Brooklyn Academy of Music 1997 Next Wave Festival .•••- • • - • Julio Galan, Rado, 1996, oil on canvas, 39 'f," x 31 'H' Cunningham, Merce Forward & Reverse ~ ~ ~ ~E~ R,RNI~ BAM 1997 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Lpl:N Brooklyn Academy of Music Bruce C. Ratner Chairman of the Board Harvey Lichtenstein President & Executive Producer presents Cunningham 9J19 Forward & Reverse BAM Opera House Program A· October 14, 16 & 18, 1997 at 7.30pm Program B: October 15 & 17 at 7: 30pm; October 19 at 3pm Merce Cunningham Dance Company Running times: Dancers Program A Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, Michael Cole, Holley Farmer, Maydelle Fason, approximately two Jean Freebury, Foofwa d'imobilite, Matthew Mohr, Banu Ogan, Jared Phillips, hours and thirty Glen Rumsey, Jeannie Steele, Derry Swan, Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien minutes including two intermissions Musicians Program B Takehisa Kosugi, Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke, Andrew Russ, Trimpin approximately two Choreography Merce Cunningham hours and ten Founding musical director John Cage minutes including Musical director Takehisa Kosugi two intermissions Assistant to the choreographer Robert Swinston Executive director William B. Cook This Merce Cunningham Dance Company season is supported in part with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by the New York State Council on the Arts. The Yamaha Disklavier is the official piano of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Special support is provided by The Harkness Foundation for Dance and The Ford Foundation. Opening night sponsored by Interview Magazine with additional support from Pernod. BAM thanks the Theater Development Photo .. Annie Leibovitz Fund for supporting this presentation. Choreogra phy Merce Cunningham Rondo (1996) New York premiere Intermission Music John Cage, FOUR 6 Costumes Suzanne Gallo & Merce Cunningham Scenario (1997) World premiere Lighting Kelly Atallah Music Takehisa Kosugi, Wave Code A-Z Dancers Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, Costumes Rei Kawakubo Michael Cole, Holley Farmer, Maydelle Fason, Space &Iighti ng concept Rei Kawakubo Jean Freebury, Foofwa d'imobilite, Lighting Masao Nihei & David Covey Matthew Mohr, Banu Ogan, Jared Phillips, Space Takao Kawasaki Glen Rumsey, Jeannie Steele, Derry Swan, Dancers Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien Michael Cole, Holley Farmer, Maydelle Fason, Musicians Takehisa Kosugi, Thurston Moore, Jean Freebury, Foofwa d'imobilite, Jim O'Rourke, Andrew Russ Matthew Mohr, Banu Ogan, Jared Phillips, Glen Rumsey, Jeannie Steele, Derry Swan, Fi rst performed at Theater im Foru m, Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien Ludwigsburg, Germany, June 2, 1996 Musician Takehisa Kosugi Rondo has two sections. The first is variable from Wave Code A-Z performance to performance in the order of the The inaudible very low f~equency electronic waves continuity of the eight short dances that comprise make sounds undulate. Various sounds and it. The second section is denser and has a shift of phonetic realisations instructed by the meanings of pace, like a sudden change in the weather. The 26 single words (A to Z) are performed with the material for Rondo has been worked out, in part, electronic waves. The undulated sounds may be on the dance computer program, LifeForms. heard for gradual change of sonic spectrum. -Merce Cunningham -Takehisa Kosugi This work has been made possible by the ADF The defiance and fusion of the dancers within the (with support from Philip Morris Companies Inc.), confines of a limited white space! What would the North Carolina Museum of Art, Ludwigsburger happen? Schlossfestspiele Internationale Festspiele Baden­ WUrttemberg and Cunningham Dance The emphasis of and restrictions to the movements Foundation, Inc. due to the shapes and volumes of the costumes! Would something totally unexpected be produced? Intermission The results are unpredictable. BAMevent We can only await chance and fortuity. Music Company Musicians -Rei Kawakubo Costu mes Suzanne Gallo Lighti ng David Covey Partial support for Scenario provided by Opera Dancers Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, National de Parisi Palais Garnier; Metropolitan Life Michael Cole, Holley Farmer, Maydelle Fason, Foundation; Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Jean Freebury, Foofwa d'imobilite, Foundation; the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust; Matthew Mohr, Banu Ogan, Jared Phillips, Brooklyn Academy of Music Glen Rumsey, Jeannie Steele, Derry Swan, Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien Special thanks to Tsuguya Inuoe, graphic design; Musicians Takehisa Kosugi, Thurston Moore, Hiroshi Matsushita, fabrics; Timothy Greenfield­ Jim O'Rourke Sanders, photography; and Comme des Gar<;ons Notes for tonight's BAMevent are detailed in