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PULSE 1960 Dance in the Screen Media Inde x

Jean Renoir, Joanna Gewertz 3 CONVERSATION WITH RENOIR

Sidney Peterson 4 PHILIPPE OR THE FUTURE OF DANCE MOVIES

David Vaughan 8 DANCE IN THE CINEMA

Robert Graham 16 THE "DOCUMENTARY" DANCE FILM

19 RECORDING SESSION AT JUILLIARD SCHOOL

David Thayer 22 TELEVISION LIGHTING

Carol Levene 25 THE PRODUCER COMMENTS

26 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION

27 KQ E D

28 THE DANCE FILMS OF MARTHA GRAHAM

31 "DANCED ANTHROPOLOGY"

Martha Myers 32 "A TIME TO DANCE" - Dance Series for National Educational Television

38 Notes on JOHN BUTLER

Janet Mason 39 DANCE SEEN THROUGH THE "EYES" OF A TELEVISION CAMERA

Gerald Marans 42 TELEVISING DANCE - THE LOCAL SCENE

Daniel Nagrin 45 THE HIGH FIDELITY OF VISION

Nik Krevitsky 48 MAYA DEREN AND DANCE IN THE FILMIC MEDIUM

Welland Lathrop 50 TRIPTYCH - A Film Adaptation of a Dance

Rudy Bretz, Alma Hawkins 51 TELEVISION - A TOOL FOR TEACHING DANCE

54 Notes on PEARL LANG

55 Notes on ALWIN NIKOLAIS

56 RESOURCES anyone yet who didn't have a strong opinion about it — particularly those who don't watch it." When we began Prefac e working on this issue of IMPULSE, we were some­ what discouraged by this attitude. We found that many In selecting Dance in the Screen Media as the subject dancers have been prone to dismiss film and television for the 1960 issue, the editorial board of IMPULSE as inadequate substitutes for live performance, and was aware that it was undertaking a formidable task. indeed they are. A dancer has a good measure of To cover such a broad field is impossible. It is our masochism inthe makeup of his personality. He values hope that by asking specialists to speak from their ex­ the exhilarating muscular effort and control; the won­ perience and conviction, IMPULSE can be a stimu­ derful feeling of exhaustion that goes with dancing, not lating and controversial source for further experi­ to speak of the excitement of performing for a live mentation and activity in dance. A letter from the audience in the theatre. director of the Department of Education, San Juan, Puerto Rico already gives evidence of such interest: However, after nearly a year of concentrating on "The only film we have made that touches on dance is this area of dance performance and talking with people i La Plena which is actually in production. This film is who are dedicated to doing fine dance work on tele­ a documentary without words showing how one of vision and film, we find a trend among dancers toward Puerto Rico's mostvigorous art forms came intobe- greater acceptance of these comparatively new media. ing; through a blending of Spanish and African folk Among other things, notice has just been received of music. These folk songs, now a part of our culture, the National Dance Notation Conference which will in­ have influenced and inspired artists in many fields — clude a Panel Discussion on Filming of Dance, with one of them, the dance. I regret that there are no film illustrations, in which Shirley Clarke, Dwight others to bring to your attention. I have inquired of the Godwin, and Helen Rogers will participate. Institute of Culture and they also know of none. Per­ haps your inquiry may start us thinking." Choreographers have been using film for recording their dances since the early thirties, when techniques Film and television, which are really two different of photography consisted of reading and following the media, are inextricably related. They are both shown instructions on the Eastman Kodak film package. How­ on screens of various sizes. Sometimes a film which ever, many of the problems that beset the maker of has been made from any one of several points of view: dance films today were being considered at that time.* record, instructional, experimental, documentary, These record films of only "archeological" interest etc., will be shown on television. Then, again, a live were usually made for the purpose of checking on per­ television performance may be kinescoped and used formance and remembering repertoire. Colleges have later for film projection. used the device of filming advanced students' work in composition. In the forties and early fifties avant- Also, these media are both two dimensional. For garde examples of cinematographic choreography dancers, this is an apparently insoluble problem at the were made as experiments. outset. As our contributors point out, you cannot look at television and film inthe same way as you look at a The outlook for the future is exciting with many live performance. On the other hand, from the point of possibilities to investigate. view of the sympathetic onlooker, a strange adj ustment toward credulity is made in watching these two-di­ "Here Is a new art. For a few decades It seemed mensional performances. Unless a negative attitude is like nothing more than a new technical device in the sphere of drama, a new way of preserving and retailing maintained, the audience member begins to "believe" dramatic performances. But today Its development in much the same way as when looking at fine puppet has already belied this assumption. The screen is not theatre — vital, life size three dimensionality is en­ astage, and what is created in the conception and real­ dowed upon the performers. On the other hand, the ization of a film Is not a play. It is too early to sys­ tematize any theory of this new art, but even in Its pre­ huge screen used by some motion pictures demands sent pristine state it exhibits — quite beyond anydoubt, the opposite adjustment to bring the figures down to I think — not only a new technique, but a new poetic size. mode." * *

Snobbism about television is another factor to be considered. Terrence O' Flaherty, the television * Lewis Jacobs, "Toward Dance Films", Dance Observer, critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote in his Vol. I (June-July, 1934), p.l column of September 25, 1959, "Television like love ** Susanne K. Langer. Feeling and Form (New York: Charles and the weather is Everybody's business. I haven't met Scribner's Sons, 1953), p.411. National Educational Television has already offered This authority of images which is one of the charac­ subsidy for several kinds of dance programs: the beau­ teristics of our time poses the question of how to un­ tiful and evocative films of Martha Graham; A Time fetter the eyes that are looking at the screen. Choreo­ to Dance, the series for which Martha Myers was re­ graphers must consider who is looking. An audience sponsible; as well as the significant incorporation of must be given time to react. Perhaps part of the prob­ dance into the twelve programs of People are Taught lem is to discover how to provide that time. to be Different, which has been described as "danced anthropology." Itis a complicated business. People who see thea­ tre dance may be unhappy when they see the same dance filmed or televised. We cannot stress too much the Commercial television and film are giving increas­ fact that it is different. Sometimes, it works the other ing recognition to dance. This means not only that way. For instance, we saw Jose'Limon's The Moor's more people see dance, but that more dancers are em­ Pavane on film several times before seeing it on stage. ployed. The circle of more demand, more supply is For us the concert version was disappointing because beingformed and enlarged. But the broadening of the there was so much "waste space" around the dancers, base of film production is urgent. We cannot wait for and the marvelous intensity of the limited screen view commercial or educational television to investigate was diluted. Perhaps it has something to do with what and solve all of the problems. Dancers are going to constitutes one's first exposure. have to do it with friends with 16mm cameras, and make hundreds and hundreds of films. There could, We have gathered material concerning many as­ conceivably, be opportunites to work with videotape pects of the communication arts of television and film. since it can be erased if the work is not satisfactory. The attitudes, experiences and theories of dancers, Itis impossible to predict the techniques of communi­ choreographers, directors, producers, critics, in­ cation that may be discovered. dependent film makers, educators, specialists in technical areas, photographers, librarians and his­ Kafka tells us that the cinema disturbs vision be­ torians are presented as reflections of how they felt cause of the swift rhythm of the motions and changes and thought about these problems in the year 1960. of images. "We inevitably fail to see what is pro­ They are all concerned with making the dance image jected," he says. "It is not the eye that takes hold of more satisfactory to meet the perpetual challenge of the images, the images take hold of the eye." getting dance onto film. Marian Van Tuyl

Acknowledge ments

Cover: Layout by Lilly Weil Jaffe (Photograph by Roy Stevens made at rehearsal of OMNIBUS television performance "The Art of Choreography" featuring Agnes de Mille).

Print: from the collection of George Chaffee by courtesy of Aaron Ashby, Inc., New York.

Photographs by courtesy of: Dance Magazine, New York 8, 12, 14-15 Film Library, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 9, 11 Theatrical Research and Display, San Francisco 10 Columbia Pictures, New York 13 Station WQED-TV, Pittsburg 28 Nathan Kroll, New York 29-30 National Educational Television Center, New York 29 James F. Cayne from Black Star 32 Station KQED-TV, San Francisco 27, 42, 44 Barbara M. Marshall, Cambridge, Mass. 34-37, 46 Roy Stevens, New York 40 Harold Mack, Jr., San Francisco 50 Page Toles 54' David Berlin, New York 55. Unless otherwise noted, illustrations by courtesy of the authors. The text of this publication has been set on an International Business Machine Executive Typewriter on "Bold Face Number Two" type face. Printed by Chapman Press, San Francisco, California. / Conversation with Renoii as recorded by Joanna Gewertz There are two ways of talking about dance and the wonderful troupe in Paris — composed of Negroes. screen. One way is to consider what can bring dance It was the troupe that brought Josephine Baker to Paris. to a film. A second way is to consider dance as one of With the actors of this troupe I made a short little film. the many steps in education — an education which is I named it Charleston because the Charleston dance necessary for an actor. was the basis for the whole thing. It wasn't too good, but it was very interesting. I believe the film still Of course you can make pictures with many different exists in some cinematheques and in museums. elements. You can make pictures withpeoplewho are not actors. You can make documentary pictures which I have also a dance sequence in a French film French are good pictures —great pictures. One of the greatest Can-Can. At the end of the picture I shot a faithful re­ directors in history, is Robert Flaherty. He was one production of a Can-Can with very good dancers. Now of the masters of the movies, but he never worked with to shoot this sequence which goes 15 minutes — 15 min­ anactoror withadancer. He worked with people found utes of dancing without stopping is abig job — I relied in some Island inthe Pacific Ocean or some Eskimos almost entirely on the dance director, Mr. Grandjean.. inAlaska. Hewas a great director although his actors He was a wonderful technician, very severe, I must didn't know how to act or to speak. They only knew say. But the Can-Can is a fierce dance which requires how to be themselves. That is one way of making films. fantastic discipline. We did it with 24 dancers — girls of course. They worked while I was shootingthe rest But when you set out to shoot a picture which is an of the picture, for two months, four or five hours a expression of dramatic art — and this is not telling a day until the number was ready. Every morning be­ story the way a novel tells a story— you base the pic­ fore starting my shooting I used to see their work and ture on dramatic values. In this kind of picture it is add or eliminate. My main concern was to have their better to use actors who know their business and an rhythm match with the general rhythm of the show. actor who knows his business should also know how to dance. That is essential. The rhythm of a dance and the rhythm of a show are two absolutely different things. That is the big misun­ Let us talk for a few minutes about films based on derstanding between film people and dancers. It is that dance. I never saw one which was good but probably the rhythm of a film is something very special. I be­ films based on dance could be wonderful films. Up to lieve that to have a dance properly shown on the screen now, there has always been something missing. I've the dance director has to understand the rhythm of the seen wonderful bits of film based on dance, in Ameri­ film. It is, I repeat, what is done in the Minnelli pic­ can musical comedies. The Hollywood people have the tures and which makes them so good. In my picture I gift for good sequences about dance. I don't believe had to work very hard to reach an understanding be­ thatanybody will ever beat them. I admire especially tween my rhythm and the rhythm of the dance director. the musicals directed by Minnelli. His dance se­ Then, one insists on certain effects and does not insist quences are beautifully photographed and very clear. on other effects. Though some things are less good The public can understand the steps. The rhythm is than others for the screen, the camera must manage to good, the presentation is always very sensitive. catch everything. The actor must not work for the camera, the camera must work for the actor. To me the best dance films are the films of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin is not a dancer. He started in the With dance we have to compromise. We have to ask circus and probably his work as a kid with Valentine, from the dancer movements which are a little easier to the clown, was very close to dance. be admitted by the camera. For instance, the dance sequence in The River was done in one shot. It is the I made one film about dance which wasn't very good. Baratanatieh dance of Madras. Radha, the dancer is Thatwas right in the beginning of my career, very long- from Madras. She believes, as many Indians do, that ago in the silent days. It seems strange to make a film the disappearing art of the ancient dance is abig part, about dance without sound — it seems to be a contra­ and essential part, of Indian culture. She decided to diction. Well, I did it. It was in the early days of learn the Baratanatieh as a way of culture. Such a jazz — right after the war — about 1924. We had a dance is not done on a stage for a public. It is done in Jean Renoir, the renowned French film maker, has been guest lecturer at the University of California during the spring semester, 1960. a small building, often a temple. If it is in a temple, repetitions give a certain feeling which you cannot af­ you face the idol. If it is in a private house, you face ford in a film. The dance is a medium which is much the important guest. I thought it was best to shoot this slower than the film medium. Itis notso much a ques­ film from the point of view of the person who was sup­ tion of being slow or fast. It is a question of submitting posed to watch the dance. This is why I used one the medium to a severe sense of rhythm. In a film, camera and one angle. It was useless tobe elaborate when you have adopted a certain rhythm you must follow or to insist on certain gestures since the whole dance it, exactly like a watch — right up to the end of the is already conceived tobe clear. The Baratanatieh is film — to the word "end." not exactly a dance; it is a mime, a language. With your hands and your feet and your body you tell a There is only one thing which lam sure of in film­ story . . . it is more a language than a dance. ing a dance. It is that as much as we can, we must work with the real music, with the real band playing Outside of French Can-Can and The River I prac­ directly. There is some mystery of coincidence— of tically never filmed a real dance. In French Can-Can connectionbetween the band and the dancer. Perhaps the feeling of the dance was more important to me than some performances will be faster, some slower. The the dance itself. I was trying to capture the outburst rhythm will be slightly different and that's fascinating. of energy, the wildness of youth which is the Can-Can. I have the feeling that the use of mechanical music The Baratanatieh is more like filming a story told in a gives a perfect result — but itis cold. In the dance of different language. If I were to film a dance, I would Radha, in The River the Indian band was used directly like to try to do it in such a way that the dance would be and the sound was the sound in the film. the film itself. That means that I would like to get something close to mime-o-dram. The marriagebe- There is another consideration which makes the tween dance and filmis noteasy. That is probably why marriage between dance and film very difficult. It is up to now there are so few examples. And why is it so the fact that the dance is the expression of the entire difficult? body. When you watch a dancer you must be as in­ terested in her feet as in her face, the expression of A film is something like a watch, something which arms as well as eyes. We live, however, in a crowd rolls, something which goes on. And that is the ter­ society. There are so many faces to see, so many rible ordeal of film making. You are not allowed to expressions. We do not have the time or know how to have a pause. If you have a pause, the public doesn't understand the expression of the whole body. So that admitit. A dance is made of many pauses. Sometimes in the film of a dancer, we look at the face and the ex­ the pauses are even more important than the move­ pression of the whole body is missed. If we see the ment. You are allowed many repetitions in dance and whole body we are confused and a little embarrassed.

Philippe or The Future of Dance Movies

SIDNEY PETERSON

Inthe beginning, a deep and lasting alliance seemed be no less than the release of dance from its primitive inevitable. Performers posturing before cameras in condition. the backyards of inventors, who had succeeded in har­ nessing the persistence of vision to a mechanical de­ Sadly, the alliance did not come off. Something was vice for recording movement, heralded the dawn of a wrong. The camera recorded but it was more sym­ new age, the advent of a revolution which promised to pathetic to the movements of horses than to those of accomplish for the most ancient of the arts what the dancers. printing press had accomplished for the written word. Literature too had once been a performing medium. With the coming of television, choreographers, The promise of the motion picture camera appeared to cameramen and dancers, directors, producers, net-

Sidney Peterson, writer and film maker, was formerly television director at the Museum of Modern Art works, sponsors and even audiences, started over them and not be presented separately as a stupendous again, with an enthusiasm tempered by the memory of torso at the whim of an instrument with no respect at countless frustrations. The results have not been sen­ all for the stage picture. sational. It is, however, almost inconceivable that such persistence should go unrewarded. Obviously, Such effects are routine in film, in which, thanks the end is not yet. Besides, there is a glimmering. to the movement of the camera, it is not only the per­ It derives not from the more than half century of mutual former who moves but the audience, which, at one unrequitionbut from an earlier period inthe history of moment, may be perched in the uppermost gallery and, dance, from a time when a father took his ugly duckling at the next, breathing down the performer's neck. daughter to a teacher, who demanded, "Whatdoyou Film destroys the traditional relationship between the expect me to do with this little hunchback? " Where­ performer and the audience. It changes the picture, upon, Philippe Taglioni left, taking his Marie with him which it bestows upon us in assorted shapes and sizes and, together, they created the romantic ballet, in ranging from the mural immensity of the various which, as it were, the ballet was reformed in the image ramas and visions down to the cozy minuteness of the of the ugly duckling, who, in the eyes of posterity and smallest television screens. Drastic and unpredict­ the words of Haskell,". . . walked amongthe tree-tops able alterations of scale are inevitable. to gather a nest and moved across a meadow without disturbing ablade of grass, suggesting movementwith If the projected image is small enough, reduced, wings, never muscles ..." say, to the size of a postcard, the most solemn effects become ludicrous, automatically. Absolute size, we The maitre de ballet hero of this charming legend discover, has some sort of absolute importance. Mi­ had never heard of compensating for organic inferi­ nuteness is good for comedy. This is the exact opposite ority but, as an artist, he understood the importance of the stage requirement, which compels the comedian of limits. He understood thatthe art of the possible is to approach the footlights. Extreme intimacy, on the not limited to politics. Since it is obvious that dancers screen, as in a prolonged closeup, is never funny. It cannot supplant horses in those equine operas which may be grotesque. It may provoke laughter. But itis threaten to do for film what the Poetics of Aristotle not funny. once did for the legitimate stage, what can they do ? What is possible? What are the conditions of film for Such points are obvious and the problems involved In dance? What do existing dance films suggest as to coping with them are, roughly, similar to those en­ these conditions? How would a Taglioni, refusing to countered in filming a stage play. All sorts of changes accept the obvious, respond to the challenge of such are indicated. Theatricalism is not a commodity to questions? Do we have any Taglionis? which the screen is sympathetic, except — and this ex­ ception accounts for most of the successes achieved by A film is not, of course, simply a sprocketed strip dancers with film — when it is not the means but the of acetate. It is images on a screen. The dancers subject. There are no serious problems in putting, for perform on a vertical plane in accordance with the example, a ballet into film when the interest of the laws of the optique of cinema, which is not the same ballet is secondary, when the audience is more con­ as that of the theatre. Only minor adjustments are cerned with whether the ballerina, who is being played usually required to get a dance out of a studio onto a by a ballerina and who is suspected of having done stage. To translate from a stage to a screen is some­ violence to something other than her art, may, at any thing else again. The stage is fixed. Its dynamics are, moment, be charged with homicide by a detective who relatively, constant. Upstage is up, down down. The vaguely recalls Porfiry Petrovitch but who is really a center is always the focus of a peculiar importance that well-known supporting actor with two swimming pools has nothing to do with considerations of symmetry. and a supermarket, which do not, however, show. Lighting merely modifies the rigidities imposed by the This is, in a sense, the occupational approach to the architect. The control of theatrical distance, the re­ problem of filming dance. Dancers are people. People lation to the audience, is in the hands of the performer, are interesting. Therefore dancers are interesting who can play to any part of the house at will, who can people and, inthe light of that interest, an audience has performwiththe assurance that she, or he, is, in some a certain tolerance for what these interesting people sense, as fixed as the stage upon which he, or she, may do. cavorts, secure in the knowledge that his, or her, head will not suddenly and monstrously supplant everything A similar sanction is provided in documentary films else that is going on, that herfeetwill remain attached about well-known performers, who describe the nature to her legs and not start moving independently, thatthe of their art and employ movement to illustrate a per­ body that connects her limbs will go right on connecting sonality. Such films are not, of course, dances, they are indirect statements about dancing or dancers. audiences, no matter how emotionally exhausted by double bills, have anything like the increased sugar It isn't hard to make such indirect statements. content in their collective urine that characterizes They are made constantly. And successfully. And, groups devoted to spectator sports. Producers of doubtless, they will go on being made. A great deal dance films cannot depend upon such physiological re­ of so-called ethnic material is of this kind. The pro­ sponses for communication. Theymust, andtoalarge blems arise with attempts to make more direct state­ extent they already do, go inexactly the opposite direc­ ments , to produce films in which the two separate tion. It is as though they had replied to themselves, media are combined and, somehow, made one. after asking what they could do with this hunchback medium, by saying that they could suggest movement Everyone who has the slightest experience In this with wings, never muscles, that they could show per­ field of endeavour is appalled by the inadequacy of the formers walking among the tree tops to gather nests camera as a purely reproductive instrument. You and moving across meadows without disturbing the can't substitute such an instrument for a member of an grass. audience In a theatre and expect anything but a mon­ strous parody of a performance. The importance of It is, I think, a mistake to think of such effects as such record films is that they represent a slight im­ mere camera tricks. Everything the camera does is provement upon existing systems of notation; for some tricky. It is a trick to operate a camera at all. Put purposes, of course, notation may be better. They all the tricks together, combine them with dance and serve the purposes of choreographers in much the the results strongly suggest the possibility of a re­ same way that films of ball games serve the purposes surgence of the romanticism that once turned an ugly of coaches. They are not, in any serious sense, dance duckling into a swan. Naturally, there are differences films. between then and now. The Taglioni effect of effort­ lessness appealed to a leisure class composed of a I take it that a dance film is a filmed dance. What social elite. Inthe new age of leisure the size of that do such films suggest in relation to the problems of group has been expanded enormously. And it continues the conditions imposed, etc.? They strongly suggest, toexpand. Increasingly, machines do the work. Auto­ I think, a disciplined capitulation to and exploitation mation is around the corner. The desperate idealism of the reproducing medium. They suggest that the of the thirties, delighting in the movements of pistons choreographer, concerned with making a direct state­ and levers, is as obsolete as the primitive enjoyment ment in film, has no choice save to become a cinema- our ancestors once had, doubtless, from the inspired tographer. The alternative, so far as making film is flappings of the dodo. concerned, is to permit the cinematographer to be­ come a choreographer. The general idea is that anta­ I am not suggesting that itis immoral for a dancer gonisms between the two media maybe resolved by the to flap like a dodo or imitate a machine. Itis merely somewhat schizophrenic device of substituting one that film is extremely unsympathetic to such anti­ head for two. quarian emulations. One thing is certain. The dance film ofthe future, like that of the past, mayor may not This does not, of course, mean that choreographers be dance. It is sure to be film, or, of course, tape. concerned with film should rush out and buy a cinema­ tographer ' s handbook and bone up on the care and hand­ It would be pointless to try to spell out the possibi­ ling of film inthe arctic. It does mean that he, or she, lities here. Fil m making is a complex art and dancers, must become expert in the control of movement where as Doris Humphrey remarked in the chapter called it actually exists in film, on a screen. What goes on "Choreographers Are Special People," in her Art of before the camera is only half the battle. Much that Making Dances, are notoriously nonverbal thinkers. goes on cannot be captured by film. The choreographer However, precisely because choreographers are, as must know what can and cannot be captured. Miss Humphrey said they were, Special People, no­ thing is more likely than that they will end by adding One of the most obvious things about dance in film skill in the making of film to all the other skills they is the lack, to any important extent, of the communica­ traditionally possess. When that time comes, he, or tion of any sense of effort. The stage almost always she, will ask the important question not by saying, smells of sweat. Film never does. I don't know that "What do I believe in, what do I want to say?" but by any research has been done with film audiences com­ asking, "What can I believe in, what can I say?" When parable to that done long ago with audiences at football that day comes, I think that the odds will be strongly in games. It is extremely unlikely, however, that film favor of a veritable orgy of nest gathering. BOUVIER DCL

