrieved from https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5920d7c0-4b4a-0133-a3d5-60f81dd2b63c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5920d7c0-4b4a-0133-a3d5-60f81dd2b63c | title= (moving image) Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston, (2007)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=November 24, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Marilyn Wood [interviewed] by [Robert] Swinston