a program insert. Choreography Merce Cunningham Installations (1996) New York premiere by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Helen W. Music Trimpin, Thirteenstitches Buckner Trust. Th is work was co-com missioned by Video decor & lighting Elliot Caplan Meany Hall at the University of Washington and with thanks to Kelly Atallah the Cunningham Dance Foundation, Inc. Costumes Suzanne Gallo Dancers Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, Elliot Caplan thanks: Simon Egleton; Bob Michael Cole, Maydelle Fason, Jean Freebury, Richman; Peter Siller; Steve Robinson; Greg Foofwa d'imobilite, Matthew Mohr, Banu Ogan, Addison; Johnathan Nichols; Ben Wolf; Kelly Jared Phillips, Glen Rumsey, Jeannie Steele, Richardson; Web Crittenden; Karen Kenesevitch; Derry Swan, Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien Sean Forbes; Raymond Campbell; Damon Gordon; Musician Trimpin Janine Melillo; Roman Rosell; Jens Greuner First performed at University of Washington, Intermission Meany Hall, Seattle, Washington, May 2, 1996 Windows (1995) New York premiere Thirteenstitches is based on acoustical transitions, Music Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta, using the physical space surrounding the audience Microcosmos as an instrument. The tuning system for this piece Decor John Cage, Global Village 1-36 (1989) is based on the natural overtone series, not fre­ Costumes Suzanne Gallo quently used in our Western-influenced approach Lighti ng Aaron Copp to composition. All the sounds heard are ureal," Dancers Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, Michael nothing is amplified or synthesized. The somewhat Cole, Holley Farmer, Maydelle Fason, Jean traditional melodic and rhythmical patterns that Freebury, Foofwa d'imobilite, Matthew Mohr, emerge in Thirteenstitches are contradictory to the Banu Ogan, Jared Phillips, Glen Rumsey, ever-experimental direction of the Cunningham Jeannie Steele, Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien choreography. The simultaneous lateral movement Musicians Takehisa Kosugi, Thurston Moore, of the dance (visual) and the acoustical move­ Jim O'Rourke ments (aural) result in a mental synchronization that resolves the two dissimilar structures into one First performed at Opera Berlioz/ Le Corum, entity. Creating friction by having two distinctly Montpellier, France, June 23, 1995 different approaches working opposite each other is a risk I wanted to explore in Thirteenstitches. Made possible, in part, by the AT&T Foundation -Trimpin Intermission As designer as well as filmmaker, my work with dance is direct, I work to be clear. My intention BAMevent is to maintain a situation for the audience where Music Company Musicians the viewer's eye can roam the stage alternating Costu mes Suzanne Gallo between live performance and recorded image. Lighti ng David Covey This kind of experience can be lively for the dancer Dancers Lisa Boudreau, Thomas Caley, and engaging for the viewer. It should be like look­ Michael Cole, Holley Farmer, Maydelle Fason, ing at a painting, rather than watching television. Jean Freebury, Foofwa d'imobilite, There should be a lot to see. Overall, I seek to Matthew Mohr, Banu Ogan, Jared Phillips, intensify the dance experience, not get in its way. Glen Rumsey, Jeannie Steele, Derry Swan, -Elliot Caplan Robert Swinston, Cheryl Therrien Musicians Takehisa Kosugi, Thurston Moore, The composer and choreographer commission fees Jim 0'Rourke for this collaboration were made possible by a grant from Meet The Composer's Composer / Notes for tonight's BAMevent are detailed in a Choreographer Project, a national program funded program insert. Merce Cunningham Dance Company came into minute work seen in the 1996 Lincoln Center being in the summer of 1953, when Cunningham Festival, at the Belfast Festival at Queen's, in took a group of dancers who had been working November of this year. Ocean will also be given at with him to Black Mountain College, the progres­ the festival Montpellier Danse in June 1998. sive liberal arts school in North Carolina. The 1998 wi II begi n with two weeks at the Opera group included Carolyn Brown, Remy Charlip, National de Paris, Palais Garnier, during which Viola Farber, and Paul Taylor. John Cage was another new work will be presented, Pond Way, musical director and David Tudor the company with music by Brian Eno. 1998 will also see a musician. Cage's association with the company major season at the Barbican Centre in London continued until his death in August 1992, when and a month-long tour of Japan. Tudor succeeded him as musical advisor. David Tudor died in August 1996. In 1995, Takehisa Merce Cunningham, born in Centralia, Kosugi was appointed musical director. Washington, received his first formal dance and theater training at the Cornish School (now Cornish In June 1964, as the company began its second College of the Arts) in Seattle. From 1939 to decade,