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Bonnie Bird Gundlach, Dancer and Dance Educator : Oral History

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Bonnie Bird Gundlach, Dancer and Dance Educator : Oral History University of California Berkeley BONNIE BIRD GUNDLACH: DANCER AND DANCE EDUCATOR Interviews Conducted by William Riess and Heidi Gundlach- Smith July to November 1994 INTERVIEW HISTORY Bonnie Bird Gundlach was a dancer and dance educator whose life and work spanned a period of tremendous creativity in the arts and considerable turmoil in social and political life as well. She was intimately involved in dance education both in the United States and England where she spent the last twenty years of her life. The following oral history interviews were conducted in the summer of 1994 in Tiburon, California. Bonnie had become ill in England and returned to California to seek treatment for what was quickly diagnosed as cancer of the liver. While this was a difficult time for her, she was able to be with her daughter, Heidi Gundlach-Smith, and to have the great joy of seeing her first grandchild and namesake, Bonnie Devon Smith who was born October 8, 1994. After a brief period of remission, the cancer returned, and Bonnie died on April 9, 1995. This project has been very much an extended family matter. The idea was first proposed by Suzanne Riess, a senior editor in the Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley; she had known Bonnie for many years. The interviewer was Suzanne's former husband, Bill Riess, whom Bonnie called her "summer son" when he was in high school. Heidi Gundlach was present for most of the interviews, participating from time to time, and she video-taped those interviews. Transcribing was done by Judith Cederblom of Seattle, Washington. Judith is the long-time companion of John Riess, brother of Bill Riess. Bill and John's father, Bernard F. Riess, a psychologist, was a colleague and close friend of Ralph Gundlach, Bonnie's husband. The two men had close collegial connections as psychologists and shared many concerns, especially in having had parallel experiences during the harrowing days of the McCarthy era. The Riess house on Lake Waramaug in New Preston, Connecticut, was the center of their family summers for a period of years. Additional interview participants were Shirley Winn, Anthony Bowne, and Marion North, all close friends and collaborators of Bonnie's whose visits to her in Tiburon coincided with the interviewing process. Their presence sharpened the focus on the history of the Laban Center in England and its Transitions Dance Company. It was at Bonnie's suggestion that they joined the interviews . Shannon Page and Suzanne Riess of the Regional Oral History Office completed the interviews on the model of the Oral History Office. This included format conversion of the transcripts, tape auditing, editing, name checking and preparing queries. Bonnie's final illness precluded any review by her of the transcript. The points marked in the text with { } brackets, questions that would have been easily answered by her, are left to the researcher and scholar of dance history, to whom this oral history will be invaluable. Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please write clearly. Use black ink.) Your full name ^GNINffe ><fe<i 0>OU(\ (ARJA Date of birth 5g) Birthplace Father's full name OOf/H"- E-LLlC)T ^(i^l Occupation /f Pf}TtthA($(jlW/ Birthplace C&jtf'~M? ,&3u . (Jt. j Mother's full name IMUL &&)$_< tk- Occupation ~ / * Birthplace Sfo/i^ll. Your spouse Your children Where did you grow up? Present community Education Areas of expertise interests or Other activities . Organizations in which you are active fe San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1995 : - Bonnie Bird Mexico to meet with refugee art ists. Bonnie a She is Bird, modern dance survived by brothers pioneer, died of cancer Scott, of Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Bill Tiburon. She was 80. of Rossmoor; a daughter, Heidi Ms. Bird was Gundlach Smith born in Portland, of Willits; and sons Ore. She was educated at the Cor John Gundlach of Helen Ga nish and School of Fine Arts in Seattle. Michael Gundlach of Cordova' Alaska. When Martha Graham joined Cor nish as a dance Ms. A teacher, Bird memorial celebration will be was chosen as her held student. Saturday. For more informa She went tion, call to New York and join (415) 435-3472. ed the Graham Company, where Stephen Schwartz she remained until 1938, when she returned to the Cornish school as the head of the dance department. She taught Merce Cunning ham, and John Cage and Lou Har rison composed music for her dances. She was prominent in the founding of the American Dance Guild and the Congress on Re search in Dance. In 1974, she began a long association with the Laban Center for Movement and Dance in London. Ms. Bird