IM TIKE CJELEMMMTMB MMZLIET Dance in the Cinema DAVID VAUGHAN

Many writers on the aesthetic of the cinema have been tempted to draw an analogy between the film and ballet. Here is Roger Manvell in his Pelican book on Film: "The ballet with a story implies its narrative by mime and gesture, to which the music acts in precisely the same subsidiary capacity as the sound track of the film." This analogy is valid enough as far as it goes- taken further, most ingenious parallel resumes of the two arts, which dovetail almost too neatly, may be found in Anthony Asquith's article on "Ballet and the Film" in Footnotes to the Ballet (1936). Butwe should not accept Roger Manvell's remarks without a rather more careful examination of the similarities and dis­ similarities of the two media.

In fact, the film is a medium only superficially sym­ pathetic to ballet. A more tenable, because more ten­ tative, suggestion than Manvell's is made by George Balanchine in his "Notes on Choreography" published Gene Kelly and Vera Ellen In On the Town. Courtesy of Dance Magazine: in Dance Index (February-March 1945): "Dance is continually in motion and any single position of a ballet choreography specially adapted for the cinema; some is before the audience's eye for only a fleeting moment. interesting and useful effects could also be achieved by Perhaps the eye does not see motion, but only these trick photography and montage, used sparingly. stationary positions, like single frames in a cinema film, but memory combines each new image with the In his article, Asquith interestingly describes the preceding image, and the ballet is created by the re­ filming of the ballet sequences in his film Dance, lation of each of the positions, or movements, to those Pretty Lady, with choreography by Frederick Ashton, which precede and follow it." which would seem to have fulfilled most of these re­ quirements . But one might think that he had forgotten Put very simply, the salient characteristic of the his earlier film when he made Fanny by Gaslight, in ballet is that people dance, and the salient character­ which the short ballet sequence was treated in a very istic of the film is that the whole picture moves. It is pedestrian manner, besides being totally anachronistic obvious that any attempt to combine the two arts in­ in style. Nor did the recent remake of the Compton volves the problem of uniting two different types of Mackenzie story, Carnival, show any of the originality rhythmic movement. A compromise will be necessary, which characterized Asquith's version. On the other and it may be that either the choreographer or the hand, Cavalcanti's Champagne Charlie (1944) con­ director, or both, will have to give up some of his most tained the most successful treatments of theatre ballet cherished ideas. The only satisfactory solution is a that I have seen in films. Choreographed by Charlotte close and complete collaborationbetweenthetwo men, Bidmead, these charming pastiches of Victorian mu­ with each prepared to make concessions to the other. sic-hall ballet were beautifully photographed, with The choreographer must remember not only that the a sensitive feeling for the atmosphere of the gas-lit camera can move around and with the dancers, but also theatres of the time. that yet another kinetic dimension enters with the final editing of the film in sequences which bear a rhythmic The Hollywood attitude to ballet, at its worst, is relation to one another: the director must remember typified in Ben Hecht's Spectre of the Rose (1946). Not that the choreographic structure is related to a musical only did it commit all the usual faults made in filming structure, and that his cutting must not violate this re­ ballet, and a few more of its own, but its treatment of lation. There is no reason why a ballet based on a suit­ backstage life was crude and fantastic. On the other able theme should not be made along these lines, with hand, Jean Benoit-Levy's and Marie Epstein's La David Vaughan is an actor and dancer in New York City. This article is reprinted from the Winter 1948/9 issue of SEQUENCE, an English Independent Film Quarterly, by permission of Gavin Lambert, one of the editors of this Journal. Mort du Cygne (1938) did succeed in portraying ac­ have shown a step, such as a grand jete', in its class­ curately some aspects of the dancer's life. We may room use and then as itis used in, say, Les Sylphides, excuse the tasteless choreography by Serge Lifar given expressive significance by variety of accent, as being typical of the traditional Paris OpeYa style. combination with other steps, and so on. As a portrait of the life of a young ballet student, the recent British film The Little Ballerina was much less Except for instructional purposes, or for recording satisfactory, and the two ballets included were devoid a ballet (in the absence of a satisfactory method of of any interest, cinematic or choreographic. Steps of stenochoreography) it would seem to be an obvious the Ballet (Muir Matheson, 1948) does not attempt to be principle that you cannot make a successful film of an more than a straightforward instructional film, but it existing ballet that has been created for the theatre: but is too short tobe able to cover its subject in sufficient this principle is almost invariably ignored. This is detail. The short sequence in which Elaine Fifieldand borne out by the failure of such films as the two made Michael Boulton demonstrate the basic steps is, how­ by Jean Negulesco in 1941 of ballets by Massine, inthe ever, excellent. Andree Howard's ballet, the climax repertoire of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, Gaite'" of the picture, is fairly well photographed but the Parisienne and Capriccio Espagnol. In the former the choreography is far too restless and over-detailed: the dancing is generally visible only from under tables, best dancing in the film is wasted behind the credit or reflected in a convex mirror, and the cutting pays no titles. This was one case in which the use of a well- attention to the logic of Massine's choreography, jug­ known ballet would have been justified — thefilmcould gling capriciously with close-ups, medium and long shots, which show us now a leg, now one figure, now a Fred Astaire In the "Bojangles" sequence from Swing Time face, now a group. But, as John Martin has pointed (directed by George Stevens, RKO-Radlo, 1936). Courtesy out, the music is never treated in the same way in of The Museum of Modern Art Film Library. 10

films like this: "itis allowed, interestingly enough, to his own company, the American Ballet, to Hollywood, play along in full phrase and sequence." (Dance Index, to appear with Vera Zorina in Goldwyn Follies, for May 1945.) And Massine's facial expressions inGatte which he made two very interesting ballets. One was a Parisienne, which are meant to carry to the back of the satirical version of "Romeo and Juliet," in which the gallery and are of course admirably successful in so Capulets were balletomanes and the Montagues jazz doing, appear on the screen as meaningless and hid­ addicts; in characteristically Balanchinean counter­ eous grimaces — just as the invention of the close-up point the Capulets pirouetted across in front of the tap- at a decisive point in the film's history rendered ob­ dancing Montagues. And there were some beautiful solete the technique of mime which had previously been moments in the Water-Lily Ballet when the corps de used in the silent film. ballet were being blown about in a hurricane (the dra­ matic reason for which I forget). Perhaps because he These two films also raise the important question was allowed a freer hand in this production, his sub­ of the type of decor which is appropriate to ballet inthe sequent screen work was less satisfactory. The two cinema. Decor and costumes are rightly regarded as ballets in the film of On Your Toes (1939), "La Prin- an integral part of any ballet, yet on the screen dancers cesse Zenobia" (a parody of Scheherazade) and the fa­ are generally doomed to perform in a realistic built- mous "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," compare unfa­ up setting which cramps movement, and on a surface vourably with the stage originals: inevitably, subtle (apparently) of polished blackglass. It should be pos­ comic and dramatic effects were broadened. But the sible to design decor which would remain within the pas de deux in both ballets retained some of their orig­ non-realistic conventions of ballet, afford the dancers inal surprising beauty. For I Was an Adventuress enough room and a suitable surface for dancing, and (1940), in which Balanchine himself makes a brief ap­ still be suitable for filming; but no one has yet suc­ pearance, he arranged some excerpts from Le Lac des ceeded in doing this. Cygnes, adapting classic adagio in the Petipa-Ivanoff style for the camera with results that would have been The much-discussed ballet sequence in The Red more satisfactory had they not been ruined by vulgar Shoes, for instance, is completely dominated by Hein presentation — involving a decor with a chandelier Heckroth's designs. The total effect is not improved hanging in the middle of the forest, a prince in chain- by the weakness of Helpmann's choreography, such as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Top Hat itis. This comes in several different styles: borrow­ ings from ballets by Helpmann himself and by other choreographers, passages in an expressionist style of movement dictated by Heckroth's settings, and others based on a restricted repertoire of classical steps — while Massine contributes the well-known character dance he has given us in so many ballets, which ac­ cords badly with other elements, such as Helpmann's extraordinary preoccupation with priests. The film's total failure to achieve a balance between fantasy and reality is crystallized in this ballet sequence, chiefly because Powell and Pressburger (their increasing vulgarity apart) are incapable of making the necessary distinctions between what is appropriate for a ballet supposed to be taking place on a stage, and a fantasy conceived in terms of the cinema, in which experi­ ments in decor, both animated and static, lighting and montage, may be introduced. The various fragments from well-known ballets included in The Red Shoes are too short to be anything but straightforward.

Undoubtedly one reason why ballet films are nearly always so bad is that producers seldom take the trouble to engage a good choreographer. The only choreo­ grapher of any importance who has worked frequently for films is George Balanchine, who in 1929 arranged a ballet for inclusion in a film called Dark Red Roses, directed by Sinclair Hill at Teddington Studios, in which Lopokova and Dolin appeared. In 1938 he took 11

beenfilms of different types of dancing —ethnological, social and theatrical. George Amberg has compiled A Catalogue of Dance Films (Dance Index, May 1945), which does not pretend to be complete (it omits com­ mercial features in which isolated dance sequences appear), and yet lists over 700 items, some of them made as early as 1897.

Other forms of dancing than ballet have been treated with much greater success in the cinema. Knicker­ bocker Holiday, an otherwise insipid little musical, suddenly quickened into fire and passion in a magnif­ icently photographed and totally irrelevant dance by the Spanish gypsy dancer Carmen Amaya. Basil Wright's Song of Ceylon contained some exciting shots of the Kandyan dancers, and a fascinating scene taken at a village dancing-school. The Negro musical Stormy Weather had, as well as the fine tap-dancing of Bill Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers, some interesting work by Katherine Dunham and her superb group, in which orthodox ballet technique was blended with "modern" movement, and the style developed by the choreographer on the basis of her extensive research into Negro ethnological dance. There was an original scene in Duvivier's The Great Waltz, in which not only the dancers but the camera itself waltzed dizzily to Strauss' "Tales from the Vienna Woods." It was surprising to find in They Were Sisters a brilliantly accurate reconstruction of a the dansant, circa 1919 , in which Anne Crawford danced an expert tango. The Vera Zorlna in "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" from On Your Charleston has been handsomely treated in films as Toes. Courtesyof The Museum of Modern Art Film Library. diverse as Margie and This Happy Breed; and there mail, some real swans and a lot of water. The "Black was of course Joan Crawford's unforgettable perform­ Magic" number in Star-Spangled Rhythm (1942) — a ance of it in Our Dancing Daughters (1928). And since solo for Zorina —was a travesty of Balanchine's gen­ mime is an important subdivision of dance, one should ius. He also started rehearsals for a projected film also mention the mime sequences by Jean-Louis of The Life and Loves of Anna Pavlova which has, per­ Barrault, particularly the first, in Les Enfants du haps fortunately, been shelved. Balanchine is the Paradis, which brought new life to a technique fast be­ greatest living choreographer, and has given some coming moribund. Finally, as an example of the way thought to the problems of film-ballet: itis a pity that in which dancing may be used not for its own sake but he has never been allowed to put all his ideas into prac­ to heighten tension at a climax, one may instance the tice. As it is, the films he has choreographed are Tarantella sequence from Gremillon's Lumiere d'Ete. more nearly successful than any others. m If, in the future, ballet is to be more successfully integrated into films, it will most probably have to be Ever since the advent of sound, the musical, withits used as a comment on a situation, as dancing of another dances usually based on ballroom and musical comedy kind has been successfully used by Astaire and Kelly. techniques, has been one of the most popular and ster­ Only thus can directors and choreographers convinc­ eotyped kinds of film. We all remember those spec­ ingly free themselves of stage conventions, which, tacular musicals sotypicalofthe30's, of which Forty - whether they are too slavishly obeyed or too flagrantly Second Street is perhaps the best example, with their ignored, impose equally artificial limitations on ballet strenuously optimistic songs ("I'm Young and Healthy," in the cinema at present. "With Plenty of Money and You") and their myriads of identical chorines' mechanically going through their well-drilled paces. The skill of Busby Berkeley, n dance director of many of these films, lies in his ability Since the earliest days of the cinema there have to manoeuvre enormous choruses about vast sets, 12

Buzz Miller, Carol Haneyand Kenneth LeRoy in "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game (Warner Bros., 1957). Courtesy of Dance Magazine

rather than in any genuine creative power in dance- was danced in a park band stand, the "Yam" in Carefree forms — indeed, his chorus girls sometimes hardly on a club dance floor. These and many others of their even moved. As Arthur Knight has pointed out in an dances prove that it is possible to achieve original article, "Dancing inFilms" (DanceIndex, 1947), "with effects by means of inventive choreography and an ex­ human bodies he produced forms as abstract as ever pressive camera. None of Fred Astaire's later part­ were found in the most abstract films of the avant- ners has satisfactorily replaced Ginger Rogers, and on garde." the whole his later films have lacked the earlier gaiety and charm; though his own solo numbers, like the ebul­ On a higher level, there is the wonderful series of lient "Puttin' on the Ritz" in Blue Skies, have not di­ Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers films, from Flying Down minished in brilliance. Starting as the conventional to Rio to The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, which male partner of a dance team, Astaire later widened represent the best single achievement of the cinema in his range until he was able to express in dancing not the field of dancing. The dance numbers in their films onlythe irresponsibility of a number like "No Strings" were not only excellent choreographically, they were from Top Hat, but also the almost elegiac mood of also filmed with imagination — for instance, the "Never Gonna Dance" (in Swing Time) and "OneforMy Bojangles number in Swing Time, with its brilliant Baby" (in The Sky's the Limit): at the same time, he counterpoint between Astaire and his three shadows. has continued to develop his technique to such an extent The best dances inthe Astaire-Rogers films were al­ that he was able to work successfully with Eugene ways conceived in terms of the cinema, not of the Loring, one of Balanchine's talented American pu­ theatre — nor were they performed in sets as large as pils, who choreographed Minnelli's Yolanda and the aerodromes. "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" in Top Hat Thief for Astaire. 13

Occasionally work by good solo dancers can be found work, what distinguished Cover Girl from the routine within the framework of an otherwise conventional technicolor extravaganza was the dancing, and partic­ musical. Marc Piatt, who graduated to Hollywood ularly Kelly's famous dance with his alter ego, which from the Russian Ballet, via Oklahoma!, made his film was more than a clever piece of trick photography. debut in this way, in To-night and Every Night. If he Already in the Astaire-Rogers films there had been succeeds in finding a satisfactory individual style for dances which evolved naturally from the story: Kelly's the films his departure from the ballet will not have dance in Cover Girl carried this idea to its logical con­ been entirely disastrous, but there is a danger that his clusion, and let the dance express and resolve a con­ talent will be swamped in technicolor trappings — his flict in the mind of the character he was portraying. dancing, at any rate, in Down to Earth, has been re­ Another wonderful number was the dance by Kelly, duced to a sadly subsidiary role. Paul Draper, whose Hayworth and Phil Silvers, in which the street became only previous film appearance, in one of RubyKeeler's the decor for a dance representing an irrepressible less notable vehicles, gave no indication of his highly joie de vivre. Kelly's next important appearance was original talent, now attains success in the film of in Anchors Aweigh, in which he performed four out­ Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, inthe role created standing dances: duets with Frank Sinatra ("I Begged by Gene Kelly. Her"), with acartoon mouse (a much more successful combination of live and animated figures than any so Kelly's first screen appearances, in such films far effected by Disney), and with a little girl called as For Me and My Gal, Dubarry Was a Lady, and Sharon McManus; and atremendously exciting Spanish Thousands Cheer, were not especially remark­ solo in which he combined Spanish taconeo with modern able^ It was not until he played the lead opposite Rita tap technique. This was marred only by the use of Hayworth in Cover Girl that he really came into his own banal music and the unfortunate Tarzan acrobatics at as a dancer on the films. Apart from Mate's camera­ the climax. In Living in a Big Way, a charming and

Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh in the "Conga* from My Sister Eileen. (Columbia, 1955). Courtesy of Columbia Pictures. 14

in their different ways; and Meet Me in St. Louis is the only film which has so far successfully adapted to the needs of the cinema the new conception of lyric theatre recently evolved in America, of which Oklahoma! is still the best example. Meet Me in St. Louis was no­ tably successful in integrating story and dance: the "Skip to My Lou" number in the party scene was a choreographically conceived dance, a heightened ver­ sion of contemporary American social dancing, which gave far more to the general atmosphere of excitement and gaiety than an exact and unimaginative reconstruc­ tion of the dances in question would have done. The choreography was by Charles Walters. Other pro­ ducers have made half-hearted attempts to repeat the success of Meet Me in St. Louis, such as the dreary Centennial Summer, and have failed to capture the freshness and originality of Minnelli's film. But Rouben Mamoulian's Summer Holiday, in a similar genre, has a style of its own. The dance director is Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. again Charles Walters: the two dance sequences (both Courtesy of Dance Magazine. out of doors) are simple but very effective. unpretentious comedy, Kelly performed a dance witha statue which is one of his best creations, and another The lukewarm reception given to The Pirate by based on children's games (such as "In and Out the critics is the more surprising since it followed so Windows") which demonstrates the truth of Arthur closelyuponTheRed Shoes, to which it is far superior. Knight's observation that Kelly always dances people, The dazzling virtuosity of the big dance sequences, the expressing "their happiness or their sorrow in terms complete assurance with which Minnelli handles large of the dance." It is in this that his greatness lies. crowds, the economy of technical means, and above Kelly's own words on the subject of dancing in films all the use of colour and lighting, are especially con­ (quoted in Dance magazine, February 1947) are re­ spicuous in the "Pirate" ballet. vealing: "Do not look to the motion picture, in its pre­ sent state, to develop the arts. But on the brighter In Minnelli's films the distinction — always an arbi­ side, look to it to popularize them and to raise the level trary one — between ballet and other forms of dancing, of appreciation . . . Dancing for the movies ... is becomes more difficult todefine:a healthy sign, since very stimulating to the individual dancer. Spectacle the tendency to put various types of dancing into pigeon­ will always attract and entertain a certain percentage holes labelled "Ballet," "Tap," "Modern," and so on, of the people, but, in my opinion, it is the cheapest and everywhere threatens to stultify the development of lowest form of presentation. It represents the nadir dancing. In The Pirate, with a dancer like Kelly to of American art. Group dancing and divertissement work with, Minnelli has come very near to achieving will always have their place, but can never, because one's ideal of a dance film — that is, a film which of mechanical difficulties, have the interest of a dance dances all the time, and not merely in its spectacular characterization by an individual on the screen." set-pieces. Minnelli often makes bold use of stylized movement, which perfectly matches the delicious fan­ Kelly's performance in The Pirate is a tour de force tasy of plot and setting. It is to be hoped that he con­ in which he takes tightrope walking and some beauti- tinues working on these lines — working with Kelly fullytimed jujitsu in his stride, as well as giving some again: or perhaps with Balanchine, or collaborating of his most original dances so far. Inthe "Nina* num­ with Katherine Dunham in a screen dance revue. Then ber, forexample, he performs Spanish turns which are we shall see something magnificent. hardly less brilliant than Luisillo's, and uses many "modern" steps, proving once more that he is an ex­ pert in these techniques, as he clearly is in the tech­ nique of ballet. Postscript 1960

