Choreography / 1993

Doubletoss

The title of this dance exactly describes the way it was made: Cunningham choreographed two separate dances by a chance procedure involving tossing coins, and then merged them. Duality was also a basic concept of the dance: the dancers seemed to inhabit two different worlds. Cunningham designed the piece himself, that is to say, his ideas for the set and the lighting were realized by Aaron Copp, and for the costumes by Suzanne Gallo. A black scrim hung in front of the backcloth; the dancers could be seen both behind and in front of it. Each dancer had two costumes: practice clothing, and flesh-colored unitards over which they wore an outer garment made of black net. In Takehisa Kosugi’s music, entitled Transfigurations, the composer tuned a radio receiver and processed the signal digitally; the resulting sounds were distributed among eight channels.

Details

Premiere Date

Feb 26, 1993

Premiere Venue

Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota

Premiere Location

Minneapolis, MN

Music

Takehisa Kosugi, Transfigurations

Set

Aaron Copp

Merce Cunningham

Costumes

Merce Cunningham

Suzanne Gallo

Lighting

Aaron Copp

Merce Cunningham

Duration

30 minutes

Original Cast

Helen Barrow

Kimberly Bartosik

Michael Cole

Emma Diamond

Jean Freebury

Frédéric Gafner (Foofwa d'Imobilité)

Alan Good

Chris Komar

David Kulick

Patricia Lent

Larissa McGoldrick

Robert Swinston

Carol Teitelbaum

Jenifer Weaver

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