Choreography / 1977

Travelogue

“Travelogue” was Rauschenberg’s first collaboration with Cunningham and Cage since 1964. His design, called “Tantric Geography,” featured a row of wooden chairs mounted on white platforms separated by bicycle wheels. At the beginning of the dance this was dragged on stage by a rope, with the dancers seated on the chairs. Over the course of the dance, garments and accessories were added to the basic costumes of brightly colored leotards and tights, including large color-wheel fans, tin cans, banners, flags, and chiffon scarves. The dance had an episodic structure, with the dancers engaged in a series of antic encounters and deadpan entanglements. John Cage’s music, “Telephone and Birds,” incorporated recordings of bird songs and telephone calls made to numbers with recorded messages.

Details

Premiere Date

Jan 18, 1977

Premiere Venue

Minskoff Theatre

Premiere Location

New York, NY

Music

John Cage, Telephones and Birds

Set

Robert Rauschenberg

Costumes

Robert Rauschenberg

Duration

33 minutes

Original Cast

Karole Armitage

Ellen Cornfield

Merce Cunningham

Morgan Ensminger

Meg Harper

Chris Komar

Robert Kovich

Julie Roess-Smith