Choreography / 1955

Springweather and People

“Springweather and People,” a full company work, was remembered by Cunningham as “a very long piece,” by Marianne Preger as having long stillnesses, and by Carolyn Brown as “lyrical and dancey.” Earle Brown, who composed the music, said “Merce gave me his time structure, which I meditated upon and then ignored. I composed the piece in my own way, just making a relationship to his time.” Upon seeing the music and dance together, Earle Brown was struck by “how effective the lack of synchronization was,” recalling “an extraordinary moment” with “Merce coming out of the wings in a leap at a point in the music when there was only one note being played on a violin. Merce flew on the one held note.” The costumes for the original 1955 production were designed by Remy Charlip, who also danced in the piece. Robert Rauschenberg redesigned the costumes for a performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 1957, which turned out to be the last time the complete dance was done. In 1958, Cunningham arranged a suite of duets and solos from “Springweather” for himself and Carolyn Brown.

Details

Premiere Date

May 24, 1955

Premiere Venue

Bard College

Premiere Location

Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Music

Earle Brown, Indices

Costumes

Robert Rauschenberg

Remy Charlip

Duration

29 minutes

Original Cast

Carolyn Brown

Remy Charlip

Merce Cunningham

Anita Dencks

Viola Farber

Marianne Preger-Simon

Other Choreography

Title
Duration
Year
Collaborator(s)
Rag-Time Parade
Duration: 3 minutes
Year: 1950
Collab.: Satie
Waltz
Duration: 5 - 6 minutes (est.)
Year: 1950
Collab.: Satie
Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three
Duration: 53 minutes (est.)
Year: 1951
Collab.: Cage, de Vito, Charlip
Variation
Duration: 6 - 7 minutes (est.)
Year: 1951
Collab.: Feldman
Boy Who Wanted to be a Bird
Duration: Length unknown
Year: 1951
Collab.:
Suite of Six Short Dances
Duration: Length unknown
Year: 1952
Collab.: Jennerjahn
Les Noces
Duration: 23 minutes (est.)
Year: 1952
Collab.: Stravinsky, Bay
Collage
Duration: Length unknown
Year: 1952
Collab.: Schaeffer