Vincente Minnelli , director of The Pirate, is the The general tone of the foregoing article is opti­ most original director of musicals in Hollywood. Cabin mistic: not simply because it was written a dozen years in the Sky and The Ziegfeld Follies were both unusual ago, but because dancing at that time finally seemed 15 to be coming into its own in the cinema. And the ap­ Melvin (Don Weis), the last of the low-budget musicals. pearance of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's first film, But 1953 was the last year BC —before CinemaScope. On the Town, some eighteen months later, seemed to justify all one's optimism: in an enthusiastic review in The technical development of CinemaScope, Vista- SEQUENCE, I proclaimed that the American Lyric Vision, and the rest was prompted solely by com- Cinema had arrived. merical considerations, to give cinema screens some­ thing that television had not. The effect of all this Unfortunately, having arrived, the American Lyric on the art of the cinema has been, almost without Cinema went rapidly into a decline. A process of mitigation, disastrous. Instead of what Gene Kelly vulgarization began, as the big set-piece "Ballet" that has justly called the "classic proportions" of the old became de rigeur as the climax of any big musical -this screen, we now have the wide screen — the too-wide was already the least satisfactory part of On the Town - screen — useful only for the most unselective realism, grew longer, more pretentious, and less pointful: e.g. with acres of dead space reducing the expressive power the tableaux vivants from familiar Impressionist and of the close-up, and the sheer size of the picture post-Impressionist paintings in An American in Paris making the film's rhythm blundering and unwieldy, (Minnelli and Kelly, 1951) and the "Broadway" ballet since fluency of camera movement and swiftness of in Singing' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen, 1951), totally cutting are no longer feasible. anachronistic for a film set in the era of the early talkies, with Cyd Charisse trailing yards of tulle in a Among the first MGM musicals in CinemaScope surrealist setting — these were not entirely offset by were Brigadoon (Minnelli-Kelly, 1954) and Seven the simple and familiar charm of numbers like Kelly's Brides for Seven Brothers (Donen-Kidd, 1954). The dance in the rain. latter was of course to a large extent redeemed by its exciting dancing, but both of these films had depres- The MGM musical — and really the MGM musical singly studiose sets and hideous color photography was the American Lyric Cinema —saw a brief renais­ (Donen's original plans for Seven Brides called for sance in 1953 with Minnelli's stylish The Band Wagon location shooting and a musical score derived from folk (choreography by Michael Kidd, designs by Oliver songs). Brigadoon also ushered in an era of grandiose Smith; starring Fred Astaire and Jack Buchanan) and movie versions of Broadway successes, transferred in two minor but engaging films, Give a Girl a Break to the screen with a minimum of essential change; (Donen; choreography by Gower Champion) and I Love Carousel, Oklahoma!, The King and I, South Pacific,

Galina Ulanova as Giselle, loses her reason, after discovery that Albert has deceived her. From the film The Bolshol Ballet, directed by Paul Czinner and released through J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors. Courtesy of Dance Magazine. 16

Guys and Dolls, Kismet, The Pajama Game, Damn Occasionally, even now, an original musical does Yankees. Of course there is a greater or lesser de­ find its way to the screen. One remembers with gra­ gree of cinematic sophistication, depending on the di­ titude and affection Richard Quine' s musical remake of rector — thus Zinnemann and Mankiewicz did impose My Sister Eileen, especially for Betty Garrett and for some visual style on their movies of Oklahoma 1, and the simplicity, gaiety, and charm of Fosse's dances. Guys and Dolls respectively, while Walter Lang's The Cukor's A Star is Born, Judy Garland's magnificent King and I remains flatly stagey throughout. In the case screen swan-song, was one of the few films to dis­ of The Pajama Game the collaboration of Donen with cover imaginative possibilities in the CinemaScope the director (George Abbott) and choreographer (Bob screen; his Les Girls was, except for Kay Kendall a Fosse) of the stage original did produce a genuine disappointment, with Kelly at his least ingratiating and translation into cinematic terms, especially in the Jack Cole's choreography cold, ugly, and pretentious. opening scene in the factory, with its speeded-up Donen's Funny Face, for all its disagreeable anti-in- photography, and inthe picnic dance, shot in the open tellectualism, presented Astaire at his most elegant: air with an agreeably informal and improvisatory at­ the ravishing pastoral duet with Audrey Hepburn mosphere. The same directorial-choreographic team reached an intensity of sweet lyricism that showed that did not succeed however in bringing any real distinc­ poetry is still possible in the musical film. Finally, tion to Damn Yankees, beyond what was given by Gwen one may mention Minnelli's welcome return to some­ Verdon. thing like his earlier form in Gigi, though this film contains no dancing to speak of. About the time of the advent of wide screens, Gene Kelly was completing work on a favorite project, an Little space remains to comment on the various all-dance movie consisting of three half-hour ballets, ballet films made since 1948. In Soviet Russia there Invitation to the Dance. Because of this unlucky timing, have been many films of the different ballet companies, his film was not shown for two years. When it finally ranging from the ambitious full-length versions of the appeared, it proved to be a sadly mistaken venture. Bolshoi Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake to those diver­ Choreographically, the ballets were jejune and their tissements with titles like Gala Festival that afford subject-matter was banal: few of the excellent danc­ usually tantalising glimpses of dancers and ballets — ers (such as Diana Adams, Igor Youskevitch, Claire such as the pas de deux from Chopiniana danced by Sombert) appeared to any advantage, least of all Kelly Ulanova and Preobrazhensky in Concert of Stars. himself, whose performance was at times embar­ However, the most satisfactory photographic record rassingly self-indulgent. In 1955 he returned to col­ of Ulanova and the Bolshoi was made in England, by laboration with Donen in Its Always Fair Weather, Paul Czinner —The Bolshoi Ballet (1956), consisting which dashed one's hopes by being a jaded post-war of an abridged version of Giselle plus some shorter sequel to On the Town, witha continued deterioration highlights from the repertoire. With all its cinematic in Kelly's choreography and presentation of his own imperfections - one camera is consistently out of focus personality. One bright spot was the performance of and the sound recording is faulty — this film does suc­ Michael Kidd in an auspicious screen debut. ceed in capturing an authentic theatrical atmosphere.

The "Documentary" Dance Film ROBERT GRAHAM

From time to time, as a matter of record for ar­ film, then, makes no attempt to adapt or change the chives or for analysis for teaching purposes, a choreo­ dance to film dimension by means of zooms, floor an­ grapher will require a "documentary" film of a solo or gles, extreme close-ups or other "effect" devices. If group composition. By "documentary" or record film movement alone is important, the film may be silent. one refers to a continuous uninterrupted screening of If sound accompaniment is desired, the type of record­ the dance as seen from the orchestra seats. The record ing will be determined, usually, by the kind of reprp- duction equipment available. Robert Graham is Coordinator of Production in the Creative Arts Division at San Francisco State College. 17

Contrary to the enormous amount of time, money, These photofloods should be placed at what would be and equipment usually required when we are "filming the down stage position with regard to the dance area the dance," the record film may be made witha mini­ and located approximately 12 to 14 feet in the air. A mum of all of these components. The camera operator portable volleyball stand on a table might be used to should be aware that no interpretation of mood or em­ get the lighting reflectors properly elevated. With two phasis of the dance is required for this type of filming. reflectors on either side of the dance area, a suf­ The dancers, in turn, should be directed to move at ficiently smooth pattern of light will be achieved if "concert pitch." Every effort should be made to have one of the reflectors on each side is aimed at the op­ all the elements of the dance at performance level, posite side of the filming area approximately center costumes freshly pressed, all make-up carefully ap­ and tipped down at a 45-degree angle. The second re­ plied, and propertyand scenic items placed inthe re­ flector on each side should be aimed at the center of hearsed positions. All persons present at the filming the back wall and elevated slightly above the 45 -degree session must be prepared to concentrate intensely with angle but never directly horizontal. Reflectors should a minimum of off-camera exhibitionism, which in­ be wide bowl or television "scoop" type rather than evitably results in wasted film and undesirable emo­ narrow deep reflectors to provide for maximum dis­ tional tensions. semination of the illumination. If the choreographic The minimum space required for dance movement pattern requires dancers to work down center close to will be an area approximately 25 feet wide by 15 feet the front of the dance area in relation to the camera, in depth. Slightly larger area may be utilized if the the lighting units may need to be moved closer to the camera to be used is equipped with a lens with a suf­ camera position to provide more front lighting for the ficient aperture to allow for the drop in light value as dancers. The camera operator must be extremely the space is increased. The height of the area should careful not to pick up the reflectors in his frame as be approximately 20 feet unencumbered by any over­ the camera is moving horizontally, in the event that hanging beams or projections which will be picked up the units are not masked by a drape leg. in the camera frame. The clear space in front of the dance area should extend 30 to 40 feet to the camera Two 15-ampere circuits are required for these position. For optimum clarity in the film the dance lighting fixtures. Each pair of #4 photofloods will con­ space should be backed by a flat-painted clear white sume 15 amperes of power, and additional lamps on wall or light-colored wall somewhat wider than the the same circuit will result in blown fuses or breakers. dance area used, and 15 to 20 feet high. A standard Extensions running from wall outlets to the photo­ drape setting of wings and rear drape panel is feasible floods should be number 14 wire if both lamps are oper­ providing the drapes are of a medium gray value or ating on a single extension, or number 16 wire if each lighter, but, in no case, for this type of film work lamp is running on a separate extension from the wall should a black drape setting be utilized. Occasionally, outlet. Number 16 wire suitable for such an extension a dance which has been rehearsed for a larger pre­ may be purchased from any reputable electrical supply sentation area will have to be re-blocked for the film­ store. It is similar in appearance to the standard "rip" ing. Several rehearsals may be required until the cord used for domestic extensions but is somewhat dancers are confident in the space available. These larger in diameter, hi the event record films are to rehearsals should be viewed by the camera operator be made in color, using high-speed tungsten color through the view finder to insure complete coverage, films, additional #4 photofloods will be required and as lateral movement of the camera, known as "pan­ additional circuits necessarily employed. The loca­ ning," may be required to include all the movement. tion of the lamps can be approximately as previously With the standard 25 mm, or one-inch, lens, available described, but for color purposes it would be prefer­ on most 16mm motion picture cameras, the field of able to install the additional lamps overhead in a direct view under these conditions should be approximately line between the two towers on either side of the dance three-fourths of the width of the opening, thus min­ area and to point them down at approximately a 45-de­ imum panning will be required. The height of the gree angle. Four additional lamps of the type de­ frame will be ample to allow for any vertical move­ scribed will provide sufficient illumination for a col­ ment of dancers in the event platforms or elevations or film having an A. S. A. index of 100 or better. It are used in the dance area. should be emphasized, however, that the use of color film for record purposes will increase the cost con­ Lighting effects should be held to a minimum, as siderably and, under these conditions, the fidelity of the usual stage lighting equipment utilized for dance color reproduction may not always be optimum. The production will rarely be sufficiently intense for mo­ lamps should be turned off during any extensive peri­ tion picture exposure. Sufficient lighting for high­ ods of rehearsal as they deteriorate with use and should speed black-and-white films can be provided with be replaced after approximately two hours of burning four #4 photofloods in standard photo reflector units. if color is used and after three hours for black-and- 18

white film. The photofloods may be purchased at ap- sure meter should be held within approximately one approximately $5. 00 for four lamps, and if reflectors foot of the face of the dancer and a meter reading taken. and stands are not readily available, they may be rent­ Moving through the dance space, readings should be ed from stage lighting or television supply companies. taken of the dancer's face in several positions in the area and also readings taken of the costume and the In the event a 16mm camera is not available through drapery setting. The median point between the highest audio-visual sources it may also be rented from a ca­ reading and the lowest reading under these conditions mera supply company. The camera used must have should be determined as the optimum general light the following characteristics: a25mm, one-inch, lens reading. Normally, this will prove to be approxi­ with an aperture of F2.8 or F 1.9, a through-the-lens mately F 4.5 on the camera scale in the case of four view finder at least for lining-up purposes, a running photofloods and using Tri-X film. Having set the ,F speed of 24 frames per second or "sound" speed, and stop on the camera according to the meter reading, the a running time of 30 seconds to one minute per wind­ operator should then measure the distance from the ing. While magazine cameras can be used, it is pre­ camera position to the dance area and set the distance ferable that the camera hold the standard 100-foot reel scale accordingly. If the camera is equipped with a of film. In addition, a sturdy tripod should be obtained reflex view finder, the operator should check the focus to minimize camera movement. To guarantee ade­ visually as well. At this point the intended dance ac­ quate film exposure an accurate exposure meter pro­ tion should be rehearsed while the operator follows it vided with A. S. A. index data is necessary. Obviously, through the view finder, timing the length of the se­ the longer the camera will run on one winding the fewer quence with a stop watch against the amount of running the number of "takes " will be required to film a dance. time on one winding of the camera. When the per­ When funds are available, it will be found helpful to formers are ready the first sequence can be filmed by rent an electric drive suitable for the style of camera starting the action on a three-count, "1" being the to be used. The electric drive will make it possible ready count, "2" being the camera starting, and "3" to operate the camera for the full three minutes or the beingthe cue to begin the dance. The dancer or dancers 100 feet of film it contains. should be warned that at the pre-determined phrase ending they should remain in floor position prepared While it may seem somewhat expensive to operate to continue the dance after the camera is re-wound. the camera at sound speed or 24 frames per second After several rehearsals it will be found that it is ratherthan 16 frames or silent speed, it will be found possible to back up the action several counts at this that dance movement can be seen most effectively at point so that each following take will have several over­ this speed. At 16 frames per second lateral movement lapping frames tobe used when editing the film. The will be somewhat jerky, and even though the film may camera operator should be absolutely certain that the not require a sound score, nevertheless, it should be camera is solidly locked while being re-wound so that made at 24 frames per second. 100 feet of film at 24 frames may be matched as to background position and frames per second will record three minutes of danc­ dancer position when editing without being plagued by ing. The present list price of Tri-X black-and-white lateral jumps in the position of the figures. Partic­ reversal film in 100-foot reels is $5.40 per reel. De­ ular care must be taken to insure the stability of the pending on discounts available through purchasing de­ camera while reels of film are being changed in the partments, it may be obtained for 15% to 20% less, or event the dance action is to be continuous. just over $4. 00 per 100 feet. The processing cost will vary from three to four cents per foot, making the to­ Title sheets for the dances used for archive pur­ tal cost approximately 8 cents per foot or $8.00 for poses should be prepared in advance, giving the name three minutes of film. In comparison, color film will of the performer or performers, choreographer, title cost approximately $13 to $15 per 100 feet or three of the dance, and the date of the filming. Tag ends of minutes of film. film of 15 to 20 seconds' duration can thus be utilized for title purposes rather than being wasted. Titles Instructions for loading and operating the camera can be written on chalk boards which are located ad­ will be available through audio-visual departments or jacent to the camera and lighted by #1 photofloods with from camera supply stores. When all preparations an intensity equal to that of the dance area. Care have been completed, lights set, dances rehearsed, should be taken to re-focus the camera both for shoot­ camera wound and steadily mounted on the tripod, the ing the titles and for the following action in the dance operator should set the exposure meter at the index area. rating of the film, which for Tri-X is 160, set the shutter speed index at 1/50 of a second (the shutter It will be obvious that with these minimal condi­ speed of'most motion cameras at 24 frames per sec­ tions , the standard methods of sound recording will ond) and prepare to take a light reading. The expo­ not be available. It is not necessary to accompany.the 19 dancers while filming if they are accurate in counting. grated record of the total dance performance to be The most satisfactory recording of an accompanying suitable for most teaching and analysis purposes. score will be possible following the editing of the to­ tal film. The score may then be recorded while the It should be emphasized that the "recipe" above is film is being projected, either on pre-striped film entirely minimal. Each dance-film situation will have which canbe obtained from the photo laboratory doing its own characteristics which must betaken into con­ the processing, or on a tape recorder. This will usu­ sideration. How ev e r, the m ind that c an enc ompas s the ally preclude the use of phonograph recordings forthe intricacies of space, time and motion involved in anal­ score, as it is virtually impossible to synchronize a ysis and composition for dance should surely be cap­ disk recording with the film. However, veryaccurate able of performing the routine functions necessary to tape recording can be done while watching the pro­ "documentary" filming. Editing the film for conti­ jection through the use of piano or percussion instru­ nuity is no more difficult than the initial photograph­ ments. As with tape recording, a pre-striped film ing. A 16 mm editor may be rented or procured from may be run and recorded several times until the most an audio-visual department and the film run through accurate synchronization has been applied. In the for a continuity check. At the end of each sequence event the accompanying score is recorded on tape and filmed several frames will be found tobe overlapping. not transferred to the film, the tape leader should be Viewed carefully, frame by frame, it will be found that accurately inserted inthe tape so that the tape may be an optimum point of cutting will be seen where a con­ set up on a recorder with instantaneous start when the cluding frame from a first sequence will fit visually play back button is pushed. At the same time at ap­ with an initial frame from a following sequence. At proximately one foot in advance of the beginning ac­ this point a splice is made. When all dance sequences tion on the film a clear or punched frame should be in­ have been spliced for continuity, the titles should be serted as a cue for starting the tape recording. Sev­ cut out and inserted at the beginning of each dance. eral attempts will be necessary until this synchroni­ Ultimately, at minimum cost, and with agreat deal of zation can be accurately maintained. A tape score enjoyment in the work, a fine library of dance film both which is made in this manner, while not 100% accu­ for historical record and exchange purposes will be rately synchronized, will provide a sufficiently inte­ available.

Recording Session at Juilliard School

As the school year comes to an end each spring and the final concerts, programs, theses and operas are over there comes the question of how to preserve the dance works into which so much talent and effort has been poured. More and more the answer is to take record movies.

We had the good fortune to be present at the Juilliard School the afternoon they were making just such a film of one work which had its premiere performance in the spring dance series Four Evenings of Dance. Antony Tudor's A Choreographer Comments was selected for filming thatday. It was originally performed to the Schubert Octet in F Major Opus 166 played by members of the Juilliard Orchestra, but for this film a pianist provided a skillful reduction of the score which was recorded simultaneously by the use of a sound camera. We have tried to capture some of the quality of making such a record film: the endless detail, the complete concentration, the cooperation of the entire group, and the many unpredictable factors which arise in such a situation. The dance A Choreographer Comments is somewhat of a technical tour de force under­ lined with Mr. Tudor's discrimination and humor and meeting the requirements of formal ballet composition. Excerpts from the program giving the titles of the danced sections speak for themselves. 20

COMMENT I: Arabesque — A position In which the body Is supported on one leg, while the other Is extended in back with the arms harmoniously disposed. 587 Arabesques

COMMENT D: Jete — A spring from one foot to the other.

224 Jetes

COMMENT III: Pas de Bourree — Three transfers of weight from one foot

to the other.

COMMENT IV: Tour - A turn.

60 Turns

COMMENT V: Quatrleme en l'alr — Leg extended In front.

COMMENT VI: Bourree Couru — Small running steps.

COMMENT VH: Petite Batterle — Small Jumping steps in which the legs

beat together.

597 Beats

COMMENT VDl: Pose — A step onto a straight leg.

65 Poses

COMMENT DC: Tour - A turn.

