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Chance and circumstance : twenty years with Cage and Cunningham

Author
Brown, Carolyn, 1927-
Title
Chance and circumstance : twenty years with Cage and Cunningham / Carolyn Brown.
Format
Book
Edition
1st ed.
Published
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
Description
vi, 645 p., [40] p. of plates : ill. ; 25 cm.
URL
<Table of contents only> http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy0712/2006048799.html <Contributor biographical information> http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0727/2006048799-b.html <Sample text> http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0727/2006048799-s.html <Publisher description> http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0727/2006048799-d.html
Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 612) and index.
Contents
  • Beginnings
  • Black Mountain I
  • New York: autumn 1952
  • New York: winter/spring 1953
  • Black Mountain II
  • New York: autumn 1953
  • On the move: 1954-1955
  • The first touring years
  • The lean years
  • The VW years
  • The end of the beginning
  • Connecticut: summer 1958
  • Europe, at last!
  • "Success is dust!"
  • Moving into the sixties
  • Connecticut: summer 1960
  • Europe again: Venice 1960
  • Europe, continued: 1960
  • Troubling times: 1960-1961
  • Connecticut: summer 1961
  • Moving ahead
  • Ups and downs
  • Some ventures afield
  • World tour / part I
  • World tour / part II
  • World tour / part III
  • World tour / part IV
  • World tour / part V
  • Another beginning
  • Full steam ahead
  • Where from here?
  • A professional company
  • Some subsidy at last
  • Mixed signals
  • The beginning of the end
  • Last chapter
  • Postscript: New York: spring 2004.
Summary
This long-awaited memoir is an intimate chronicle of a crucial era in modern dance: the story of Brown's own remarkable career, of the formative years of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and of the two brilliant, iconoclastic, and forward-thinking artists at its center--Merce Cunningham and John Cage. From its inception in the 1950s until her departure in the 1970s, Brown was a major dancer in the company and part of the vibrant artistic community of downtown New York. She describes the exhilaration--and dire financial straits--of the company's early days, when composer Cage was musical director and Robert Rauschenberg designed lighting, sets and costumes; and the struggle for acceptance of their controversial, avant-garde dance. She explores Cunningham's technique, choreography, and experimentation with compositional procedures influenced by Cage. And she probes the personalities of these two men: the reticent, moody, often secretive Cunningham, and the effusive, fun-loving, enthusiastic Cage.--From publisher description.
Subject headings
Brown, Carolyn, 1927- Cunningham, Merce. Cage, John.
Kinsey subjects
Biographies of men. Biographies of dancers. Modern dance. Musicians.
ISBN
0394401913 (alk. paper) 9780394401911 (alk. paper)

Holdings

Library
Blmgtn - Kinsey Institute Library (by appointment only)
Call Number
927.85 C86 b7 2007
Location
Auxiliary Library Facility - Kinsey Institute