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Items Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04

Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04

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LIBRARY DIVISION
Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound

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COLLECTION
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials

This Item

Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04

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Title
Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04
Names
Merce Cunningham Dance Company (Associated name)
Komar, Chris (Interviewee)
Vaughan, David, 1924- (Interviewer)
Collection

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1982-06-04
Library locations
Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
Shelf locator: *LTC-A 1473
Topics
Komar, Chris
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Calcium light night (Choreographic work : Martins)
Duets (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Jour ou deux (Choreographic work : Cunningham, M)
Symphony in C (Choreographic work : Balanchine)
Choreography
Music and dance
Genres
Interviews
Notes
Content: 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).
Content: Title and date provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten note on original container and cassette.
Content: Handwritten note on original original container: "Chris Komar / Valda Setterfield". Handwritten note on original original cassette: "A. Chris Komar ; 4 June 1982".
Content: Contains side a of the archival original cassette.
Venue: Originally recorded in, [New York, New York], 1982 June 4.
Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical Description
Audiocassette
Extent: 1 audiocassette (40 minutes) : analog
Sound quality is mostly good; there are background noises and the recording volume lowers ca. 7:42.
Description
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.
Type of Resource
Sound recording
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 914487693
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20750281
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 7ab26770-b90a-0133-c3be-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

  • 1982: Created
  • 2025: Found by you!
  • 2026

MLA Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1982. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7ee2e5d0-b90a-0133-bc6a-60f81dd2b63c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7ee2e5d0-b90a-0133-bc6a-60f81dd2b63c

APA Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. (1982). Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04 Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7ee2e5d0-b90a-0133-bc6a-60f81dd2b63c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/7ee2e5d0-b90a-0133-bc6a-60f81dd2b63c | title= (sound recording) Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04, (1982)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=January 16, 2025 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Interview with Chris Komar, 1982-06-04