Critical Correspondence
University Project
The University Project is an initiative of Critical Correspondence that aims to shed light on the shifting relationship between academia and working artists. More and more Universities are interested in bringing working artists on to their faculty, and many Universities now offer low-residency MFA programs to assist working artists in obtaining higher degrees. What are […]
Robert Swinston in Conversation with Kimberly Bartosik
My desire to interview Robert Swinston-31 year veteran of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and current Artistic Director of the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC) in Angers, France-arose, in part, as a response to the uninformed attacks against his appointment, but mostly as a way to reflect on how the notion of legacy is […]
Neil Greenberg in Conversation with Biba Bell
As Neil Greenberg prepares to premiere his latest work, This, at New York Live Arts the first weekend of December, he discusses his motivating questions as well as the shifts in his choreographic concerns during the four years since his last piece, (like a vase). Citing Susan Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” as an enduring theoretical […]
Rashaun Mitchell in conversation with Ryan McNamara
Choreographer Rashaun Mitchell talks with Ryan McNamara about his history with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and his transition to developing his own work. They discuss his research of psychosomatic networks, his belief in the audience as collaborator, and his process of rendering emotions physical using the face as a visible and manipulable means of expression. Mitchell’s work Interface premieres March 14-15 at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Transport: Farewell Merce Cunningham Dance Studio by Anita Cheng
Anita Cheng reflects on the final month of classes at the Cunningham Dance Studio at Westbeth, home to generations of dancers and dance-makers. Writes Cheng: “Merce’s choreography capitalizes on the dancer’s innate love of specificity. It is a great romance: the right time in the right place, facing the right direction.”
