Mark Dendy introduces an excerpt from the Women in the Trees section of Ruby Shang’s site-specific piece, The Small Wall Project. This ADF performance took place on Duke University’s East Campus in 1984.

Tonight is the premiere of Mark Dendy’s second site specific project of the summer, Golden Belt, in the stunning top floor space of the newly renovated Golden Belt.

The video clip above is from the 1963 premiere of Paul Taylor’s Scudorama at the American Dance Festival. The piece was performed in silence when the musical score by Clarence Jackson didn’t arrive in time for opening night. The soundtrack that now accompanies the video was taken from a later recording of Scudorama and painstakingly matched to the original film footage by the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 2007.

In the original rehearsals, the dancers performed to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring while Taylor asked Jackson to compose music that would match the tempos of Stravinsky’s work. When the score was complete, Jackson arranged to ship the only copy by bus to Taylor and company, who were already at the American Dance Festival in New London, CT. After the bus arrived, the score was nowhere to be found. Taylor and his dancers decided to perform the piece as scheduled but without music.

Ten years later, a package containing the missing score was found during the demolition of the New London bus station.

For more information on Scudorama, check out this article in the New York Times.

On Saturday, June 27 at 1 pm in Baldwin Auditorium, ADF will celebrate the life and work of the late Dr. Gerald E. Myers. Gerry was ADF’s Philosopher-In-Residence and a leading authority on philosopher William James. He began working with the ADF in the early ’70s, directing numerous panel discussions on various dance-related topics. He led a number of humanities projects, including The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance, and moderated a series of interviews and discussions called Looking at Dance.

The last time Gerry attended ADF was in 2003, so many of you may not have ever seen him or heard him speak. The video presented above is an excerpt from his introduction to a 1994 Looking at Dance interview with Joe Nash, entitled “Preserving American Modern Dance and African American Heritage.”

Erwin Auditorium, August 1975
(Courtesy Old West Durham Neighborhood Association)

Many of us at ADF are big fans of Gary Kueber’s Endangered Durham blog. Yesterday’s post about the rise and fall of Erwin Auditorium mentions ADF and reveals a little known fact related to our history:

“Jean Anderson tells the story of Erwin Auditorium’s connection to the eventual arrival of the American Dance Festival in Durham; when a group of local dance enthusiasts sponsored “A Day for Dancing” at Erwin Auditorium in the early 1970s, they expected 50-75 participants – they got 600. The level of support gave them a substantive base to build upon, establishing summer programs that eventually led to ADF’s migration from Connecticut.”

Above, an excerpt from a silent film of dance classes at Bennington College in 1934, taken from the American Dance Festival Archives.

The ADF Archives preserves historical records for use by students, researchers, and the dance community. In addition to the records of the festival itself, the archives collects film, video, photos, audiotapes, and personal papers created by other individuals and institutions, including the papers of choreographers Pearl Primus and Laura Dean, and the records of the ADF’s documentary Free to Dance: The African-American Presence in Modern Dance, which aired on PBS’ Great Performances: Dance in America in 2001. Descriptions of the ADF’s collections can be found on the Archives Collections webpage.

A large part of the ADF Archives consists of film and videotape documenting the festival. There is film going all the way back to the festival’s beginnings in 1934, and there is even one film, of a Martha Hill class in 1930, that pre-dates the festival. Each summer, the Archives continues to document the festival, primarily by videotaping performances, showings, classes, panel discussions, and other special events. Many of these videos are available to the public in Duke University’s Lilly Library.

Below, an excerpt from a 1972 reconstruction of Doris Humphrey’s With My Red Fires, also taken from the ADF Archives.