Media / 1976

Squaregame Video

This is a film of a playful dance in which packed duffle bags are thrown back and forth between dancers and used to create the decor of the piece. Filmed at the Merce Cunningham Studio, Westbeth. As its title suggests, this playful piece is much like a game. "Squaregame" was first performed on a surface resembling an athletic court, and its participants were invited to stop and watch one another, as if they were on the sidelines at a sporting event. A recurring theme in the ballet was that of people hanging on to others and being carried or dragged along by them. This can be seen several times throughout the dance, as in when one of the male dancers lunged from side to side, doing a series of contractions, with a female dancer hanging on to his waist. The set design by Mark Lancaster consisted of a white floor cloth surrounded by bands of green Astroturf, and the costumes were practice clothes, with the dancers dressed in sweatpants and ankle socks.

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Details

Video Type

VideoDance

Dances

Squaregame

Length

25 minutes

Director

Charles Atlas

Producer

Cunningham Dance Foundation

COLOR/BW

B/W

Music

S.E. Wave/E.W. Wave Song, Takehisa Kosugi

Musicians

Takehisa Kosugi

Dancers

Karole Armitage, Karen Attix, Ellen Cornfield, Merce Cunningham, Morgan Ensminger, Meg Harper, Susana Hayman-Chaffey, Catherine Kerr, Chris Komar, Robert Kovich, Raymond Kurshals, Julie Roess-Smith