184 Turns

COMMENT X: Pas de chat - Literally, step of a cat. 1 Pas de chat T SCENE: A large studio at the school. Lights: daylight augmented by 8 photofloods on stands and 28 fluorescent ceiling tubes. Stage space marked off on the floor, (see diagram) Sound camera on tripod, placed on table so that dancers are filmed from a position slightly above the action. Grand piano open with microphone 8 feet away.

PARTICIPANTS: Antony Tudor — choreographer Dwight Godwin — director and cameraman Martha Hill — director of dance department of the school Dancers — fourteen students of the school Pianist — Betty Sawyer

DIALOGUE:

Mr. Tudor: We're starting very late. It's 3:30 and we were supposed to start at 3:00! Miss Hill: My, you dancers look so handsome! Mr. Godwin: There must be very little movement near the camera. Mr. Tudor will give us the cuts. Don't stop yourselves under any circumstances, no matter what mistakes you make! • Mr. Tudor: The camera is a mean character. It picks up the awful things as well as the good. Audiences. often miss mistakes. The camera never does. Step quietly past the mike. Duck under the lens on crossing. There must be no extraneous movement. 21

Miss Hill: Mercedes, please stand center stage for focus. Mr. Godwin: O.K. Fine. The sunbeams through the blinds will show, but I don't mind them. Mr. Tudor: No walking. Find your spot and stay in it. Miss Hill: Is the door locked? We don't want any interruptions. Mr. Tudor: We'll stop in the middle of "Arabesques." Ready ... Dancer: Wait! Mr. T. Who said "Wait!" ? Mr. G. Don't anyone move! I'll start the camera. O.K. Music.

(Solo. Trio. Sextet. Group of nine. Exit.)

Mr. T. Cut. Everyone cross over now. If anyone has another cross over, crawl under my knees. Mr. G. Stand by .. . She's alone so I can come in quite close .. . Music. Cut. I was unprepared for that lift and she came in totally headless. Sorry ... Music.

(Trio. Solo. Duet. Trio. Quintet. Septet. Octet, etc... Duet.)

Mr. T. That was pretty good. Only one untidy section before the first cut. I'd like to retake the diagonal of arabesques. You were covering each other. Mr. G. For the signal, just drop your hand. Miss H. We're going to experiment on filming from the back, since that's the way you learn a dance. (Dancers giggle, but quickly reorient themselves to the reversal.)

Mr. G. Quiet please. Music. Mr. T. Now we'll skip to the fourth positions. Miss Hi Why did you leave out that nice entrance? Mr. T. Oh, they'll remember that. Miss H. I'd love to have that overlap. Mr. G. We have 60 feet left. Mr. T. We'll do the other turns. Miss H. Tuck in your tunic. It looks very sloppy. Mr. T. Walk in when I give the signal. (Blooper.) Mr. T. Cut. Try again. We might have another accident.

(Action resumes. Headpiece falls off, but dancers keep going.) (Film runs out.)

Mr. T. It won't be noticeable. The movement was clear. Mr. G. Five-minute break to change film.

(Bourree. Dancers show expressions of discontent.)

Mr. T. I think you would like to do that again. It was very badly spaced and when you made a mistake it showed in your face. More European theatre, please! .... "Beats" next. All in soft shoes, please. Mr. G. Oh, we lost a bulb and have to replace it! Mr. T. "Beats" should be done close up. Mr. G. We may have to do it twice, or if they stay close together I can close in on it. Mr. T. O.K. Fine. (Solo. Retake of "Turns." "Pas de chat.")

Mr. T. That's it. Miss H. We'd appreciate it if you will take your costumes downstairs for cleaning. Oh, no! We need them for the performance next Wednesday. 22

Television Lighting DAVID THAYER

The lighting of a televised dance production is, important for the dancer is the use of light to model in many respects, similar to the lighting of a com­ or mold the body and reveal its shape. The dancer parable production on stage. Some dances shown in needs every help available to make changing shapes stage concerts are choreographed without conscious clear to the audience. One such help is the distribu­ concern for light and make no demands of lighting tion of highlights and shadows formed by the beams of other than illumination, while otherdances are choreo­ different lighting instruments focused on the dancer graphed with particular lighting in mind and seem in­ from various directions. (3) On stage, increased in­ complete when performed without lighting. In the same tensity is often used to emphasize a character or group. way, some televised dances plainly reveal that they In television the selection of camera shots and angles were conceived without thought for the integration of serves a similar function by requiring the audience to lighting into the overall design of the dance. I do not look where the director wishes, but lighting is still mean to say that all dances performed with a minimum required to force attention within the camera shot. of effect lighting are bad, but all too many of the dances (4) The lighting for any presentation must be believ­ which receive this lighting treatment on television able for the situation. This is not to say that the light­ require something more for maximum effectiveness. ing must be realistic, but it must be acceptable as The choreographer counts on lighting to supplement being appropriate. Perhaps the most important factor the dance but somehow when the troupe goes into the in believability is that the lighting be ordered in television studio, something happens and the dance is some fairly simple and easily comprehended pattern. the worse for it. (5) Finally, lighting may instill or reinforce mood through the pattern of lighted and shadowed areas and The "something" which happens may be one of a through high-key and low-key lighting. Of course, number of things but the most distressing maybe the these functions of light are carried out simultaneously inability of the choreographer to express herself ade­ by all of the lighting instruments entering into the quately to the studio technicians. Presumably they lighting design. want to do the most effective job possible but often cannot because the choreographer cannot sufficiently Light in television maybe divided into types on the analyze her feelings about light or does not have suf­ basis of use.* The principal types are base light, key- ficient knowledge of television lighting to make herself light , back light and set light. The last three are form- understood. revealing or modeling lights while the first is a soft, shadowless wash of light striking all portions of the Television lighting is neither difficult nor com­ scene. Inthe early years of television, base light was plex, and any effect achieved on stage can be dupli­ regarded as the principal light by which the camera cated provided time and equipment are available and produces pictures and it is still often used as the adequate planning precedes the appearance of the principal light (and sometimes the only light) for troupe at the television station. Television lighting camera operation in studios where time and personnel does, however, have problems and limitations which are limited. are peculiar to the medium and a vocabulary which may be unfamiliar. It is hoped that the following dis­ Base light produces a minimum of modeling. It is cussion may clarify some of the "mysteries" of tele­ a virtually shadowless light distributed over the set vision lighting and lead to more effective cooperation and playing area to provide overall intensity and re­ between dancers and station personnel. duce contrasts by filling inthe shadow areas. Scenes televised with base light only appear dull, flat and un­ No matter where a dance is performed, light may interesting; performers seemto sink into the walls of be expected to contribute to some degree in each of the set, and no portion of the picture is emphasized five areas. (1) The most important area is that of over any other. Scoops (floodlights having spun illumination; without light the dance will not be seen. aluminum reflectors), striplights or fluorescent banks Simple illumination maybe adequate for some dances, are the instruments most often used to provide base but there are very few which will not be improved by light. attention to the other areas. (2) Perhaps next most * It should be realized that several lighting instruments may be used on the set to produce each type of light. David Thayer is a member of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art, University of Iowa. Mr. Thayer refers the reader to a more complete treatment* of this material In his article "Techniques of Television Lighting* in the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, April, 1957. 23

The key light provides modeling by creating high­ maybe used for scenic effect; for example, the most lights and shadows on sets and performers and by the practical method of indicating bright sunlight is to in­ placement of the lighting instruments conveys locale, crease the intensity of the back light to give the effect time of day, mood and other information about the of the sun falling over the shoulders of the performer. scene. Because it is a shadow producing light, one of the problems in the use of key light is shadows of Backlights are Fresnel spotlights normally mount­ microphone and boom cast by the key. While not ed above and behind the walls or draperies forming generally a problem during the danced portions of a the set. Angles are unavoidably steep when perform­ production since microphones are seldom required in ers work near the walls of the set. An angle approach­ the space used by the dancers, key lights which have ing 45 degrees is most desirable, since it gives max­ been set in optimum positions for the dances may cast imum separation without objectionable highlights on shadows if microphones are brought in for narration the head and shoulders, but it is seldom attainable. between dances. Unwanted shadows of microphones, props or dancers can seldom be eliminated from the Set light is intended to fall primarily on the set set, but rather are hidden fromthe camera by skilled walls, although it also serves as a key light for per­ instrument placement and by the cooperation of per­ formers near the walls. Since the effects of set light formers and technicians in avoiding areas where ob­ maybe seen as a part of the background to most shots, jectionable shadows will be produced. it may be more important than key light in creating mood and indicating locale. Fre snel spotlights are generally used for key lights, the wattage and size used depending on throw and Set light is seldom washed indiscriminately over spread needed. Most key light instruments are fitted the walls. Generally, the upper portion of the set is with adjustable shutters (called barndoors) which are kept relatively dark bybarndooringdown the set lights used to restrict the spread of light. and any other lighting which strikes the set walls. Set light may be further restricted or broken up by placing Key light instruments are placed at angles ap­ cut-outs of wood, cardboard or plastic (called cookies) proximating the light from a motivating source. By or real objects such as tree branches in front of a orienting the instruments in relation to this supposed Fresnel spotlight to throw shadow silhouettes on the source, the lighting is organized into a simple, plau­ walls. Ellipsoidal spotlights equipped to take "gobo" sible pattern. Failure to pay attention to the ordering slides cut from aluminum foil, screen or expanded of light leads to confusion and incredulity in the audi­ metal, may be used when sharper patterns are de­ ence. When motivations are not indicated in a scene sired. Projections from ellipsoidal spotlights will design, it is usual to assume a motivation such as a usually be most effective if the instruments are slight­ source of light above or to one side of the set. ly out of focus, since they look less like projections and so call less attention to themselves. The choice of angles for the key light will be in­ fluenced by desired camera shots as well as the moti­ A use of set light which is often overrated is the vating sources in the scene design. When there is a washing of unwanted shadows from walls. While oc­ choice of angles, it is often advantageous to place the casionally partially effective when carefully used, the key at the side or even toward the back of the set method usually results in additional shadows and in rather than in the front. This placement throws un­ too much light on the walls relative to the performers. wanted shadows of the performers out of camera range and provides more extreme modeling than is Lighting for television is no more difficult to de­ obtained when instruments are mounted closer to the sign or execute than is lighting for stage if the lim­ front of the set. Key light angles may be used de­ itations of the television system are understood and liberately to affect a dancer's appearance. For ex­ accepted. The most important limitation is the re­ ample, elevating the key will accentuate natural age striction on brightness contrasts in the scene to be lines and give a harder or more rugged appearance, picked up by the cameras. While the human eye will while lowering the key below head height will give an accept a contrast range of 100 to 1 (that is, the eye unnatural or mysterious appearance. will distinguish detail inboth the highlights and shadow of a scene in which the bright areas are 100 times as Back light comes from behind the performer to bright as the darkest shadows), the average television create a bright outline around his head and shoulders system is limited to a contrast range between 20 and to separate him from the background. Back light is 30 to 1. Exceeding the contrast range may lead not used in television in preference to top light because only to loss of detail in highlights and shadows but to it does not produce disfiguring highlights on the fore­ the formation of spurious effects such as the all too head, eyebrow ridges and bridge of the nose. In ad­ familiar black halo surrounding light colored objects, dition to its function as a modeling light, back light streaking and displaced ghost images. The contrast 24

range of the scene in the studio is determined both by tern does not reproduce large unrelieved dark areas the amount of light reflected by sets, props and per­ well. The control room monitor must be the final formers and by the distribution of highlights due to evidence of the adequacy of the lighting rather than the lighting. Thus if the scene includes extreme light and view in the studio since especially in low-key the evi­ dark areas, lighting must be relatively flat with all dence of the eye is deceptive. portions of the scene receiving essentially the same intensity of illumination. If, on the other hand, the It is obvious that since there is only limited time scene has a very small range between the brightest in the studio for lighting and rehearsal, as much plan­ and darkest areas, the lighting may produce bright ning as possible must be done in advance; and the highlights and dark shadows up to the limit imposed choreographer who has neglected to outline the re­ by the system. quired effects beforehand with the studio lighting di­ rector or who comes to the camera rehearsal with It is this limitation on contrast which makes many altered feelings about the lighting may find that only of the props and costumes used on stage impractical flat light is possible. Just as on stage the lighting is for use on television. Because the eye will accept a likely tobe most effective if the dance and lighting are greater contrast range, costumes and accessories are evolved simultaneously. The choreographer on tele­ often designed with contrasts which exceed the limits vision should know in advance the lighting effects re­ of the television system. If an attempt is made to use quired for maximum effectiveness and should dis­ these articles for a televised performance, contrasts courage tendencies to add lighting effects in an attempt introduced by the modeling lights must be reduced to tobe "arty." Instruments are plotted on scale ground a minimum. The result may be disastrous for dances plans of the studio and set by the lighting director so which depend on lighting for completeness. that they may be rigged in advance by the studio crew. It is desirable to have a show about 90 per cent plotted Because the setting and lighting interact, it is before going to the studio, leaving the rest until per­ difficult to give a rule for the intensity ratio between former, camera andboompositions canbe determined the key light and the base light, but a ratio of 5 to 3 precisely. is a useful point of departure. A scene lighted with such a key to base ratio may look disappointingly flat Dimming of lights is possible in black and white when first seen in the studio, but it should be re­ television if the studio possesses dimming equipment. membered that the television system will increase the However, many times an electronic fade may be sub­ contrast seen on the home receiver. stituted for dimming the lights.

In general, much more light from higher wattage in­ There are many ways to light a scene for any par­ struments is required for television than for the stage; ticular camera angle, but lighting that is effective and dancers should be prepared for the heat which is from one angle will rarely be equally effective from only partially alleviated by the studio air conditioning any other angle. As a consequence, lighting will gen­ system. erally be best when camera angles on a particular area are restricted to roughly the same direction; and the The problem of light level is not simple, and it choreographer who demands wide-angle and reverse- maybe further complicated through misunderstanding. angle shooting must realize thatthe probable effective­ For example, when the video-control operator (the en­ ness of lighting will be jeopardized. When wide-angle gineer in charge of picture quality) says he needs more shooting must be used, it is often helpful to use so- light, he usually does not mean that greater intensity called Rembrandt or three-quarter lighting in which is needed for acceptable pictures, but rather that there the key light wraps part way around the "off" side of should be abetter balance between key and base orbe- the face to help in video control and to give picture tween faces and background. detail.

The desirability of low-key lighting for certain Television stations vary greatly in their facilities, dances is evident in almost every concert. Unfortu­ in the training and ability of their personnel and in nately, scenes in low-key are the hardest for the tele­ their willingness to cooperate with persons who are vision system to handle, and unless skillfully done the not regular performers at the station. While these results may be disappointing. Low-key in television extraneous variables may spell the difference between is typified by dark backgrounds against which the per­ adequate lighting and good lighting, it is certain that formers are lighted more or less normally. It is ef­ as performers demand more in the way of lighting fective scenically and at the same time helps the video- and are better able to articulate these demands, the control operator to use projections on the walls or chances of having their demands met will become draperies of a low-key scene, since the television sys- greater. 25

The Producer Comments CAROL LEVENE Although most people think of television as a me­ ond. Semi-animation is less expensive. Here you dium of mass communication, actually the successful shoot one frame after another (what we call "stop- program addresses itself to two or three people in a frames "), adding line after line so that one picture pops living room; so the knowledgeable producer, scripter, on after another. In 16mm this canbe done for about or performer takes into account the frame of reference a third of the cost of full animation — perhaps less if which is the little screen. If you are making a dance you get people who are interested in experimenting . . film for television which you also wish to show in the class room, I thinkyou are in trouble. As a scripter, I have learned from experience that the shorter a I am not in favor of this dual use. It gives you "point film is, the better it is. Few educational films re­ of view" problems. In the instructional situation you quire a half hour. I made a film a couple of years ago are not aiming for the spontaneity and immediacy that for the United Crusade. They wanted a 10 minute film characterizes television at its best ... Of course, for use as a rally film. I said, "I can't do this in 10 you can do it, if you must; and generally speaking that's minutes with all the material you want me to cover! " what you have to do Well, I made it in 10 minutes and itwas so successful that they ordered 18 prints and used it for two years. People will hold still for a ten minute film, because Video tape is the marriage of film and the fluid tech­ pictures are a distillation and have an immediate im­ nique of the television camera. A television camera pact. You don't have to talk much, particularly with makes continuous shots better than the motion picture dance, because it's movement and rhythm you want to camera can. It can move in and out, zoom in and zoom capture and all you need is a bit of commentary from out, truck around (follow around) the side of the dancer. time to time to nudge the viewer a little —to underline Video tape resembles regular recording tape except or punctuate that it is about two inches wide. The electronic im­ pulse is transferred to the tape, carrying the picture and sound simultaneously. The minute you have re­ Suppose a dancer wants to do a low cost instructional corded you can play back and begin to edit. It is cheaper film and is connected w:"th a university or has a grant thanfilm, about $400 for a half hour show. When you from a foundation. How many people will be involved ? transfer from video tape to kinescope, you may then Including those inthe lab as many as thirty people may erase the tape and use it again, thus saving the cost be participating: director, producer, cameramen, of another tape. Tape has higher fidelity than kine­ scripter, electricians, mixer recordist, set de­ scope. Ampex videotape comes in black and white or signer, costumer, choreographer — not to mention color. There are 60 stations in the country which have the dancers. Realistically, it's possible to find a two or more tape machines costing $45,000. skilled amateur who has good 16mm equipment and can learn to make a film, with the help of lab tech­ In the live shows which are transmitted over the nicians for processing. microwaves nationally, tape is now used more than kinescope. The show may be taped weeks in advance When you have your work print, editing begins and on "closed circuit" (directly on tape), and then edited with dance film you must be extremely skillful. The or not. Tape editing is complicated because it requires sound maybe on this piece of film, or on another film both audio engineers and video engineers, hence the or on tape. After it's edited the sound track is laid in­ only editing that's being done these days is on the hour to the final composite negative. The answer print is or ninety minute dramatic shows then made from this composite negative. You look at this print to determine whether corrections are ne­ cessary. Then, you make your release prints. Lab I understand that for many years there has been a people are involved all along the way. Cutting and problem in making choreographic notes — a short hand editing one's own film has been done a great deal inthe for choreographers. This canbe handled on film, as experimental field and in shorts. You don't have to go instructional material, by the use of animation . . . "first-cabin" and have yourself a full professional Itis a very expensive process, comparedwith the cost crew in order to make a fine film. One last admonition: of shooting live action. Full animation (as in Disney be sure to get a work print made. Above all, never productions) in 35mm cost about $1000 to $2000 a sec­ touch the master print! Carol Levene, free lance television and film writer, a visual communications specialist, is a member of the staff of the University of California Motion Picture Unit. Miss Levene Is chairman of the 16mm film category, Film as Communication, in the 1960 San Francisco Film Festival. 26

eievision The National Educational Television and Radio transmit knowledge and ideas, alter attitudes, or in­ Center, an organization of over forty non-commer­ crease understanding. The contacts established with cial educational television stations, has as its broad the British Broadcasting Corporation and the French objective "to promote the advancement of educational Television Network, together with the Center's mem­ television and radio for the general welfare." As a bership inthe European Broadcasting Union, make headquarters for educational television at the national evenbroader program resources available. A few ex­ level, the Center aims to provide constructive leader­ amples of recent series produced under National Edu­ ship, imaginative development, and high-quality pro­ cational Television show the wide range of materials gramming. Each week it currently provides to its covered: What's New, an experimental series for chil­ member stations eight hours of programs in the hu­ dren; The Big Count which has to do with the 1960 manities, the sciences, the arts, the social sciences, census; Prospects of Mankind, discussions of inter­ public affairs, and children's programs. It also gives national problems by leading world experts with Mrs. consultant service and business advice. Eleanor Roosevelt as moderator; The Nature of Viruses in the area of science investigation; and, Affiliates of the Center are now located in most of among cultural programs, A Time to Dance, The Rag­ the larger metropolitan areas of the nation and really time Era, and four two-hour dramas produced by the constitute a fourth network. These stations are not B.B.C. connected by coaxial cable but are serviced primarily byfilm and kinescope. The adoption of videotape op­ For the artist, scientist, teacher, or specialist in erations in 1959 will do much to facilitate the expansion any area of knowledge or skill who may wish to trans­ of educational television activities. mit his ideas by way of the television medium, National Educational Television provides not only the technical Established seven years ago in Ann Arbor, Michi­ facilities but also the financial support forthe realiza­ gan, the National Educational Television Center moved tion of these projects. Such fine series as People are its executive headquarters to New York City in 1959. Taught to be Different and A Time to Dance, as well At the same time a grant from the Ampex Foundation as the three films of the work of Martha Graham, were made possible the establishment at the Ann Arbor dis­ produced by these means. tribution center of a model videotape duplicating set­ up. Here there are six machines which make possible Many of the Center's affiliates and many Center- the simultaneous reproduction of five duplicate copies, produced series have been acclaimed by critics and a most important factor in making many and varied cited for national television honors. Decision: The materials available to more stations. As a joint pro­ Constitution in Action received the American Bar ject of the Center and Indiana University's Audio- Association Gavel Award for 1959. In the same year Visual Center, the National Educational Television Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring won the Venice Film service extends the usefulness of educational Festival Award and was selected for exhibition at the television materials by making programs available to Edinburgh Film Festival. Her earlier Dancer's World audiences that could not view them when they were also won these two honors and received awards from telecast. Thus programs are readily available for Prague, Vancouver, and American Film Festivals. classroom instruction, training programs, and group The Peabody Award has been presented to three af­ meetings. filiates: KQED, San Francisco, WGBH-TV, Boston, andWQED, Pittsburgh. Also for 1959, KQED, San Programming for educational television need not Francisco, was honored by the Edison Foundation as follow established patterns; it canbe experimental. "... the most outstanding educational television Each of the presentations is conceived and designed to station in the country." 27

Area Educational Television Association. Member­ ship in the Association is open to all interested indivi­ duals, associations, corporations and institutions upon an annual payment of ten dollars or more. Under this unique "Voluntary-Pay-TV" plan, KQED viewers are able to have a voice in program planning and over­ all policy.

