DAVID GORDON - ARCHIVEOGRAPHY OVERTURE - FORWARD & PREFACE 1 #1 OVERTURE - definition - INTRODUCTION - FREQUENTLY FOLLOWED BY SERIES OF DANCE TUNES BEFORE CURTAIN RISES - OFTEN RETURNS TO INTRODUCE ACTION - FOLLOWING PROLOGUE. FOREWORD - definition - INTRODUCTORY ESSAY - WRITTEN BY DIFFERENT PERSON - PRECEDES AUTHOR'S PREFACE. PREFACE - definition - INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY TEXT- BY AUTHOR - TELLS HOW TEXT CAME TO BE - OFTEN CLOSES WITH THANKS. #2 Some time after the beginning - but before the middle middle - I begin to acknowledge to myself - David says - I’m not entirely original. #1 I am not a brilliant inventor of dance steps. I am a practical reorganizer of available movement - he says. I’m not an inventor of language. I can be funny - I have timing - but I am only an obsessive reorganizer of words. #2 Rather than have my deficiencies discovered & trounced by others - I decide to boldly accept & announce my right - to re-use my own material - & to try to celebrate & enjoy reappearance & changes in context - & to revel in how many ways for instance - there are - to skin the proverbial cat. I know for sure the 1st time I improvise dialogue publicly is 1963 - @ Judson Church - in my work called RANDOM BREAKFAST - when I tell an audience how to create their own dances - but - in 1944 - some kids in Public School 160 - tell the substitute teacher - when the regular teacher is out - they say - the kids say David makes up stories - so the sub says get up & tell a story - & I’m a kid - David says - who does what he’s told - so I do. That is to say - I improvise telling stories - David says - in 1944. DAVID GORDON - ARCHIVEOGRAPHY OVERTURE - FORWARD & PREFACE 2 #1 I know - now - in 2016 - how many of my previous experiences - & how many parts of how many of my pieces - &/or anybody else’s pieces - inhabit my older pieces - & my newer n’newest pieces - & I know how kinda iffy - & how complicated it all is - for accurate archive life - when leftovers keep getting served as appetizers - & I know - now - if I’m gonna archive - archiving becomes my current subject matter - as well as my history - as well as my latest - maybe last - system - & if I add some 2s & some other 2s together - I know - now - in 2016 - the arc of my career appears - David says - and I am surprised to discover there is/was - an arc. I really had no idea it was all so obvious. #2 í1940s - PUBLIC SCHOOL 160 - David remembers some students names - ANNABELLE TAUBENKIBEL And ZELMAN ZOOK - and MENTARE GURI - AlbAniAn girl from Rivington Street - is this howyA sPell MentAre Guri? STANLEY HILL - new kid in PS 160 - AfricAn AmericAn - before African American is whatya say - David sAys - only other boy who weArs knickers - kids Are gonnA hAftA stoP mAking funnA DAvid n’his corduroy knickers - thAnks Stanley - and CARLOS RIVERA - 1st Puerto RicAn innA neighborhood - taller thAn the resta us. íJUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 65 - ín’SEWARD PARK HIGH SCHOOL - David meets HELEN SEITELMAN çdaughtera Solomon SeitelmAn - David’s Jr. High teAcher - Helen is 1st serious DG girl friend - David meets MARILYN KRATKA - Marilyn gets pregnant - in high school - hasta give baby away - comes backta school - and graduates with the resta us. Marilyn lives A bold life - her way - till she dies - her way - in 2016 è and - DavId meets YVETTE HERMAN - niece of MAe Ratkowsky - David’s 6th grade teacher - lives in fAncy GrAnd Street housing - The AmAlgamAted - wottA difference - how they live’n we live on Ludlow Street - is it style? Or is it money? Does he sAy thAt then - or now? #1 Davi David meets OLGA ANDRUSEVICH - squAre Pretty fAce - tough’n funny - n’ELEANOR ATLAS - mos mostly remembers names - Andrusevich’n AtlAs - David sAys. Also the RhodAs - RHODA FLAMER’n RHODA SILVERSTEIN - and the BArbArAs - BARBARA GERSHENSON And BARBARA KARNEY - and and I meet a kid in Knickerbocker Village - where HELEN SEITELMAN lives - David sAys - RONNIE something? He g He gets cancer’n they amPutate his leg - he’s a hero on crutches - but he gets sicker’n dies. Very It’s scAry if 1 of us dies - we’re kids - not supposeta - and I meet Walter Shorr - we stArt to be friends - David sAys - in high school - and I meet BERNARD WEINSTEIN - we Ain’t reAlly friends - David sAys - we Ain’t - neither of us - good in gym class - so we tAlk while the other guys climb roPes. Bern Bernie asks me to his BAr MitzvAh - n’my mother thinks I got a friend - because he asked me. Ever PrActicAl - Rosie - gives me a sorta cardboardy leather wallet - offA my fAther’s PushcArt - his weekend extra job - to give Bernie. DAVID GORDON - ARCHIVEOGRAPHY OVERTURE - FORWARD & PREFACE 3 #2 #2 í BROOKLYN COLLEGE At at the enda Seward Park High School - we all - or mosta us - elect to go to Brooklyn College - HELEN SEITELMAN mArries her 1st husband in college - he’s an accountant - I don’t remember his nAme - David sAys - they get divorced. I meet KAstle - BARBARA KASTLE - David sAys - and - NORMA FIRE - and they become my best friends - and each other’s friends - n’Norma introduces me to her best friend Eileen - who mArries RAy Goldfeder - and is EILEEN GOLDFEDER still - and - David meets DAVIDA SINGER - David meets lotsA Davids - but Davida’s the only Davida. She hAs A nose job n’gets very Pretty. I think she bumPs herself off. #1 I meet JUDY WEINBERG - David sAys - She introduces me to MICHAEL BRILL - she mArries him - ya hAftA meet ‘em - David sAystA ValdA - who he’s gonnA mArry - great example of new marrieds - David sAys so - n’marries VALDA SETTERFIELD - n’DAvid stArtstA get design jobs And he meets - n’works with Florence n’Bob Rothauser - great example of longtime mArried business PArtners - inventors - manufActurers And wholesAlers - of East House packaged colored tissue paper - with A teenage son n’dAughter - and a house they built - together - innA country - with trees And A brook - David says to VAldA - great example of new old marrieds - ya hAftA meet ‘em. #2 W Friends Judy n’ Mike have 2 sons - Jason and Adam - and get divorced - Mike divorces Judy And mArries my friend KAstle - n’they also have 2 sons - Ringo And Zeke - David sAys - and they Also divorce - n’Bob Rothauser also divorces Florence - n’marries A very young - and pregnant employee. #1 WALTER SHORR - getsta be David’s best high school friend - best man at our wedding - goesta a shrink 1st - n’becomes a shrink - n’marries 1st - whAt’s his wife’s nAme? Ellen? I lose trAckA WAlter - ya think ya gonnA know someone forever - ya think it so you don’t even hAftA think About it - n’they have 2 kids - boys or girls? 1 of each? N’best friend Walter dies - when? Dunno when exactly - or whAt of - David sAys about Walter - I bumP into his sister - CYNTHIA SHORR - David sAys - yellow blonde with dArk roots showing - David remembers - buys designer clothes in discount stores ’n weArs ‘em n’keeps the tags on - n’returns ‘em for refund. She tries to AttrAct A moneyed cAliber of husbAnd. Does she? She tells me WAlter died. WhAt yA remember And whAt yA don’t. ValdA And David stAy mArried. DAVID GORDON - ARCHIVEOGRAPHY OVERTURE - FORWARD & PREFACE 4 J #2 January 28, 1961 - Kastle is maida honor at Valda’s n’my wedding - Norma ain’t there. She’s shopping for a 1st husband in San Francisco. He Helen dies in her 20s - David says - n’Walter - Mike - Judy and Norma get older’n kick the bucket while I’m still here - I miss ‘em. HELEN KASTLE NORMA WALTER VALDA & DAVID JUDY & KASTLE JUDY KASTLE KASTLE JUDY MIKE & VALDA & DAVID MIKE VALDA DAVID EILEEN NORMA 1959 - ‘60 - Valda Setterfield has lessons - to be a Jew - at The East End Temple - at Second Avenue and 23rd Street - not there any more - re-located - if ya wanna know - to 245 East 17th Street - it sez on line - can’t finda a photo of the building - where we got married - David says - but we remember it - David says - we pass it inna taxi and 1 of us says - there it was - n’we remember the book Valda hasta read - to become Jewish - ç When The Jewish People Was Young - same book David hasta read - in 1948 - at the Jewish Settlement House - downtown on Stanton Street - when he studies for his Bar Mitzvah. #1 1956 - DAVID MEETS JAMES WARING IN WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - Jimmy says I’m a dancer - he don’t say are you a dancer - David says - and - çJimmy invites David to audition for his company -ê - in a studio shared with Paul Taylor - DAVID GORDON - ARCHIVEOGRAPHY OVERTURE - FORWARD & PREFACE 5 ```` JIMMY PETE TOBY TIM DAVID VALDA REMY NICK MERCE CAROLYN VIOLA are PAUL - called Pete - TAYLOR - 9th Avenue innA ‘50s - David sAys - uh - okAy n’meets TOBY ARMOUR’n TIMOTHY LAFARGE - who do WAring duet Phrases - David’n Toby do Phrases when Tim’s A forest ranger - DAVID VAUGHAN is in from London so DAvid meets David - who PersuAdes VALDA SETTERFIELD - in 1958 - to emigrAte to AmericA And to NY - nValda’n me dance Phrases - when Toby goestA Boston. DAvid meets REMY CHARLIP’n NICK CERNOVITCH. Remy - Jimmy says - writes children’s books n’lives with Nick - on Suffolk Street - which is - where DAvid’s Aunt Irene lives - and Nick designs lights for - MERCE CUNNINGHAM dAnces - and Remy dances with Merce - n’Jimmy says David hasta take Merce class - he meets CAROLYN BROWN’n VIOLA FARBER - who Also dAnce with Merce - n’Valda takes Merce’s class too.