Episode 5: Hear The Dance: Summerspace

In this episode of Hear the Dance, host Silas Farley delves into the history of Merce Cunningham and Summerspace, which returns to the NYCB stage this fall for the first time in 20 years in celebration of Cunningham’s centennial. Farley sits down with Merce Cunningham Trust repetiteur Jean Freebury and former NYCB dancer and current Chairman of Faculty at the School of American Ballet Kay Mazzo to talk about working with the legendary choreographer, combining Cunningham with Balanchine technique, and how Merce Cunningham helped close the gap between modern dance and ballet. (47:05) Music: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (1931) by Igor Stravinsky IXION (1958) by Morton Feldman All music performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Watch an excerpt of Summerspace provided by the Merce Cunningham Trust Reference Books for Hear the Dance: Summerspace Merce Cunningham: Common Time by Besualdo, Bellow, Bither, et al Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years by David Vaughan Merce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modern Dance by Roger Copeland Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham by Carolyn Brown