In all of its programming, KQED is governed by a re spect for the intelligence and integrity of its viewers. It believes viewers prefer and respond to quality. It KQED, a community-sponsored educational tele­ believes that controversy, fairly and honestly pre­ vision station, was established in 1953 under the sented, is an integral part of the search for truth. auspices of the Bay Area Television Association for the purpose of making television programs available for use in the public schools, colleges, and univer­ sities in the Bay Area. Growthwas rapid. In the next Rehearsal in the television studio of KQED two years telecasting time was increased from six hours per week to five days per week, and new pro­ grams and features were added. The following year professional cameramen replaced the student crews, and during the next year the transmitting power of KQED was increased.

During these years the station's audience has shown a steady increase in both numbers and types of inter­ ests. KQED's programming policy has always been that of serving "segmented audiences," which has re­ sulted in a wide range of television subjects: con­ structive entertainment for children, designed to "make do-ers out of viewers" (such as Hop, Skip and Dance which was cited by Ohio State University in 1957), "Learning French is Fun," "Adventuring in the Hand Arts," and many others); adult programs that teach skills (Typing, Photography, Spanish, Folk Dancing, Child Care, etc); cultural entertainment featuring orchestral, operatic, ballet, and chamber groups of the Bay Area as well as the graphic and plastic resources of San Francisco's famous art mu­ seums; community affairs of local, regional, national, and world scope; science programs featuring such leading personalities as Glenn T. Seaborg, Luis Alvarez, S. I. Hayakawa, Ansel Adams, Harold Urey, and many others. In 1958, KQED inaugurated the first classroom television service in California with some 140,000 students "enrolled" in a wide variety of courses at elementary, secondary, and college levels. KQED has also produced a large number of program series for the National Educational Television Network of stations.

Under the terms of its franchise, KQED must broadcast as a non-commercial television station and cannot accept advertising. KQED is owned and oper­ ated by a non-profit community corporation, the Bay The Dance Films <

•H •sTsTsTsV

This film, concerned with Martha Graham's technique and approach to performance, was commissioned by Television Station WQED, Pittsburgh, in 1956. In a backstage setting Miss A DANCER'S WORLD Graham speaks of the arduous tech­ nical training and the study of the art of performing which every dancer must go thro ugh be fore earning the privilege of appearing on a stage. As she is speaking, the scene shifts to Miss Graham's studio, where eleven of her dancers demonstrate a series of move­ ment sequences which, though given a choreographic pattern, for the ca­ mera, show all the basic elements of Martha Graham — Choreographer technique which a Graham performer Nathan Kroll — Producer must learn. It is only after years of Peter Glushanok and John Houseman — Directors this apprenticeship, she says, that a Cameron McCosh — Composer and Accompanist dancer is able to communicate to an Eleanor Hamerow — Film Editor audience with simplicity and spon­ Bernard Hirschenson — Assistant Cameraman taneity.

Dancers: Yuriko, Helen McGehee, Mary Hinkson, Ethel Winter, E 29 >f Martha Graham

APPALACHIAN SPRING

Appalachian Spring is a folk tale set in the Appalachian wilderness at the pioneer period of American history, the dance tells, in lyric terms, of the young couple's wedding day, building of their house, their celebration, the preacher's dire sermon, and the pioneer woman's gentle blessing. The day ends and the young couple begin life together. (Premie're performance January 14, 1959.)

the Pioneering Woman — Matt Turney the Revivalist — Bertram Ross Music — Aaron Copland the Followers — Yuriko, Helen McGehee Choreography and Costumes — Martha Graham Miriam Cole, Ethel Winter Set Designer — Isamu Noguchi the Husbandman — Stuart Hodes Producer for WQED — Nathan Kroll the Wife — Martha Graham Cinematographer — Peter Glushanok

lien Siegel, Lillian Biersteker, Miriam Cole, Robert Cohan, Bertram Ross, David Wood and Gene McDonald. 30

NIGHT JOURNEY — In Night Journey, Martha Graham's dramatization of the Oedipus myth, it is Queen Jocasta who is the protagonist. The action of the dance turns upon that instant of her death when she relives her destiny. (Produced January 1960. Presented by Bethsabee de Rothschild.)

Producer — Nathan Kroll Director — Alexander Hammid Music — William Schuman Conductor — Robert Irving The Characters:

Jocasta — Martha Graham Tiresias, the seer — Paul Taylor Oedipus — Bertram Ross Leader of the Chorus — Helen McGehee Chorus of Daughters of the Night — Ethel Winter, Linda Hodes Carol Payne, Akiko Kanda, Bette Shaler 31

"Danced Anthropology"

An outstanding series of twelve programs with im­ mance was excellent in its lack of self-consciousness portant implications for dance in television was pro­ and its ability to move from culture to culture with duced by KUHT- TV in 1958. This series points the way sensitivity and directness. The individuals whose for many types of collaboration between dance and roles carried the detail of the various rites never other fields of human experience. In this instance, used the material for self-expression but rather for Dr. Henry Allen Bullock, Professor of Sociology and an accurate depiction of the response of the individual Chairman of Graduate Research of Texas Southern in his particular society. University, explains how and why, through cultural in­ fluences , human beings are made into different kinds The musical setting underlined the charm and sim­ of persons in different parts of the world. The sets, plicity of the dance. One-line melodies and percus­ dances and music were created specifically to comple­ sion scores enhanced the character of the various cul­ ment the explanations of the various groups and topics. tures. The ingenious abstract sets used simple ma­ terials which were effective in suggesting the various In the initial program "Group Concepts of Human natural settings. Devices, such as a rope on the floor Birth," people of three different cultures are depicted which divided land from water, or painted circles by in their responses to the crisis of human birth. Modern which the ten moons of pregnancy's duration were dance with originally scored music, to which the nar­ counted, focused the choreography and anthropological ration is closely linked, dramatically portrays cul­ idea. The photography was sensitive to both the group tural differences inthe selection of the birth place, the and floor patterns of dance and to the sets. relations of husband and wife during the birth crisis, the way the child is delivered, and the technique by In subsequent programs People are Taught to be which societal balance is restored. Different considered such topics as "Group Ways of ChannelizingAggression," "GroupPatterns of Court­ The choreography for this program was uniquely ship Behavior" and "ViewingtheSupernatural." Gen­ suited to the capabilities of the dancers. Their charm erally, the American, western culture was contrasted and ingenuous quality was brought out in the simplicity to such groups as the Hopi of Northern Arizona, the and appropriateness of steps and gestures. Anthro­ Kwoma of New Guinea, the Tallensi Society of Africa, pology, rather than being used as a jumping-off point the Pokot of Kenya and the Muria Tribes of Central for an elaborate choreography, was made clear and India. Although IMPULSE editors viewed only four of vivid through dance. Customs were sensitively pre­ these programs, the point made concerning the use of sented; for example, the Polynesian manner of canoe dance in television was clear. This series showed travel represented by two lines of women dancers using that dance, when skillfully executed to appropriate a rowing motion. scores, imaginatively set, and photographed witha minimum of elaboration can serve as the visual stim­ The modern dance group of Texas Southern Univer­ ulation through which lecture material can be projected sity consisted of a group of Negroes whose perfor­ and made vital.

Produced by KUHT-TV and the University of Houston and Texas Southern University Research and Narration — Dr. Henry Allen Bullock Choreography — Marjorie Stuart Graphic Artists — Joseph Mack and John T. Biggers Musical Score and Conductors — Nicholas Gerran and Jack Bradley Art Direction — George Collins Script — C. Maugham Film Director — Paul Schlessinger Film Production — John Meany Musicians and Dancers — Students of Texas Southern University 32

UA Time to Dance"

INTRODUCTORY PROGRAM - with brief notes on each of the three types of concert dance included In the series: ballet, modern and ethnic. Performers: Daniel Nagrin (modern), Melissa Hayden and Jacques D'Amboise (ballet), Ximenez-Vargas Company (Spanish).

CLASSICAL BALLET - with performers Maria Tallchief, Andre Eglevsky, Marina Eglevsky, and two young professional dancers. ( INVENTION IN DANCE - with the Alwin Nikolais Company, a demonstration section on the "expressive" ca­ pacities of movement, and excerpts from Nikolais repertoire.

A CHOREOGRAPHER AT WORK - with John Butler and Company (including Bambi Linn, Sondra Lee, Glen Tetley, Carmen de Lavallade, and others).

THE LANGUAGE OF DANCE - with Jose Limon, includes interview with Jos£, and only slightly cut version of "There is a Time" with full company.

GREAT PERFORMANCES IN DANCE - Walter Terry, who arranged a demonstration for two young dancers from the Metropolitan Ballet, as well as for Alexandra Danilova and Frederic Franklin. The latter perform the pas de deux from "Beau Danube."

MODERN BALLET - Antony Tudor talks of modern ballet, and specifically of his own works, with perform­ ance of excerpts by Nora Kaye, and Hugh Laing.

ETHNIC DANCE — ROUND TRIP TO TRINIDAD - Geoffrey Holder and Company perform several of the works from his repertoire, showing the influence of other nationalities on Trinidad dance, and in turn the influence of American dance on his work here in the states.

DANCE AS A REFLECTION OF OUR TIME - Herbert Ross and Company perform his ballet "Caprichos," based on the Goya drawings of that name.

Martha Myers and Jose Limon 33

Dance Series for National Educational Television MARTHA MYERS

New York Times after Fred Astaire's first hour-long show: "Naturally Mr. Astaire's program was devoted In September of 1959, after a year of negotiations to the dance, a form of expression which for the most with station WGBH-TV of Boston, and the National part has been shockingly abused on television." Mr. Educational Television Council, the official prepara­ Gould is amply supported in this sentiment by dance tion began on the production of the first series devoted critics across the land. Some feel the medium is hope­ to dance for educational television. The seriesofninei less — a little tin box, successor to the stereopticon. half-hour programs was sponsored byNETC and pro­ How can it possibly be taken seriously as a medium duced by one of their largest affiliated stations, WGBH, for art, especially that one which by definition is a in Boston. The series, entitled A Time to Dance, "spatial art? " featured some of the country's most outstanding dance artists, with performance of excerpts from many In these discussions about television as a medium famous works. It was released in February, 1960, for dance, the space problem emerges as the most to be shown on the forty-five educational stations complex one. It involves not only the studio space across the country. After these showings, the pro­ which the performers may or may not have enough of — grams will be available for non-commercial use by especially overhead space forthe camera to be able to educational and community groups. cover high lifts without also shooting light grids. But dimension also is a factor, how to transfer a three- Before describing this series in regard to its con­ dimensional art to a two-dimensional medium. And tent and production, a brief consideration of television finally, even with an adequate physical space, how to as an artistic medium, and a medium for dance specifi­ capture on the screen a sense of freedom and spacious­ cally, might provide a pertinent preface. Basic to any ness, and avoid that too-frequent, static result which consideration of producing a television dance series is; has plagued television dance presentations. As dance the question of the effectiveness of television as a me­ critic Edwin Denby has written, "... the camera dium for dance. During the decade that television has gives a poor illusion of volume, it makes a distortion been in mass operation, dance has been an important of foreshortening and perspective, and it is plastic only feature of its presentation. In fact, a special kind of at short range." The camera gives a triangular view dance has come into existence, with its own vocabulary (with apex toward the lens); the closer you approach it, of movement, derived from the many dance forms we the narrower your range of movement. We are used to know — primitive, jazz, ballet, modern dance, etc. viewing dance in the theatre with its rectangular pro­ Although one might be impressed with the entertain­ scenium , and much of its meaning is grasped from ment value of this new melange of movement, serious spatial relations structured within this frame. In tele­ artistic claims have hardly been made for it. But even vision and film, either the camera is kept at close if such claims were made, they could not answer ques­ range, to show the dancer in something approaching tions about the effectiveness of concert and theatre life-size, and to focus on details of movement (in which dance forms such as ballet, ethnic and modern dance, case any architectural frame of reference is lost); or when presented via afilm medium. In a series of edu­ the camera is pulled back for a "long shot" and alas, cational programs designed to introduce an audience the dancers diminish to little blobs, and intricacies of to the art of dance, these forms, logically were the movement fade out. Back in 1954, John Martin la­ ones selected for the nine programs. The success of mented: "Television in its present form is utterly in­ previous efforts to present serious dance works on capable technically of presenting a ballet. On the television has been mixed. The artistic results of such average small screen the figures of the dancers are programs have, in fact, occasioned much controver­ scarcely distinguishable from each other, and the sial discussion among dance and television critics, scenery; . . . their bodies are unlnvitingly distorted dancers, and public about the potentialities and limita­ and their movements rendered largely unintelligible by tions of the medium. overhead photography and poor lighting."

What have the critics, in particular, had to say? Although one cannot maintain that the evils Mr. The following comments by Jack Gould appeared inthe Martin mentions are permanently eradicated, one can Martha Myers, choreographer and teacher, Assistant Professor at Smith College is a recognized authority In dance education. In 1958-59 she conceived, wrote scripts and was hostess forthe nine half-hour programs entitled A Time to Dance produced by WGBH-TV, Boston,Mass. 34

Jacques D'Ambolse, Melissa Hayden from The New York City Center Ballet.

remember how much has been learned by directors and is generally agreed that television choreography de­ choreographers through experiment as well as expe­ mands special consideration; that without thoughtful rience over these intervening six years. This, in ad­ adaptation andrestaging even the most effective thea­ dition to the many technical advances in the medium tre dance is almost inevitably a failure on the television can bring one to a fairly hopeful feeling about the future screen (the performance of Balanchine's Nutcracker of dance as an art presented on the "little tin box." ballet being a case in point). Walter Sorrell notes, Choreographers have developed who are skilled inthe "The choreography must be done anew, and witha new techniques of the new medium, such as John Butler, space conception." Robbins says cryptically that Herbert Ross, Toni Charmoli, and others. Jerome movement for television is "something else entirely." Robbins, speaking of the appearance of his Ballets: USA on television, points out that". . . very few if any Most critics and dancers would insist on straight persons have taken advantage of what the camera can forward camera work in shooting dance, with occa­ do to create dancing for television." His own presen­ sional closeups to reveal details of footwork, or atell- tations, however, have been given special considera­ ing gesture; long shots to cover group action in larger tion in the medium, being shot with as many as seven scenes. Given sufficient studio space, and thoughtful cameras, and having an unheard-of two full days of direction (with special attention to angle shots) dreaded camera rehearsals and run-throughs for a single ap­ fore-shortening can be avoided. But most important, pearance (on the Ed Sullivan Show)! He was able per­ as Mr. Gould points out, the camera should not try to sonally to supervise the coverage of every movement outdo the dancers by following their every movement. inthe dance, so it might be presumed that in this par­ For the result is to make dance pathetically static. ticular instance, Mr. Robbins himself "has taken ad­ The question of "special effects" — (the split images, vantage of what the camera can do." The results, in montages, dissolves, and other devices which are terms of critical acclaim, would certainly affirm this; unique with the television and film media) — and wheth­ and one would hope that a new precedent has been set er to use them in shooting dance is still much debated. in treating dance with integrity and imagination. They have been used stunningly in some instances, for example, with works of the Alwin Nikolais Company Gradually, not only the choreographers are learn­ presented on Steve Allen's Show, in some of Tony ing to compose within a new spatial concept for anew Charmoli's dances, and in Robbins' pieces from medium, but the directors and technicians are ap­ Ballets: USA. Even over-head shots, so deplored by proaching the shooting of dance more intelligently. John Martin, can be a means of enhancement if used, Mr. Gould praises Bud Yorkin, director of the Fred as they we re for the Moiseyev Company, to show over­ Astaire show for finally allowing "dancers on tele­ all patterns of movement which are ordinarily missed vision to dictate the movement on stage" rather than inatheatre, especially by those inthe orchestra. The ruining the whole effect" by having the cameras trail same can be allowed for close-ups. All of these de­ themaround." Through trial and error, and the luxury vices can add dramatic impact as well as visual clarity of shows devoted entirely to dance, such as those of when used by a sensitive director. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Omnibus, Camera Three, and others, some reliable approaches to choreography We were fortunate on the NETC series to have,a and direction for television have been established. It director, Greg Harney, with experience and ideas on 35 the filming of dance. The producer (as well as de­ performers, and myself. Itwas by no means fore­ signer) for the series, Jac Venza, has also worked ordained, for instance, that the series would be done closely with dance, inthe theatre and television. Both by professional performers, and the number of pro­ men have CBS-TV backgrounds, and brought impres­ grams (fifteen were at one time outlined) was finally sive professional skills, as well as artistic awareness determined only two months before actual production to their work of making valid and vital film presenta­ was to begin. tions of famous dance works. The results of their When requested to set up a series of one-half hour efforts, as testified by many of the performing artists programs on the art of dance, what are the first ques­ on the series, as well as professional television critics tions to focus on? Programs for whom? What kind of around the country, are outstanding. I would still dance? Which performers? What dance works? agree with that "pro" of earlytelevision, June Taylor, Should the emphasis be on historical development, that dance is the most difficult art to work with on tele­ personalities, great works? What should be the vision; but, when successful, it is also one of the me­ method of presentation; for instance, how much dia­ dium's greatest triumphs. Anyone who has faced a logue in relation to dance ? These were but a few of the control panel (the series of screens in atelevision con­ decisions that had to be made — with the sure know­ trol booth which show the "shots" — the particular ledge that among dance professionals whatever direc­ angle of a scene picked up on each camera) can scarce­ tion was taken would, by the act of exclusion alone, ly resist the temptation to hope, like Jerome Robbins, please some and offend others. The two factors which for "an opportunity to have three cameras in a studio controlled basic choices, and the final shape of pro­ for a day and play around choreographically to dis­ grams were(l) the purpose of the series, its intended cover just what you can see on camera." public, and (2) the use of top professional artists, who n in their willingness to travel to Boston and contribute their talents for an educational purpose, became to a To work in any of the performing arts is to work greater or lesser extent, the axis around which pro­ collaboratively. Because of the mechanical and tech­ grams were built.* Factors of budget and time were nical complexity of television (not to mention its im­ also important (such as scheduling of shows to mesh posing financial dimensions), this interdependence is with commitments of all those involved, especially naturally exaggerated. An "educational" sponsor is the performers, and with the availability of facilities no less concerned than his commercial cousin about at WGBH). Our budget was far beyond that usually the value and quality of the program he is paying for. allotted to educational programs, without which a Except for the initial plans and outlines for the dance series of this scope could never have been under­ series, (the solitary plotting of a course through pre­ taken. We were also fortunate in having at hand ex­ viously uncharted territory), all work was discussed, pert professional advice. Dance critic Walter Terry questioned, checked, revised, and revised again, be­ was special consultant for the series. Lydia Joel of fore being accepted or acted upon. Every decision was * One could In no wise invite busy professional companies to a compound of thought, conviction, and persuasionbe- travel all the way to Boston for a five minute camera "bit, "nor tween a network of consultants, director, producer, dictate exactly "the material to be used.