was married to Ralph Gundlach, a psychology professor who died in 1978. Gundlach was fired from the University of Wash ington faculty in 1949 as an alleged Communist, and Ms. Bird became active in leftist causes of the time. In 1940, she supported the Vet erans of the Abraham Lincoln Bri an gade, organization of Spanish civil war veterans, against the Roo sevelt administration. She taught at the Seattle Labor School in 1945. Her interest in dance was re kindled when she later traveled to Guide to the Photographs Page 1 Nelle Fisher, Kenneth Bostock, and Bonnie Bird on the roof of the Cornish School, the spring after Martha Graham taught at Cornish. Bonnie Bird performing her dance, "Sarabande," probably 1938. Page 2 A dance performed at Cornish School where Bonnie taught after returning from New York. Bonnie Bird on the left; Merce Cunningham, second from left; Syvilla Fort, second from right. Page 3 Michael Gundlach, Heidi Gundlach, Bonnie Bird Gundlach, John Scott Gundlach, and Ralph Gundlach, Corte Madera, California, the summer of 1958 or 1959. Bonnie Bird wearing a pin given her by Alexander Calder, at Mills College or University of California, Berkeley, mid to late 1940' s. Page 4 Bonnie Bird in England, late 1970 's Table of ContentsBonnie Bird Gundlach I AN OVERVIEW OF EARLY INFLUENCES 1 Bonnie's World in 1931: Dance and Political Awareness 1 Separating Away, 1937, Back in Seattle 4 Dad and the Family Farm in Bothell 6 Mother's Specialist Teacher Training 8 The Cornish School 11 Early Dance Exposure: Caird Leslie, Anna Pavlova 12 Rich Cultural Tradition of the Cornish School 16 II FAMILY 19 Mother's Family: The Powerses of Norwalk, Connecticut 19 Mother's Spirit: Swimming into Society 22 More on Family and Relations 24 Religious Instruction, and the Contrast between Seattle and Norwalk27 Brother Bill's Broken Teeth 29 Parties: Sixth Birthday, and a Treasure Hunt 31 Parties: A Circus, and a Paper Chase 33 Mother Takes on the Town: PTA and Community Action 35 Father's Family, and the Mormon Handcart Trek 39 Father's Start in San Francisco and Seattle 43 Parents Marriage 45 Father and His Cars and Customers 47 The Turkey Shoot 49 The Car Business Through Prohibition and Depression 51 Mother Behind the Wheel 53 Bonnie and Her Brothers 54 Horse Stories 56 School Memories : Madrona School in Seattle 59 Real and Imaginary Babies 62 Aunt Grace and the Adolph Bolm Class 63 Holiday Trips in the Marmon, and Bainbridge Island Summers 64 Father's Amusing Friends 67 Boyfriends, Girlfriends 67 Class and Manners 69 III MARTHA GRAHAM, AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAYHOUSE SCHOOL, 1931 72 Louise Solberg and the Elmhirst Connection to the Cornish School 72 Dance Classwork and the Challenge of Graham 74 An Aside on "Interpretive Dance" 76 A Performance with Graham at the Cornish School, and Costuming 78 Rooming with Dorothy Bird on 49th Street 81 Irene Lewisohn and the Neighborhood Playhouse School 82 The Teachers: Drama with Gellendre and Choreography with Horst 83 Speech and Theater Studies 85 IV DECISIVE YEARS, THE PULL OF THEATER 88 The Neighborhood Playhouse School's Social Service Background 88 More on Faculty at Neighborhood Playhouse 89 The Cast of Guthrie McClintic's "Romeo and Juliet" 91 Improvisation: Out to Dinner 93 Summer Repertory Theater at Elm Lea, 1932 95 To the Bowery and Beyond 97 To Longchamps 99 Martha's Dancers on Stage at Radio City Music Hall, 1931 {?} 100 Back to Bonnie's Varied Roles in "Romeo and Juliet" 103 Artists' Model, and Wilhelm Reich's Orgone Therapy 107 Driving West, Through Taliesin, 1933 110 Missing Tape 112 Bennington Summer School Students, 1934, and an Aside on Horst 113 John Martin's Class 115 May O'Donnell and Gertrude Schurr 117 Geordie Graham and Winthrop Sergeant 118 Martha Graham Treated for Alcoholism 119 [no. p. 123] V DANCE NOTATION 124 Dance Notation Bureau, Marva Spellman 124 The Process of Notation, and a Discussion with Martha 125 Ron Purdis, and Codifying Graham Work 127 Merce Cunningham and Dance Notation 130 Dance Notation Systems other than Laban 131 VI MARRIAGE TO RALPH GUNDLACH, 1938 133 A Brief Review, and on to Teaching at Cornish 133 The Wedding 135 Aggressive Newspaper Coverage 140 Students at Cornish, and at Mills, 1938 142 Edward Lindeman 143 Ralph's House in Seattle, and Daughter Joan 146 The Gundlach Family, Wallace, Idaho 148 Ralph's Choice of Psychology as a Profession 150 Ralph's College Jobs, and Summers on Striped Peak 152 VII "TRANSITIONS" [JOINT INTERVIEW WITH ANTHONY BOWNE] 156 VIII MORE ON 1937-1938, AND RALPH 186 Cross-Country Trip with Anny Kulka and Peter Bernheis, 1937 186 The Reception in Seattle, and A First Appearance by Ralph 188 A California Vacation Trip, and Charlotte Mack's Art World 191 A Benefit Performance for the Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy 196 A Benefit
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