| Description |
1 online resource (42 min.) |
| Summary |
Split Sides (2003) was a work for the full company of fourteen dancers. The choreography, music and design elements for the dance were each created in two parts, which were varied for each performance. Chance procedures decided which of the two versions of each element would be paired together. Mathematically, there were thirty-two different possible versions of Split Sides. Cunningham choreographed the two 20-minute sections with the aid of the software DanceForms. There were a number of ensemble (often unison) passages, solos, duets and trios that feature much inventive partnering and complex movement patterns. The order of the choreographic sections, music compositions, décor, costumes and lighting cues were all determined onstage, prior to the opening of the dance by the rolling of dice. The music that accompanied Split Sides was comprised of two compositions - one by the British rock band Radiohead, one by the Icelandic experimental group Sigur Rós. Both were 8-channel soundscapes, the former, more synthetic, using specialized and filtered audio stems, the latter, more tactile, employing amplified music boxes and pointe-shoe instruments. Visually, the alternating décors by photographers Robert Heishman (black and white) and Catherine Yass (full color), paralleled James Hall's monochromatic and colorful costume designs. The films Split Sides 45 and Split Sides 46, then, reflect two opposite configurations of numerous possible versions of the dance. The films were commissioned by the Cunningham Dance Foundation and funded by the Mellon Foundation in an effort to capture historic Cunningham works that were not yet recorded on film. Longtime Cunningham collaborator Charles Atlas filmed the performances at PepsiCo Theatre at SUNY Purchase in May 2005 |
| Notes |
Title from resource description page (viewed March 07, 2017) |
| Event |
Recorded Recital Hall of the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College |
| Genre/Form |
Filmed dance.
|
|
Filmed dance.
|
|
Danse filmée.
|
| Form |
Streaming video
|
| Author |
Cunningham, Merce, choreographer
|
|
Atlas, Charles, director
|
|
Cunningham Dance Foundation.
|
|
Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
|
|
Sigur Rós (Musical group)
|
|
Radiohead (Musical group)
|
|