Members of the Alwin Nikolais Company 36

covering the three different forms of this art that the audience might meet in its hometown concert halls and theatres, imposed basic restrictions with regard to content. The fact that the live dance material (both demonstrations and excerpts from specific works) was tobe arranged in each instance by one choreographer and performed by his company, additionally limited the scope of content, but even more, the time that might be allotted to explanatory dialogue. Programs with a minimum of fifteen to twenty minutes of dance, and two to three minutes for introduction, credits, and transi­ tions, left only some six to seven minutes for actual exposition. Much of this exposition was incorporated into interviews with artists involved, as itwas felt that an audience would find such information especially in­ teresting when put forth by practicing professionals. Dancers have little opportunity to speak on their art, and to record their views and repertoire on film would in the future be of historical interest. For instance, we were able to bring Nora Kaye, Hugh Laing, and Antony Tudor together in excerpts from two of Tudor's famous "psychological" ballets, Undertow and Pillar of Fire. This is likely to be the only record we will have of these outstanding artists in two epoch-making works. Alexandra Danilova and Frederic Franklin in their famous pas de deux from the ballet Beau Danube is another example of an historic dance work taped for the series. Although such a drastic time limitation with regard Nora Kaye and Hugh Laing in Romeo and Juliet. Choreography by Antony Tudor. to dialogue might sound almost hopeless, I was re­ minded by the television "pros" that film is first and Dance Magazine, P. W. Manchester of Dance News, foremost avisual medium, and that more canbe com­ Genevieve Oswald of the Dance Division of the New municated in two minutes of camera time than in twenty York Public Library, dance historian George Chaffee, minutes of descriptive dialogue. This offered some and choreographer John Butler (with many years'ex­ comfort, although it did not, in the end, save some of perience in television) were among those whose in­ the programs from what will be judged by many as ver­ terest was particularly helpful. bal malnutrition. It may be claimed, however, that one of the best ways to help an audience to understand Determining the potential audience for whom such a and enjoy dance as an art is simply to provide them series would be designed was complicated by the un­ with an opportunity to see some of its representative certainty in educational television itself about the masterpieces. This, Ibelieve, we accomplished. And makeup of its audience. In this day of "ratings," "sur­ for an initial series, whatever was sacrificed in the veys" and "polls," this may seem strange; but the way of depth and detail was justified. educational television viewer makes an especially slippery and amorphous "control subject." Eliminated The choice of those few points which were to be at the outset as major audience potential were those emphasized within the time available, and in relation to with special or professional interest — dance artists, the particular dance works to be shown, was a cause teachers, students, and experienced dance viewers. for much nervous concern. Certainly, youwould never NETC is committed in its educational policy to serv­ get all of the "experts" to agree with any single per­ ices for the non-specialist. Equally beyond its range son's specific choices, nor on the manner in which is the great mass of viewers who dial only to westerns these points should be presented. In speaking of and domestic comedy. In between, it is assumed that Isadora Duncan, do you focus on still photographs of there is an intelligent and interested audience for her, or on actual filmed dance sequences by one of her thoughtful programs on the arts, sciences, and public students? In presenting ballet, do you underline sa­ affairs. It was this audience that we hoped to capture. lient points of the example to be shown, or catalogue all the varieties which this vast form of dance encom­ Decisions regarding this potential audience, plus passes? Do you pick performers who you think have a the decision to make the series an introduction to dance special appeal and some familiarity for a large audi- 37 ence or use purity of style as a single criterion? hired to devote full time to the project. We were doing, The many alternate ways of organizing the total among the four of us, a combination of jobs handled on series, and each individual program, which were con­ the big networks by whole departments — research, sidered and discarded for one reason or another writing, set designing, obtaining music rights and (sometimes reluctantly) would make another half- audio-visual material, and for myself the additional dozen series of equal length. Sometimes a company role of narrator — all of this on a schedule of weekly orperformer was unavailable for the date needed, or programs for nine consecutive weeks, traveling be­ inability to obtain music rights eliminated a work de­ tween New York rehearsals and Boston production. sired; a more brief dance sequence was thought pref­ erable, but the work in question could not be cut; But we finished the series with some grounds for another piece was discarded because of technical prob­ optimism, not just about this particular project, but lems it posed with regard to filming; and finally the about the future of dance on educational television. We budget as set up, prohibited the engagement of any had, first of all, proven that it could be done — with more than an average of five performers per program. the resources of an educational station. Newspaper By cutting here, adding there, we were able to get a reviews since the release of the series have been un­ "company" effect by having as many as nine perform­ reservedly generous in their praise. Some of the head­ ers on one or two of the programs. But still, any lines read: "Survey of the Dance Raises Ambitious large ballet works were out of the question. And one Standard for Educational Video;" "A Time to Dance of the cardinal rules about a television script is not Best Series Yet on Channel 2;" "A flawless, out­ to talk long, if at all, on what you cannot show, either standing and spectacularly beautiful offering." What­ live, in film, or photograph. We had the generous ever satisfaction this may afford, personally, to those services of the top authority on 16mm film resources, ofuswho worked on it, I am sure the final and deepest Perry Miller, who in her ability to find just the right, reward is in offering the first of what is hoped and and often a rare film clip, did much to help reconcile expected to be followed by other such series devoted this latter impasse. The film resources of Susan to dance. Television offers itself not only as a medium Braun were also particularly helpful. for the presentation of dance as an art, but additionally as a subject for critical analysis, historical inquiry, Certainly one of the handicaps of an educational and comparative study with regard to related arts. The television station as opposed to a commercial network, medium which has been in our time uniquely respon­ in undertaking a project of this dimension was in the sible for an unprecedented growth in dance interest, size of the staff— perhaps even more than in'its tech­ and ultimately inthe dance profession, may in due nical facilities. Of the four members of our production course be the instrument of increasing audience under­ staff, the production assistant and I were the only two standing and support of dance as a major art.

From Round Trip to Trinidad with Geoffrey Holder and Company, center: Mr. Holder; left: Thelma Hill and Charles Saint-Amant; right: Julius Fields and Miriam Port. 38

John Butler

Carmen de Laval lade and Glen Tetley In The Nativity. C.B.S. Look Up and Live.

vision, Mr. Butler is keenly aware of the problems involved with sets, costumes, and camera techniques. He feels that backdrops are less satisfactory than those sets which incorporate sculptural pieces. Costumes must have a detail and finish not necessary on stage. Make-up should be kept simple. The way in which the patterns of the dance are seen is strongly af­ fected by camera angles. Shoot­ ing from above can bring out the excitement of floor work. The "empty swimming pool" effect, One of the most active choreographers on television which you get with a solid-color floor unrelieved by today, John Butler brings to his work a broad dance sets or markings, may be alleviated by the use of a background. He has performed in Broadway musicals, painted floor (as illustrated in the photograph above). in night clubs, and was a soloist with the Martha Graham Company. In addition, he has done extensive Working in Europe as well as in the United States, choreography forthe New York City Opera Company. John Butler envisages a promising future for dance in During his eleven years on television, Mr. Butlerhas television. He believes that television offers great been choreographer for commercial shows, spectacu­ potential for serious work of fine caliber. Dancers lars, "prestige"programs (such as Omnibus and The and choreographers must come to this realization, Seven Lively Arts), and experimental projects. he feels, and get "excited" about the possibilities. "Then," he says, "something really quite special can Through his wide experience with dance on tele­ happen." 39

Dance Seen Through The "Eyes" of a Television Camera

JANET MASON

"Inherfirst Omnibus program, 'The Artof Ballet,' "Agnes worked very hard indeed to understand and Agnes de Mille outlined and illustrated the historical cope with the director's problems and artistic needs growth of ballet; and in her second program, 'The Art and to work within the technical limitations of the tele­ of Choreography,' she illustrated the creative role of vision camera and studio set-up. She began — as the choreographer in devising a dance; she went on to choreographers do —with the dancer and the idea, and show how difficult it is to preserve the work as written then took into consideration the physical and technical music, for example, is preserved. Each program was needs, resources, and limitations of the medium. She essentially a demonstration-lecture, but each was a pointed out to the director, Charles Dubin, that the theatrical piece as well. Picture, if you will, a series ideal spot from which to view most dances is center of dance excerpts — taken bothfrom Agnes's own works balcony: that this view gives one the floor pattern, the and from the work of other choreographers — linked total relationship of the dancers to one another, as well by running commentary written and spoken by Agnes in as a full view of each individual dancer. Agnes said her typically vivid style. she did not want any 'arty shots' of an eyebrow or a disembodied hand; that this was not dance; thatthe en­ "Agnes had to re-choreograph each dance taking tire movement had to be seen. She felt that cutting from into account the advantages and limitations of the tele­ shot to shot or zooming in for extreme close-ups often vision camera lenses. You cannot just set up a camera gave unwanted and unnecessary accents which departed in the front row of a theatre and expect to produce ex­ from the intent of the choreographer. citing television. Nor can the dancer or choreographer expect to illustrate techniques tellingly without full "Our director had to resist the inclination to use consideration of his tools, which in this case included elaborate camera techniques, in order to stay within cameras. A spectator in a theatre creates his own the framework of Agnes's choreographic intent. But close-ups by simply looking intently at whatever he as he grew to understand what she wanted, he was able wishes to see. He can see a group as a whole; or he to add new dimensions to her dance. In one segment can mentally and visually exclude distractions to con­ of 'The Artof Ballet,' for instance —the solobyMary centrate on single elements, on single dancers. A Ellen Moylen re-creating a dance by Taglioni — Dubin television viewer can scarcely do the same, for the first showed the dancer as a whole, then superimposed television screen is already a very limited focus. But her very detailed footwork — pointwork — in a corner a television director can lead the viewer to see what of the shot so that the viewer saw the entire action plus the choreographer wishes him to see. the important accent and detail. In this case, the close-up was truly effective, not distracting. In an­ "Of course, Agnes was accustomed to choreograph­ other case, that of Sylphides, Dubin never used a ing for the film cameras of Hollywood. Live television close-up. As I remember, he showed the entire group presenteda different problem to her — that of present­ action and that of the three soloists from a center ing an entire program demanding the continuous motion (downstage) front point, moving into full-figure shots and flow of each dance segment into the next. only on the solos. His limited cutting from camera to camera was masterful. Agnes was breathless. She "In essence, we we re making a film with a live tele­ said it was the most beautiful piece of camera work vision camera without the benefit of any stops and on dance she had ever seen. starts—without opportunity to do a're-take,' and with no break in the entire hour and a half. In a way, of "The degree of coverage depends in part upon the course, it was more comparable to a theatrical pre­ number of cameras available. Omnibus used three sentation—with one obvious difference: her work was cameras as a basic working unit — one on a boom for to be seen only through the 'eyes' of the camera. maximum coverage and canted shots from ceiling or

Before coining to KQED, Channel 9, in San Francisco as Producer-Director, Janet Mason was Assistant Feature Editor of the Ford Foundation Television Workshop's Series, Omnibus. She worked closely with Agnes de Mille in the production of two of the programs Miss de Mille created for this distinguished series In 1955 and 1956. 40

floor levels, and two regular cameras. There were dimensional fruit and flowers that resembled the mar­ also one or more extra cameras available when needed zipan-candy detail of prints and engravings of that for special shots. Inthe case of Agnes's square dan­ period. The viewer first saw Taglioni standing mo­ ces, a fixed camera mounted on the light grid was used tionless — as if in a print; the music began, and the for two shots only — yet those shots were essential. In camera pushed through the frame to a dancer in mo­ no other way could one so clearly see the group's pat­ tion. The entire segment was delicate, detailed, and terned movement. moving. Camargo's dance, performed by Agnes her­ self, looked like a Fragonard or Boucher print that "Another aspect of camera coverage is important came to life — and only two pedestals with tear-drop to mention, I think: the use of the wide-angle lens, chandelier-candlesticks were used to frame the sym­ especially for works involving huge groups of dancers metrical dance. In other words, Henry was able to moving in large floor patterns. 'The Cowman and the setoff each dance segment with telling discrimination Farmer Must be Friends,' from Oklahoma, for in­ by a most economical use of set pieces. Greg Harney stance, was shot with what Dubin called 'the wide- supplied a superb lighting plot; and the cameras made wide lens.1 Dancers entered the group pattern from the most of every opportunity to present the material behind the camera and made their exits from the square in appropriate historical pictures. dance 'into' the camera, giving the viewer a feeling of involvement in the dance that is not possible in a thea­ "The pressures of time and money in television are tre . No regular lens could have encompassed the large enormous. A choreographer must work with dancers; pattern in a studio; nor could the feeling of pattern- the creation and rehearsals of a dance take hours; in-depth have been so well achieved. hours mean money — lots of money, and our budget was comparatively limited. But both pressures were met "On the first program, 'The Art of Ballet,' set de­ and conquered by Agnes. The dances grew, as she signer, Henry May was given the problem of achieving said, 'Like coral—bit by bit.' Her dancers gave her a sense of historical continuity. He managed to suggest full measure of cooperation. I have not often seen historical periods with extremely simple set pieces. such a large and varied group of people work so hard, For the Taglioni sequence, he used two elements: a so willingly, to create a television show. Agnes's diaphanous drape; and an oval frame made of three- creative zest constantly sparked the others. I imagine

"Square Dance" sequence from Oklahoma. Photograph by Roy Stevens. 41 it always has . . . the same zest carried dancers "I think Agnes was both happy and unhappy with the throughout the long, and at times, grueling rehearsal programs — satisfied, but not fully satisfied with them. period and through the programs themselves. At the Yet, for her, the difficulties of transferring theatre time of the 'Choreography' show, for instance, soloist dance to the television screen were compensated for Sonya Arova sprained her back in final rehearsal; with by an awareness that the audience for dance was being James Mitchell, she danced an exacting pas-de-deux substantially increased throughout the United States. from Pink Tights while encased in adhesive tape from No small task — no small reward." shoulder to hips . . . and she danced it beautifully. Editor's Note "Another, more general problem — and one you would not be apt to think of — was simply the floor. After talking with Janet Mason in San Francisco, I Dancers rehearse in ahall thathas a wooden floor; but was able to go toSaudek Associates, the producers of television studios are built with concrete floors, be­ the Omnibus Shows in New York to see kinescopes of cause television cameras must move over a smooth these two programs and to read the scripts. Dance surface if their pictures are not to make a viewer sea­ enthusiasts inthe New York area can have no real idea sick. Try dancing throughout two hour-and-a-half what such programs mean to the rest of us all over the dress rehearsals, and then performing for an hour and country. The opportunity to see again these dedicated a half, and you will understand what happens. You be­ and rewarding pieces of work was thrilling. gin to feel 'Pain in the hocks' — muscles have had to absorb all the shock that the wooden floor usually Miss de Mille spoke without ateleprompter and was cushions. By the time the program is completed, the able to communicate that marvelous impression of dancers are more tired than they might be in the thea­ spontaneity interspersed with humor that comes from tre because of the non-resilient floor, intense heat of a lifetime of the use of great talent through hard work. lights', and concern of hovering technicians. The scripts read as a history of dance and a broad sketch of choreographic problems. They contain much "Many wonderful people involved with the produc­ valuable material, that should be made available to tion compensated forthe strain of constant problems. dance enthusiasts. Space allows us to quote only one Trudy Rittmann, Agnes's composer-pianist and long­ statement about Miss de Mille's use of folk material time friend, gave us a lift when things were most which has become essentially her choreographic sig­ chaotic, when feelings and energy were low. We ap­ nature. "A theatre piece from a square dance never preciated her quiet voice, her apt criticism, and con­ violates or corrupts the basic intent. Itis never vul­ stant encouragement. gar. The dancers do what the folk dancers would do if they had the technique." "The dancers had worked for months learning the dances as they were composed. Agnes had decided On the second program, after presenting a care­ that a re-creation of the composition process — a four- fully documented and absorbing demonstration of what minute rehearsal scene —would be the right conclusion choreography is and how a choreographer works, Miss for the second program on Choreography. We should de Mille summed up this intense, exciting mode of life see dancers at work, dressed in practice clothes; ac­ saying: "So it goes on — hour after hour — day after tive , and involved; fatigued, sleeping on the floor. How day — past fatigue: with submission, with fortitude. I could we capture the feeling of rehearsal ? How to pre­ am their tool as they are mine—we work together . . . sent in capsule form the process that takes weeks of Why do we care so dreadfully? In order to have suc­ work, weeks of building, tearing down, then trying cess? No — although success is good. In order to again? This was the problem she assigned herselfand communicate. That's all any of us try to do the whole her dancers. They were able to do it —to capture the of our lives: communicate with each other, and some­ feeling of rehearsal. As Agnes composed the se­ times we succeedwithintimates. But the artist tries quence, herdancers wouldexclaim 'That's it! That's to talk to whoever will listen; and in order to do this, what we go through!' The moment had reality, partly he must talk in symbols, in order to say what lies be­ because there was so much humor in it, and so much yond language. love. The rapport of dancer and choreographer was always evident —with the laughter and joy of high mo­ "And the oldest symbol is human gesture. Our most ments, as well as the fatigue and discouragement of sacred legends say how it was: 'And the earth was low ones. And during the telecast another dimension without form, and void. And darkness lay upon the suddenly appeared: the piece had a life and feeling of face of the deep. And the spirit of God walked upon truth which it had never attained in rehearsal. It was the face of the water. And God said. Let the waters one of these 'moments' in theatre that rarely happens, bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath that is too often 'rehearsed away.' life." 42

Televising Dance—The Local Scene

GERALD MARANS — from a taped interview

Mr. Marans, IMPULSE is interested in various points of view related to dance and television, and we wondered whether you would make a state­ ment about what has been done with dance at Station KQED.

I think our first experience with dance was in children's dance with Dick Ford, and it has been so popular it has been going onfor overfive years. He doesn't really teach dancing to youngsters. He teaches a kind of awareness of the world around them which they can express with their bodies. I don't think we do the program as specifically dance. But rather specifically as a children's program; the developmental process of children. I don't know too much about formal training for dance, and itis quite conceivable that some rigorous ballet master might look down his nose at this. Speaking of ballet, we finally broke the ice with the San Francisco Ballet last year when we did a preview of their Beauty and the Beast, and Lew Christensen choreographed a special version which ran about 16minutes. We turned the studio upside down with elaborate settings, greatamounts of rehearsal and preparation. Their time is so limited and our time and facilities are also limited, which is why we have done relatively little. Tomorrow's program will be an evaluation of the San Francisco Ballet, its place inthe community, problems of support, maintenance, style, and development. There will be about 10 minutes of. dance and 18 minutes of talk. from Hop, Skip and Dance Do you think these television presentations have increased interest in the dance?

I think the screen and television cameras have done an enormous amount for dance, for they have made it not precious and unusual and stratified, but a common experience to many— many people who would never otherwise see it and who had never been previously exposed to it. This applies also to music and probably somewhat less to the graphic arts. But every art has strong purists, and if the dance exists on the stage in a given form it should be presented in that form allowing for differences in the medium. On television we just can't see a full Swan Lake witha company of 40 or 50 dancers in great detail and this may horrify some purists. The medium is just not suited for this; you can do it in cinemascope. But there is no reason in the world why we can't move dance onto tele­ vision as long as we choreograph for television. This is the secret: you can't take a dance which is choreographed forthe stage —any more than you can take a dramatic play or anything else — and transfer it without change, like a novel into a motion picture. You simply cannot do this without modifying it to the demands of the medium. The demands of the television medium are pretty rigorous. A tiny 21-inch screen gives abad picture atits best. Everybody's set is different; the reception is different. All these are things we have to live with in television.

Would you say that one of the limitations is the restricted vision of the observer?

I suppose a basic difference is that in seeing a ballet performance in the theatre we have a tremendous peripheral vision; we can see everything or we can focus on anything that we choose to see. Also the choreographer or stage director will try to direct our focus to a particular movement. Obviously, lots goes on that a person in the audience doesn't see. On television he will see whatever is on the screen unless the phone rings and he leaves his set. But this screen can only reveal a relatively small amount. The camera or director begins to make a selection for the audience. And he has to select significant

Editors of IMPULSE met with Mr. Marans at Station KQED Gerald Marans Is Production Manager of KQED, the National Educational Television Station in San Francisco. 43

detail. If you put a company of 20 dancers on, they are hopelessly lost. You can use the June Taylor dancers and make geometric patterns, but you see the total pattern, you don't see the grace of the individual movement. In television we can bring this out in great detail. It is terribly important for our job that we pick the proper detail and view this from the most advantageous angle.

