A program note for “Fragments” read “the sounds and sights of this dance occur in the contemporary world of magnetic tape, fables of science and atomic research. The silence of the middle part marks the extremity of the dance’s contrasts.” The dance was in three parts. The first and third part were danced to music for magnetic tape by the French composer Pierre Boulez; the second part was danced in silence. “Fragments” was technically demanding, with many jumps and falls. It did not stay in the repertory for long. Cunningham attributed this to its complexity: keeping it in repertory would have required an excessive amount of rehearsal time that he preferred to use for the creation of new works.