“These are expert improvisers, and in their gentle, speechlike interactions they keep discovering novel and fugitive beauty.”
Tether (2022)
Conceived and performed by
Angie Hauser, Darrell Jones, Bebe Miller
Music: John Cage, Dream (1948), with electronic improvisation
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Tether is an improvised dance, sparked by curiosity about Cunningham and Cage’s manner of exchange with each other and their collaborators and the evidence of the tethers they have left behind. The performers share a 20-plus-year creative scrutiny via dance-making together—Tether welcomes Cunningham as a fourth partner. The work asks: might Loops as a text amplify some aspect of the artists’ own shared practice? Could Cunningham’s notion of coexisting and predetermined materials serve as a trigger, a tether, for their own artistic interests? Adam Tendler’s rendition of Cage’s music acts as a parallel connection to the Cage/Cunningham conversation.
Tethered premiered as part of the shared concert Unavailable Memory presented by Baryshinkov Arts Center in New York City…
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents
Unavailable Memory: In Conversation with Cunningham & Cage
(World Premiere)
October 27-29, 2022
Unavailable Memory: In Conversation with Cunningham & Cage is an evening of dance and music presenting Totem Ancestor (1942) performed by Mac Twining and Loops (1971) performed by Molissa Fenley, Justin Lynch, and Chaery Moon, both by Merce Cunningham, and six piano compositions by John Cage performed by Adam Tendler. Presented in conversation with these historic works will be new choreography by four students from The Juilliard School, developed with mentorship from Jean Freebury and Melissa Toogood, telemetries3, a new sound composition by John King made in response to Gordon Mumma’s original score for Loops (1971), and the World Premiere of Tether created and performed by Bebe Miller, Angie Hauser, and Darrell Jones. Co-Produced by The Merce Cunningham Trust, Unavailable Memory: In Conversation with Cunningham & Cage presents a multi-faceted conversation between music and dance, youth and maturity, and reconstruction and invention
CREDITS
Conception and Curation: Patricia Lent and Adam Tendler
Juilliard Student Mentorship: Jean Freebury and Melissa Toogood
Lighting Designer: Davison Scandrett
Stage Manager: Stacey-Jo Marine
Company Manager: Piper Dye
Co-Produced by The Merce Cunningham Trust
PROGRAM
Totem Ancestor (1942)
Choreographer: Merce Cunningham
Music: John Cage, Totem Ancestor (1942)
Dancer: Mac Twining
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Stager: Daniel Madoff
Costume Designer: Charlotte Trowbridge
Totem Ancestor was first performed by Merce Cunningham on October 20, 1942 at the Humphrey-Weidman Studio Theatre in New York City. This month marks the 80th anniversary of that premiere.Costume courtesy of Peter Sparling and University of Michigan Museum of Art Totem Ancestor (1942) by Merce Cunningham © Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.
Loops for Three (1971/2022)
Choreographer: Merce Cunningham
Music: John King, telemetries3 (2022)
Dancers: Molissa Fenley, Justin Lynch, Chaery Moon
Musician: John King
Stager: Patricia Lent
Costume Designer: Jennifer Goggans
Loops was first performed by Merce Cunningham on December 3, 1971 at the Museum of Modern Art. The dance, which Cunningham described as “an event for a soloist” comprises a series of task-like segments called Slap, Chair, Shuffle, Slide, et cetera. For this production, Patricia Lent has drawn on archival resources to make a new arrangement for three dancers. The original music for Loops was Gordon Mumma’s composition Loops: Biophysical and Ambient Signals from FM Telemetry. John King’s new composition, telemetries3, is a continuation of Mumma’s idea to use heartbeats and breathing as the sonic and rhythmic component of the work. In this new version, the material is tripled, interacting and coalescing in randomly determined ways, at times coming directly from the dancers and at other times overlapping in more complex relationships.
Loops (1971) by Merce Cunningham © Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.
Caged Thoughts (World Premiere)
Choreographer and Dancer: Lindsay Phillips
Music: John Cage, A Valentine Out of Season (1944)
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Loops for Three (1971/2022)
to be done when leaving (World Premiere)
Choreographer: Griffin Massey
Dancers: Griffin Massey
Music: John Cage, The Unavailable Memory Of (1944)
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Loops for Three (1971/2022)
What will be, was. (World Premiere)
Choreographer and Dancer: Matthew Johnson
Music: John Cage, In the Name of the Holocaust (1942)
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Loops for Three (1971/2022)
Out of touch (World Premiere)
Choreographer and Dancer: Connor Freeman
Music: John Cage, Root of an Unfocus (1944)
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Tether (World Premiere)
Bebe Miller Company
Dancers: Angie Hauser, Darrell Jones, Bebe Miller
Music: John Cage, Dream (1948), with electronic improvisation
Pianist: Adam Tendler
Tether is an improvised dance, sparked by curiosity about Cunningham and Cage’s manner of exchange with each other and their collaborators and the evidence of the tethers they have left behind. The performers share a 20-plus-year creative scrutiny via dance-making together—Tether welcomes Cunningham as a fourth partner. The work asks: might Loops as a text amplify some aspect of the artists’ own shared practice? Could Cunningham’s notion of coexisting and predetermined materials serve as a trigger, a tether, for their own artistic interests? Adam Tendler’s rendition of Cage’s music acts as a parallel connection to the Cage/Cunningham conversation.
Program Running Time: 60 minutes