In the theatre, if youbuy a seatway up in the balcony, you seethe dance from one place; buy a seat on the mezzanine or inthe orchestra you see it from an entirely different angle of view. On television every member of the audience sees the same picture. And what he sees is at the discretion of the television director. Thus it seems to me itis essential that the director work in close relationship with the choreographer. The choreography in turn should be executed in terms ofwhat the camera can see. Furthermore, the tele­ vision screen is a two-dimensional medium, and we are used to seeing things with third dimension. The normal pattern of movement on the stage is horizontal, or parallel with the footlights, with the variant of diagonals. This is unsatisfactory for television. The distances between people become greatly exaggerated, and we endup with two tiny figures on the screen in order to see both of them. So we try to design movement that will be vertical or perpendicular to the front of the camera. Sometimes we take a piece which has been choreographed for the stage and do it by pulling the camera, in effect, around where the wings would be. But, again, if a lift or a position is being made for the front we don't get full benefit of this. Then we modify the choreography so that it will fit the camera or the screen. We try to reduce, if possible, the number of people. There may be six or eight or twelve dancers on stage, but it may be necessary for us to limit our attention to two or three or even one. Obviously we are going to lose a part of the total picture of the activity of all the dancers on our stage. This is the reason itis necessary to choreograph in terms of the camera; ifwe can'tsee it, there is no point in doing it. And sometimes, movement of the camera cangivethe illusion ofalarge group of performers.

We have some limitations here at KQED because lack of equipment doesn't enable us to do everything we would like; we can't move our cameras up and down as they can on the networks.

How should a person prepare to become a television choreographer?

Well, I don't think there is any great secret to it assuming he is already qualifed as a stage choreographer. I would answer by simply saying he needs to have some sense of two-dimensional composition. This is basically the only problem. I don't think he needs to know the ins and outs or why and wherefore of cameras. He certainly must have a sense of pattern development if he is a choreographer atall. He should be able to isolate significant detail so that he can develop patterns with a limited number of people, so he really composes dance for television by building it up out of a series of pictures, which develops into a flowing unified whole.

Do you think that in the careful preparation and editing of a film you get some­ thing that goes better on television than the chance live performance?

Not necessarily. I think this depends on the individual skills involved and not on the medium.

In the live television production, the choreographer, cameraman and di­ rector must know which shots are going to be made on which cameras, but who has the decisive say-so, the director?

That is correct: So you hope to have a director with some kind of sensitivity to what the choreographer is trying to do. Just today Lew Christensentook three things he had done before and worked out apattern. I went in and explained my problems astheywent through the rehearsal, and he kept readjusting the dancers'positions to where I could get cameras. 44

(Whatwe did was to adapt the dance, not change it, so that the meaning on tele vis ion would approximate the intention of the staged version).

What other dance programs have you done?

We did a series with Welland Lathrop, and a series with the Contemporary Dancers; and we did several one-shot things, several Indian dancers who came through here, the Dick Ford trio; and Ruth Beckford. Of course these are our local productions. We also have shown National Educational Television production series, A Time to Dance, and the Martha Graham films.

How do you feel about sets and decor that are likely to clutter the back­ ground and confuse the movement?

It's a matter of taste; some people like a lot of things in the background and some don't. And the taste factor is something we have no control over. There are designers who are not willing to subordinate their designs for the total project. Similarly some directors get carried away. They want beautiful, exciting or unusual pictures, but they don't think of the content. The ideal design seems to be one which establishes a place where per­ formers seemto belong but which always supports the performers, ratherthan attracting attention to itself. How you achieve this is something else again. To complicate the design problem, we have some serious drawbacks in our technical system. We have to have a certain balance of black, white and gray in our picture to get good resolution on the home screen. Figures highlighted against black may look beautiful in the studio and control room, but bythetime you get it home, you have just a batch of mud on the screen. However, television has come a long way since 1931 when Tashamira did some experimental dances in the days when the medium was so primitive, that the image could only project part of the body and the performer was re­ stricted within the confines of a space equivalent to a small closet. The batch of mud you speak of is a beautiful picture compared to the broken images of those early days. What can we expect in the next 30 years ?

No end of electronic wonders which will span vaster distances, provide newer and more unusual effects, put videotape machines in viewers' homes. . . But the basic problem of the artist — creation and communication of emotion will remain unchanged. More tools will be placed at his disposal, but they are and must remain only tools. His imagina­ tion, intelligence, and skill must grow sufficiently to utilizethese newtools. Butwe must always exercise care that the artist remains the keystone and that engineering technical feats, however intriguing, are neither a substitute nor a replacement for the artist.

from Hop, Skip and Dance, KQED 45

The High Fidelity of Vision DANIEL NAGRIN - from a taped interview.

Why don'twe startwith the contradictions that film This is particularly true of accent, the vital, strong sets up in comparison to the living dancer on a stage accent. Fred Astaire and Disney were among the first before an audience. You sit in a chair and know how to understand this, and from Disney's use of music big you are in relation to the size of the theatre, the came the phrase to "Mickey Mouse" movement. To size of the proscenium and you make an assumption "Mickey Mouse" movement, means to use music as about the size of the dancer —which is always a little an accent when the performer makes an accent in the false. You are always "thrown" when you meet the live film. In other words, when the performer makes a dancer. You say "Oh! I thought you were so much tall­ stamp, it's not enough to record just the sound of the er." This illusion is part of the defiant statement the foot hitting the floor. It is also necessary to make a dancer makes in relation to life, the music, the pro­ strong musical accent. Astaire understood this. If he scenium — his defiant statement in relation to space, did a dance phrase that went "ta ta ta tapow!," the mu­ and to his limitations. It is part of the thrill of danc­ sic went "ta ta ta ta pow!" If he did that on stage, you ing. It's the thrill of hearing an opera singer stand would say that itwas naive and unsophisticated. When before a chorus of sixty and an orchestra of seventy he was a stage performer he probably did not do it. and soar out with a tone above everybody else. The stage practice of counterpointing beats must be kept at a minimum in dance created for film. In a All of us have our most treasured and significant living presence, the music has its vital impact and the memories of when we were poor students of the dance dancer will make an off-beat which will excite us. In and sat in the only seats we could afford, at the top film, the musical accent will be powerful because of Carnegie Hall and saw an infinitely small figure go sound is sound, but movement inrelation to film is as into an ecstacyof dance. It's often the most powerful if it were under alayer of varnish; some of its impact memories we have of dance. What we see now can is lost. Therefore one has to revise one's relation­ hardly beat that moment when we sat so far back. Now ship to music in a score when you use it in film. Get that we can afford to sit in the 12th row of the orches­ closer to the accents as they are in the music rather tra, often further down doesn't work quite so well. than syncopating or "off-beating" them. That's because, no matter how far back we are, no matter how small the figure is, our sense of pro­ Film saps dance vitality in other ways. The con­ portion is using its understanding and imagination. ventional way of shooting an actor is at eye-level, but When the dancer takes a leap in relation to the pro­ to shoot a dancer at eye-level leaves the greater por­ scenium, we gasp with astonishment and excitement. tion of his body below the lens, — ergo the lower part We all know the strange disenchantment that takes of his body is foreshortened. To make movement sig­ place when we are forced to take a seat in the first or nificant in film and to make each movement potent one second row and see dance; we see sweat, hear grunts, must make the greater portion of the moving members lose the relationship to the proscenium, and the re­ of the body above the level of the camera eye. Gen­ sult is a loss of theatrical illusion. erally speaking, to make movement powerful in film, one should focus between the knees and the hips and Now we come to the question of film. If the camera­ certainly no higher than the chest. But when you're man backs up too far, the dancerbecomes verysmall, below level you lose some sense of floor space. When not in relation to you sitting in your seat, but in re­ a floor pattern becomes important, a great deal of ex­ lation to a proscenium that is determined by the very citement can be gained by going to the radical extreme limited frame of the camera. If the camera is very and shooting down from above the head level of the close to the dancer to get his impact, to see him and performer. You get the dynamic of him inrelation to know him asaperson, you see almost no space around space. This, however, will destroy elevation though him. Whenhe is small his action is impotent; when he it makes movement patterns and turns very exciting. is close part of space dynamic is lost. The camera What the field requires is some objective experimen­ has the problem of conveying the same vitality that tal filming where several basic dance actions — turns, emanates from the stage. One can make emphatic, leaps, spatial patterns — are shot from above, below, dynamic movement on stage: film it and the movement from the side and so forth. loses about one-quarter or one-third of its energy. Daniel Nagrln, well-known solo dancer, has appeared in the film "A Dance In the Sun", photographed by Shirley Clarke and In the television series A Time to Dance. 46

This brings us to another strange thing which every­ film. Movement just isn't as exciting in film. The body has to avoid in film, which is not true, inciden­ look of a sweated-up real man or woman a hundred or tally, in television. There is an effect in film which two hundred feet away on a stage which is splintered, is extremely disturbing. It is called the strobe effect. raked or lit badly or well, still has the presence of In television the image is also produced by discreet muscles against space which film has a tendency to pictures created by a scanning device that, I believe, gloss over. works in lines. Its speed of repetition, however, is fantastic, a thousand or more times per second. This Now we come to the question "What to use film for?" great speed obviates strobe. Viewing film we literally When film is done for record, the problem isn't too see 24 individual pictures per second. We are never complicated. All you need is some money —and fair aware of this except when a person moves quickly at 16mm equipment. 35mm is extravagant while 8mm id right angles to the line of vision of the camera. Then too small. You should shoot about waist level. Ideally you geta staggered, jerky movement and suddenly you the film should be done with sound; the camera should are aware of the medium and it destroys the movement. be electrically driven so you don't have interruptions This means that any fast movement in front of the cam­ for rewinding a spring motor every 20 or 30 seconds. era ideally should be diagonally towards or away from You should shoot at least 400 feet at a time. Ideally the camera to vitiate the strobe effect. it should be done in combination with Labanotation and music because a film doesn't solve all problems in These are some of the technical problems which terms of recalling specific movements. That would emerge in trying to take the sheer physical vitality of be an ideal record because then one could get some of dance on stage and not lose it in the film. This con­ the impact of the original performance — but not all tinually happens and is one of the disappointments of

Daniel Nagrln on A Time to Dance 47

of it. One shouldn't bother to get close-ups unless in a too lively hall, competes with the singer; just so, there is a particularly intricate phrase. If you can't elaborate scenery competes with the dancer. The afford sound, I've wondered if it wouldn't be possible dance is avisual medium. You might have a marvelous to set up the frame of the camera so that in the lower set, but if it has pieces like a fence rail that are as right hand corner of the frame someone has a small high as a fence rail in life, the dancer looks terribly baton and is beating time with a special move for a unheroic when he jumps — or makes any movement downbeat. You would have to frame this so it wouldn't because of this static competitive height. If neces­ obscure movement. Suppose you had an intricate score sary, everything should be dwarfed. Build the heroic that had two 6/8 bars and then a 2/4 bar. With the relationship of the dancer to the objects around him. use of the baton you could then remember all the in­ This will make up for the fact that we can't see the tricate counts. Without sound or a device such as this whole proscenium. A complicated set behind a dancer it is difficult to recall precisely where the movement means the dancer is doing a visual counterpoint to fits in the score. something he never planned — to an object. I don't know how many movies we've seen that have had a com­ When it comes to the matter of doing perfectly or plex of trees and bushes in the background vitiating not at all — do it imperfectly. K you don't have a spring- the movement. Sometimes someone says "We're driven camera, use any kind of camera for recording going to have it simple. We'll use a cyclorama." To works. Helen Tamiris revived Dance for Walt Whit­ light a cyclorama easily, technicians set up what is man at Perry-Mansfield and redid it for Juilliard. called a ground row. A ground row is a concealed bank It was a simpler job for her to do by virtue of the fact of lights which light the "eye." But the low flat used to that we had filmed it, though it was done out of doors, conceal the lights is unlit and a black band runs across stop and go, without music and in twenty-second inter­ the stage. This means that from the shinbone down, vals. It still helped. the dancer is constantly working against a tonal value that is almost the same color as his legs and is weak­ When it comes to a matter of filming a creative work ening their activity. Ground rows are treacherous. and making art of it — that in itself becomes a complex Some very good dance films have been weakened by creative act. You can't ignore the role of the camera this one oversight. The solution can be expensive. then. The cameraman must have the same devotion It involves more powerful lights hung from above and to the reality of the dance as the dancer has to the re­ focused on the cyclorama. ality of the subject that he was doing originally. It requires the same honesty and the same integrity. We Everything that is wrong with film is squared or know dancers who have had the vanity of their own ma­ cubed, as it were, with television. Film always has terial and their own feeling about movement so that the problem of marketing and consequently it can't be they take the reality that they were dancing about and too arty. There are a lot of things which aren't filmed smother it in their personal ecstasy of movement. Just because there wouldn't be much of a market for them. so, there are cameramen who are so excited bytheir Film is terribly expensive. Television is much more medium that they smother the dance reality. I don't expensive, because it doesn't stand a chance of re­ know any generalization that can be given to a director peated sale. Television has the problem of trying to or a cameraman to project the reality of a creative make everybody happy — which is a sure way of mak­ work. There are a couple of things that are necessary. ing nobody happy. It's 21 inches instead of the full size It becomes terribly important in film, and very easy of the theatre. Even a 16mm film projected on a screen to forget, to know who is dancing. If you see the en­ isbiggerthan any television setwe have today. Sothat tire figure dance through the whole film and never once every problem in relation to space is worse on tele­ come close enough to clearly see the face of the per­ vision. Furthermore, most television studios rarely son, then it is not specific and personal. It remains have crane-operated cameras. They work those little an abstraction and you don't understand why you are push things which can't lower enough to shoot prop­ detached from it. There has to be a moment early in erly — or go high enough. The only experiences which the film where you have a literal close-up. It may be have ever been successful or exciting on television are necessary to do it even outside of the music, before those which have been rehearsed for about three weeks, the music if it is difficult, but early in the film. Just have had several dry runs, that have had a tremen­ as every well choreographed work requires a moment dous amount of space and extremely energetic and tal­ early inthe dance when the dancer is still enough for ented directors and cameramen. Getting good dance the audience to see who is dancing, so it must be in on television thus becomes a problem of economy, en­ film. Before the audience realizes that something is ergy and vision. Insight and sensitivity are necessary happening, they must know to whom it is happening. to set and light the dancer so that he becomes the dom­ inant , arresting attraction on the screen and his move­ Thenthere is one other problem, scenery. Sound, ments are seen with a high fidelity of vision. 48

Maya Deren and Dance in the Filmic Medium

NIK KREVITSKY

Although only two of her films deal explicitly with dance, Maya Deren has become identified with dance in the film medium. Perhaps it is a preoccupation with the movement aspect of the moving picture (which, as we know, does not move at all) which relates this artist's work to the dance attitude or dance approach. Actually, Miss Deren approaches the making of a film as a dancer might the making of a dance, allowing, of course, for the differences of media. Although only one of her films is distinguished by a title implying dance (A Study in Choreography for Camera) all of Miss Deren's films could well be called choreographies for camera, for this is one of the fundamental concepts with which she works. That the film is a movement pattern or design with the eye of the camera as participant is a basic premise of her approach. The es­ sential elements of dance are always present; among them rhythm predominating.

The two Derendance films, A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945) and The Very Eye of Night (1959), have a tremendous import for persons interested in dance in film. Although they are not the only dance films which treat the relationship between these two arts in a sensitive way, they have unique, distinguishing features and are avant-garde.* Miss Deren, a true artist in her disinterest in following any pattern or formula, a true innovator seeking only to use stimulating new attitudes or ideas, seems content in being the inventor, and would probably be the first to sanction further use by others of any of her innovations. She is too busy going on to new experimentations to worry about re-producing sure-fire works based on old ideas. For her the excitement is in the invention and the carrying through in a finished work exemplifying this new idea.

In the marriage of the art forms of dance and film, Maya Deren creates works which owe their existence to this wedding; works which could exist in no other form. Her dance films are strictly for the camera. They could not possibly be performed on stage or on live television or in any other medium. They come into being only through the creative imagination of the film maker, photographer and editor (in Miss Deren's case, one person) who assembles footage of related sequences in various places or settings, and with highly con­ trived splicing, based on a careful rhythmic structure, makes film dance. Tempi, controlled by wide-angle lenses and other purely filmic technicalities, have much to do with the camera choreography. Accelerated, decelerated, and stopped motion all play their parts in the total effect. The moving of the camera over or around a still figure creates a dance quality impossible in any other kind of choreography. This device is

*Hereusedto indicate that they are pioneering or prime works which can open up the field to further examples using similar principles. one which Maya Deren uses in a haunting way in her latest film, The Very Eye of Night, in which ballet per­ formers move to sequences designed by Antony Tudor. In a strict sense the credit line "choreography by" belongs to him, but in the sense inwhich Maya Deren designs or choreographs a film, that credit can hardly apply only to the dance director; it applies also to the film maker. Because of this important point, the title credit states: "choreographic collaboration Antony Tudor."

In The Very Eye of Night movement of the camera is conferred upon figures in the scene. The feeling of movement is conveyed by the changing relationship between a figure and the frame of the screen; the figure increases or diminishes in size, turns around, and takes on other movement simply by the movement of the hand-held camera and the use of various lenses. Because of the elimination of the horizon line and any de­ limiting background, the eye of the observer accepts the picture frame as constant or stable and attributes all movement to the figures within it. The unique quality achieved in this film is that of gravity-free, floating figures. As Miss Deren states; "In the absence of any absolute orientation the push-and-pull of the inter­ relationships of the figures becomes the major dialogue, echoing that of inter-stellar space." Since the film deals with the constellations this is a highly effective treatment.

Maya Deren is very concerned with the creation of anew "reality" through the use of film; she is complete­ ly disinterested in the use of the medium as a recording device. This, to her, is not a creative use of the Kodak which states: "You push the button, it does the rest." Herattitude is summed up in the following state­ ment: "If film is to take its place as a full-fledged art form beside the others it must cease merely to record realities which owe nothing of their actual existence to the film instrument; instead, it must create a total experience so much out of the very nature of the instrument as to be inseparable from its means. It must relinquish the narrative discipline it borrowed from literature, its timid imitation of the causal logics of narrative plots, . . .instead, it must develop the vocabulary of filmic images, evolve the syntax of filmic techniques which relate these, determine the disciplines inherent in the medium, discover its own structural modes, explore the new realms and dimensions accessible to it and so enrich our culture as science has done in its own province."

The dance idiom in film has been greatly enriched by the work of Maya Deren. No dancer or dance en- thusiast can view her films and remain untouched.

Nik Krevitsky, artist and critic, a member of the Editorial Board of the Dance Observer. Is at present Director of Art In the Public Schools, Tuscon, Arizona.

Study in Choreography for Camera, Pas de Deux. Maya Deren and Tally Beatty. Enlarged from the 16mm film frames. 50

Triptych - A Film Adaptation of a Dance WELLAND LATHROP

Three Characters for a Passion Play I Prophet II Informer m Outcast

Performance and Choreography — Welland Lathrop Camera and Direction — J. Padgett Payne Music — Bela Bartok Costume — Mary Grant Pianist — Raylene Pierce 10 minutes, Sound and Color

Enlargement of one frame from 16mm film of Welland Lathrop in Three Characters for a Passion Play.

The purpose in making Triptych was not to record a stage dance on film but rather, to create a dance film using photographed dance movement in such away that the emotional quality of the original dance would be conveyed to the screen. At a live performance the audience mentally bridges the gap between itself and the stage, making, as it were its own close-ups. At a film showing this does not occur and the gap must be bridged by the camera. Thus it became evident, after a good deal of experimentation, that the original stage choreography would have tobe largely abandoned in favor of film equivalents.

The film was shot on Type A Kodachrome with very limited light resources, which led to a compositional use of the figure in the frame rather than the figure in space. To match the dramatic mood of the dance, the light was kept sharp, with strong highlights and shad­ ows. Four to six lamps of 150 to 300 watts were used to light a work area four to six feet square. Because there was no horizon it was possible to shoot most of the film with a hand-held camera. The proportion of film shot to the finished product was about six to one.

Triptych is derived from Three Characters for a Passion Play, a solo dance in three parts, in which the Prophet, the Informer, and the Outcast are de­ picted in three separate dance episodes corresponding to the three sections of the music. The musical struc­ ture of the original dance was kept intact by careful cutting in close relationship to the fundamental beat and measure structure of the music. As each take was made, the corresponding music was played on a per­ formance tape, which insured fidelity to the original. After a final synchronization the music was re-record­ ed to fit the finished film. Thus music, movement, and photography were merged into a unified whole. 51

Television—a Tool for Teaching Dance

RUDY BRETZ interviewed by ALMA HAWKINS

For a number of years dancers, choreographers, and teachers have been much interested in television and its potentialities as a medium for dance and as a means of teaching. Since Rudy Bretz has experimented widely in educational television and is most enthusiastic about possible developments in this field, I asked him to explain some of his ideas and show in what ways they might be applied to the teaching of dance. For this purpose I questioned Mr. Bretz concerning the most advantageous methods for using television as a teaching aid, the nature of the television equipment now available, and, finally, the prospects for dance as an art form on commercial television. His answers provided the basis for the following account. To those of us working in dance these possibilities sound most exciting. Now we should do some experimental work ourselves and try to make of television a real tool for teaching. Television - To Extend and Improve Instruction board for these purposes. In this connection I can point to the television camera as an extremely valu­ In summarizing briefly the various ways in which able and a highly superior visual aid. television as a medium has been found useful in edu­ cation, I believe there are two important uses — to The Television Camera - The Best Possible Visual Aid provide, first, a wider dissemination of instruction, and, second, improvement of instruction. I think that The television camera is far and away the best the first one does not apply too much in the teaching possible visual aid. It has advantages over the slide of dance, because we do not have large dance classes projector, the overhead transparency projector, the of 200 or more students at a time. This use of tele­ opaque projector, and the chalk board itself. And what vision applies when large numbers of students are in­ is more, it combines all of these so that you can take volved. For example, in school systems where there the advantages of each and combine them all at the are thousands of fourth grade children taking Spanish, same time. For example, it can be used in connec­ it is possible for all of them to take Spanish at the tion with a lecture where you want to present a de­ same time from the best instructor in the school sys­ monstration to people who are seated, listening or tem. Instruction can be disseminated over a much watching an instructor talk. It is possible for the in­ larger number of students, thus increasing the stu­ structor to have a small television camera so arranged dent-teacher ratio, which is something we have to find that he can show any visual material, any drawings, some way to do in the very near future. any pictures, or pages inabook. The television cam­ era is a fantastic tool for this kind of a presentation. The experiments that have been made inthe use of television in college teaching have been largely com­ Television and the Individual Student parisons which prove that there is no loss inthe qual­ ity of instruction when the students take instruction Another aspect of the use of television within the directly off a television screen rather than from the classroom is its application to the individual student. instructor in the classroom. When an instructor is working with an individual, and not concerned with presenting something tothe whole Your problem in teaching dance is to find some class, the television camera can be extremely useful way in which television can improve instruction within by giving this individual an objective view of his move­ the classroom where the instructor is already in direct ment, of his actions. This has been proven to be of contact with the students. In this regard we can look value in such things, for example, as typing. This is a to television as a visual aid. The use of visual aids far cry from the dance but it does involve the learning in teaching certain subjects is extremely valuable and of skills and the learning of certain form which you there is evidence that they improve the quality and the must observe in yourself. speed of putting across information. I am sure this is true. Many instructors use pictures, a few lines, What we have done with the camera in typing is this: diagrams or drawings, and rely heavily on the chalk we have put the camera on the hands of students from

Rudy Bretz and Alma Hawkins are both on the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles, where he is in charge of the work in television and she is director of dance. 52

the side, not over the student's shoulder because that around ten pounds, and it has only one operating control is the subjective point of view, but from the side as besides the lens, which, of course, you have to focus someone else would see the hands and then put the like any lens on any camera. It has only one control, image on the monitor at the front of the classroom so a switch, by which you turn the thing on and off. If that the student could then watch the monitor instead you point it at a brightly lighted subject, it adapts it­ of watching her hands. Naturally, she is not allowed self for this brighter light and vice versa. to watch her hands while learning touch-typing. She sees her hands on the monitor from an objective point Extra light is no longer necessary. This camera of view. She can see her mistakes in the movement lam describing was used in the typing room yesterday of the fingers, the curvature, or little things which and everything was visible underthe ordinary fluores­ would not otherwise come to her attention. cent overhead lighting. The concept of a special studio with very complex equipment, special lighting I have the theory that this use of the television and so forth is no longer applicable to television pro­ camera has application to almost anything where self- duction. All you need now is a room with normal light­ observation inthe learning of a skill is valuable. Cer­ ing and a camera which may cost as little as $750. tainly in dance, the element of self-observation has been used. I know that for years the dance studios have Television and Teacher Education had a mirror just for that purpose. However, the view into a mirror is really a subjective point of view. You There are about thirty or thirty-five institutions of see yourself as you are used to seeing yourself all the teacher education in the country that are now using time, and in that respect it is subjective. Now what television as a means of having student teachers ob­ is possible with the television camera ? Let us say that serve classroom methods. Usually two cameras, the dancer is learning a certain movement and trying to operated by remote control, are placed in the room get that movement to look the way it should with the with one directed on the teacher and the other on the proper form. It would be possible to surround the students. These cameras can be controlled from the dancer with monitors and put the image from one cam­ receiving point, so that the instructor of the teacher era on all the monitors at the same time so that which­ education course will have control over what the cam­ ever way she looked she would see herself. era is doing. No cameramen are necessary in the classroom with the students who are being observed. Naturally, she would be looking in different direc­ This could apply to the teaching of dance. It would tions thereby facing the camera differently; thus she be possible for a class to observe a dance teacher would be seeing herself at the different angles which­ working under quite normal circumstances. It might ever way she looked. It wouldn't be like surrounding be a day-to-day routine type of thing where the observ­ her with mirrors because she would always see her­ ing students might or might not look in. In such a set-up. self reflected face-on in any mirror, whereas with the demonstration could be a perfectly natural type this system she would see herself now from the back, of presentation rather than something specially de­ now from the side, now from the front, now from the signed for the purpose, and the demonstrating teacher other side and so forth. would be able to avoid the tendency to react self-con­ sciously as though she were on a stage in front of a Television - A Practical Means large audience.

Whenever television is discussed, people think of This type of instruction made possible by the cam­ the television studio with its tremendous cameras era has advantages over the one-way glass observation and huge cables running around the floor. This is not rooms where a group hides behind what appears to the necessary any more, even in broadcasting. They are pupils to be a mirror. It is always expensive to con­ going to smaller and smaller cameras; and in the in­ struct such a thing with a big panel of one-way glass, dustrial and educational field, cameras are available and usually there is only one such room. The class which have more and more automatic features so that being observed as well as the class observing would they are easier to operate. You can buy a camera have to go there. The advantage of television is that it which is self-contained. You have a little unit about is less expensive and has greater flexibility. The tele­ 4" x 10" x 6". This camerawill feed the picture into vision camera can go to any class setting and the stu­ any receiver. You bring a receiver into the classroom dent observation group may meet anywhere on campus. from your home and attach a feed-in from this camera to the antenna terminals on the receiver. This single Closed Circuit Television for Film Screening simple camera doesn't have a large set of controls either. We received a earner a yesterday, whichweighs Another use of television which we are planning for 53 the campus here at UCLA may be of interest — the ap- done for the first time on television it is possible to lication of a closed circuit television for the screen­ announce, as they did on Omnibus, that this play will ing of films. We are convinced that it will be more be seen tonight by more people than have ever seen it convenient for the instructor if the film he is to use before. is screened from a central point rather than by a pro­ jector in the classroom itself. We will have a closed Now the question is not, can it be done, but will it circuit system linking the major buildings on campus be done? Is It practical under our existing system of to a central projection room where a television film advertising television? Is it feasible for a thing like chain will be installed with projectors in association dance to have this wide an appeal? Dance does have with it. The films will be projected into the television an appeal. It is very hard to turn on television any system at this central point. Then the instructor in night without seeing some kind of dance. What we are the classroom who will be in contact with the projec­ talking about is something worthwhile in dance. As tionist at the central point, will be able to control his with drama, you'll see drama at any hour of the day on ownprojectorby means of a start button, a stop frame several channels, but is it something worthwhile? Is (still picture) button, and a reverse button. Thus he it too much to ask or expect that we will see more cul­ can control the projector which is running his film in tural productions in television than we have seen in these three respects. The only requirement for oper­ the past? ating this system is atelevision receiver in the class­ room where the instructor wants to show the film. My own viewpoint is that it is not too likely as long as we retain the system of broadcasting we are now This system will provide the ultimate in conven­ using, the system of 100% sponsorship through adver­ ience. The instructor simply calls up, a few hours tising. In recent months, there has been a trend in ahead of time, to central projection and asks if such the opposite direction and this is worth exploring. For and such a film is available in the Library and could example, last Thursday night there was the play of the he have a channel forthe screening of that film, let's week, Juno and the Paycock, for two hours, followed say at 2:00 o'clock when his class meets. He is as­ by the CBS Spring Festival of Music which was an signed a channel, told his film is in and will be ready hour called "Folk Song USA." Last week it was the for him. So he goes in at 2:00 o'clock, turns on the CBS Symphony Orchestra. The week before it was the receiver in the classroom and sees on the screen the New York Philharmonic under Eugene Ormandy, a first frame or title of the film he is going to use. very fine quality program. At the present time some When he is ready for the film, he need not darken the advertisers are trying to connect themselves with pro­ room because the television receiver is intense enough grams which have high cultural value. The networks to work in ordinary room light. He simply pushes a are becoming a little worried that the government, button to start the film, to stop it on a frame, to re­ through the FCC, is going to be taking a closer look verse it, go back and forth over it as much as he likes. at the actual content of the programming and may even Itis not necessary for a projectionist tobe standing by, go as far as to license the networks and require them even in central projection. Although there is one to stick to a certain level of programming. For this there, he doesn't have to be working anything manu­ reason, what the networks are anxious to do, of course, ally. It is an automatic system. We plan to experi­ is to prove that this is not necessary, and at this time ment with this system at UCLA. I think it will have we are seeing a number of public service programs application to many departments in the university dealing with the arts. These things have come and where films are appropriate to teaching. Films are not gone in the past. There have been several stages in being used as much as they could be because of the in­ the history of broadcasting in this country where this convenience involved. This is probably a very good sort of regulation has become necessary. Then we application of the new technology tothe problem of uti­ find a relapse into the normal pattern of putting on lization of what is already in existence. programs which appeal to the largest number of people. This, of course, means appeal to the lowest Dance in Commercial Network Television common denominator.

Television, like film, is afine mediumforthe pre­ To summarize all this, I would say that it is pos­ sentation of dance and has great advantages in that it sible to present dance as a serious art. Some mag­ can bring a performance to many more people than nificent things have been done and more marvelous could possibly ever have seen it before. For example, things will be done but I think that we will have to wait, I am sure that today, even with the small amount of for extensive developments, until we have a different ballet which has been seen on television, most of system; probably pay television or something of this the people in this country who have seen ballet, saw it sort rather than the present method of broadcasting forthe first time on television. Usually, when a play is which is subsidized by advertising. •

Pearl Lang

She was first engaged to choreograph and perform solos in such early shows as the Somerset Maugham Playhouse and the Fred Waring Show. In September of 1956 Miss Lang produced Parable for Lovers for Look Up and Live on C.B.S. The fine reception this work received led to the presentation of an adapta­ tion of her Rites on the same program the following November. Rites (a 36-minute dance for a cast of 13, to Bela Bartok's fourth and fifth quartets) is a com­ plex dance-drama dealing with the cycle of man's life wherein his innocence is violated by the recurrent errors of the elders. After its initial television pre­ sentation, Rites was done by N.B.C. on Frontiers of Faith (June 1957) and by the Canadian Broadcasting System on Folio (November 1957). Miss Lang's And Joy Is My Witness was shown on Omnibus in March of 1957 and on Frontiers of Faith in February of 1960.

Pearl Lang feels that, oriented as it is to enter­ tainment as a catalyst to generate and excite the pub­ lic's buying power, television offers the serious choreographer little opportunity or encouragement to work creatively. The religious and public service pro­ grams afford some outlet but are often limited by policy and budget. The problems with which the television choreographer must cope are many - space (limited amount, concrete surface, impeding equipment, cam­ era distortion of space factors, etc.), director's availability during rehearsals, adequate camera time, making the dance the dominant element, and others.

However, these problems, both technical and philo­ sophical, need not be regarded as insurmountable if Pearl Lang in "Lament" (solo) from Rites the dancer-choreographer can work with a director who is sensitive to the dance medium and will use his cameras to react esthetically, so that dance can ex­ press precisely that kind of drama understood best through feeling. Miss Lang believes that there is a growing demand for quality television programs, in As a frequent performer and choreographer for which theatre dance of a meaningful kind can claim its television, Pearl Lang is able to know through experi­ place as a visually exciting form of entertainment. ence both the handicaps and potentialities of this medi­ The medium holds a great and diversified potential um as it relates to dance as a serious art form. Her for good. In the hands of a serious, talented artist television work has been of two different types - the and a knowledgeable, devoted director it can become composing of dances for the medium and the adaptation a real pioneering art form capable of stimulating in of stage dances to the time and space requirements of audiences their deeper faculties of enjoyment, feel­ specific programs. ing and understanding.

Pearl Lang, formerly soloist with the Martha Graham Company, now performs with her own group. She Is a recent recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. 55

Alwin Nikolais Pavanne, a work of Alwln Nikolais from the Steve Allen Television Show Sept. 28,1959. NBC Hollywood. Dancers: Murray Louis, Gladys Bailln, Phyllis Lamhut, Arlene Laub.

For more than ten years Alwin Nikolais has been director of the Playhouse Dance Company of the Henry Street Playhouse (New York City). During this period his approach to dance has evolved toward a highly impersonal use of the human instrument. Although his dancers move with the utmost of range and efficiency, there is no emphasis upon technical virtuosity as such. Although a true theatrical atmosphere is created, there is no reliance upon literary or emotional factors. For Mr. Nikolais the primary interest lies in re­ lationships — relationships of objects in space, which may create patterns in much the same fashion as our kaleidoscope. For this purpose he exploits the technical resources of the theatre, thoroughly integrated with the dance movement. Such compositions as Runic Canto, Allegory, and Totem present innumerable startling visual images of moving figures, color, light, and sound. Alwin Nikolais's "Abstract Dance Theatre" has brought new experiences in sight and sound tothe television public. Mr. Nikolais believes ". . .the new dance figure is significant more in its instrumental sensitivity and capacity to speak directly in terms of motion, shape, time and space. . . " and he exploits these dimen­ sions in ways which expand the usual presentation of dance on television. The electronic music composed for his dance pieces further emphasizes the non-literal character of his work. Because the visual and plastic elements are dominant, Mr. Nikolais's dances are shown to good advantage through the television medium. 56

Resources

Dance Films, Incorporated Dance Magazine Susan Braun, President 231 West 58th Street 130 West 57th Street New York 19, New York New York 19, New York The February, 1960 (Vol. XXXIV No. 2) issue con­ Dance Films, Inc., located in New York City is the tains an unprecedented listing of 165 films available1 only organization in the United States concerned solely for rent or purchase. This directory is the first of a with the distribution of audio-visual materials to fill series of annual listings. It includes dance presen­ the needs of persons inthe dance. These include 16 mm tations in the ballet, modern, mime, and folk idioms non-theatrical motion pictures, still photographs, and gives information concerning title, distributor, slides and filmstrips with descriptive manuals. Al­ year film was made, minutes film runs, color or black though its services are available to non-members, it and white, sale and rental price. is essentially a membership organization offering the following services to member organizations and indi­ Dance Research viduals: programming; research; bookings of films for 1201 16th Street, N.W. programs; preparation of exhibits to illustrate lec­ Washington 6, D. C. tures; a quarterly news letter. Compiled by the Research Committee, National Dance Films, Inc. , under the direction of Susan Section on Dance, American Association of Health, Braun, is active in the promotion of the following: Physical Education and Recreation, this listing in­ the use of audio-visual materials as an aid to teaching cludes several references to research on dance in film dance and dance appreciation; the recording of dance and television. by established choreographers and dancers; the pre­ servation of dances as documents; assisting the Creative Film Foundation choreographer in reconstructing his work. Joseph Campbell, President 35 Morton Street Now in its fifth year, Dance Films, Inc., is a non­ New York 14, New York profit, tax-exempt organization operated according to the U. S. Treasury Department "exclusively for The Creative Film Foundation is a non-profit, tax charitable and educational purposes." The Officers, exempt, educational corporation whose purpose is "to Board of Directors, and Advisory Board include many encourage and promote... motion pictures as a cre­ well-known persons in the fields of dance and film. ative fine art form." The Foundation established an annual Creative Film Award with the joint sponsorship of Cinema 16 in 1956 for films whose primary aim is creative achievement, which are concerned with ex­ ploring the filmic medium and which contribute to the Dance Index enlargement of the expressive range and scope of filmic vocabulary and to the development of film as a The May, 1945 (Vol. IV, No. 5) issue of Dance Index fine art. The Award focuses attention on films which contains a listing of 7 00 films made by individual ama­ are generally classified as "experimental," "avant- teurs "to record.. .the literal performances of certain garde," "cine-poem," etc. Films which are prima­ dances and dancers." The August, 1947 (Vol. VI, No. 8) rily informational, documentary, art, or entertain­ issue contains an illustrated article by Arthur Knight, ment films, as those categories are generally under­ then Assistant Curator of the Museum of Modern Art stood, are not eligible. Film Library, on different approaches made by film­ makers "to harness and exploit the theatrical appeal Educational Film Library Association, Incorporated of dancing." These issues are of historical value for 250 West 57th Street all concerned with the problems of dance and films. New York 19, New York Dance Index is available at the Dance Collection, New York Public Library, and at various other public and The Educational Film Library Association, Inc. university libraries. is an independent, non-profit association, geared to the needs of producers and distributors of 16mm films. Cinema 16 Members include film libraries, audio-visual depart­ Amos Vogel ments, and interested individuals in school systems, 175 Lexington Avenue universities, public libraries, national and local or­ New York 16, New York ganizations, industry, labor and religious groups, as well as producers, sponsors, and distributors of films Cinema 16 is noteworthy for its pioneer work in and filmstrips. The Association evaluates films, collecting and showing experimental films. These guides producers in placing deposit prints and select­ excellent films, exploring many ideas and areas, in­ ing needed subject areas for production, lists new re­ cluding dance, are shown periodically in New York and leases in their monthly bulletin, provides information are available for rental. on films and aids in promotion and recognition of out­ standing films. University Film Rental Libraries National Film Board of Canada T. L. Johnston, Chief Various state and private universities maintain Information Division film rental libraries as part of their audio-visual P. O. Box 6100 services. Catalogues are available from such notable Montreal 3, Quebec, Canada sources as:

The National Film Board of Canada sends notice of University of California New York University seven films produced by the National Film Board Film Rental Library Film Library which are of note. Inadditionto films presentingballet 2272 Union Street 26 Washington Place and marionette performances, two, "La Merle" and Berkeley 4, California New York 3, New York "A Chairy Tale," were created by animation artist Norman McLaren. Although the latter are not dance National Education Film Service films inthe strictest sense, they use animation which Audio-Visual Center incorporates elements of dance. Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Dance Collection, New York Public Library Genevieve Oswald, Curator Fifth Avenue and 42d Street New York 18, New York

The Dance Collection has a unique and compre­ hensive collection of books, periodicals, and pictori­ IMPULSE PUBLICATIONS al materials on all phases of dance.

The Lena Robbins Foundation Published annually by Impulse Publications, Inc., Mary E. Dornheim 160 Palo Alto Avenue, San Francisco 14, California. 154 East 74th Street $1.50 per copy, checks payable to Impulse Publica­ New York 21, New York tions, Inc. No part of the material herein maybe re­ produced without the consent of Impulse Publications, Among other activities, the Lena Robbins Foun­ Inc., with exception of short quotations used for re­ dation is supervising the collection of dance films for views. Copyright 1960 by Impulse Publications, Inc. the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library.

Editor: Marian Van Tuyl

Museum of Modern Art Editorial Board: Doris Dennison, Elizabeth Fuller, 11 West 53rd Street Rebecca Fuller, Shirley Genther, Joanna Gewertz, New York 19, New York Robert Graham, Ann Halprin, Nik Krevitsky, David Lauer, Eleanor Lauer, Bernice Peterson, Rhoda The Museum of Modern Art Film Library has Winter Russell, Dorrill Shadwell and Adele Wenig. in its collection, several dance films of historical note. Photographs of dancers and dances that have Production Supervision: Lilly Weil Jaffe appeared in motion pictures are available to non-pro­ fit educational organizations. Legal Adviser: IraM. Shadwell PULSE 1960

Dance in Relation to the IMPULSE 1951 Individual and Society (out of print)

IMPULSE 1952 Production Issue

IMPULSE 1953 Dance in Education (out of print)

IMPULSE 1954 Dance as Communication

IMPULSE 1955 Theories of Choreography

IMPULSE 1956 Dance and Related Arts

IMPULSE 1957 Dance for Children

IMPULSE 1958 Theories and View Points

IMPULSE 1959 Arch Lauterer—Poet in the Theatre

THE ANNUAL OF

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