VORTEX
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY – BLAIR SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Michael Holland, Artistic Director
“ ‘Downtown’ ain’t just for New Yorkers anymore.” –Nashville Scene
VORTEX celebrates
JOHN CAGE with former dancers of the
MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY
John Cage and Merce Cunningham, 1968.
Photographer: Jack Mitchell. Photo courtesy of the John Cage Trust.
SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012 – BLAIR SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Witness history. Make history. Join VORTEX and Artistic Director Michael Holland in the centennial birthday celebration of John Cage and his 50-year collaboration with Merce Cunningham. Rare archival photographs, audio clips, and film footage let Cage and Cunningham speak to you as VORTEX performs with former members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, just off their international farewell Legacy Tour.
PLUS: COMPANY ROSE, Nashville, Tennessee – Marsha Barsky & Erin Law, choreographers.
Nashville’s Company Rose joins the program in a groundbreaking restaging of the ‘lost’ Cage work, Fads and Fancies in the Academy, Created by Cage with 1940s modern dance pioneer, Marian Van Tuyl, it was originally subtitled A Gentle Satire on Progressive Education. For the first time since the original WWII performances, Company Rose and VORTEX reunite Cage’s uncharacteristically rhapsodic program music with choreography created by Marsha Barsky and Erin Law, informed by film footage of Van Tuyl’s original choreography and personal notes.
1:30 – 5:00— MINI CAGE SYMPOSIUM, CHORAL REHEARSAL HALL
Musicologist David W. Patterson, performance artist Amelia Winger-Bearskin, composer Stan Link, film scholar Jonathan Rattner, and Joanna Harris, archivist of the Marian Van Tuyl estate, showcase Cage’s work in music, art, dance, and film.
7:00 PM—CAGE MUSICIRCUS, INGRAM LOBBY & PLAZA
(You won’t hear a thing. You’ll hear everything!)
7:40 PM—PRE-CONCERT TALK, INGRAM HALL
8:00 PM—VORTEX CONCERT, INGRAM HALL
ADMISSION IS FREE – RECEPTION FOLLOWS THE PERFORMANCE
PRECEDING EVENTS:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21:
11:30 – 12:30
HAPPENING AT THE BAKER BUILDING
(LIVE!) ELEVATOR MUSIC designed to surprise and engage; performed on found objects and conventional instruments.
FRIDAY, MARCH 23:
11:30-1:00 PM
HAPPENING AT THE COMMONS
Guerilla performances featuring multiple record players, percussion, modern dance, Chinese drummers & dancers, spoken word and more!
MONDAY, MARCH 26:
11:30-1:00 PM
HAPPENING AT SARRATT HALL
Guerilla performances featuring multiple record players, percussion, modern dance, Chinese drummers & dancers, spoken word and more!
PLUS: RANDOM EVENTS
CROSSWALK DANCES – Spontaneous dance and music coming to a busy street corner near you!
THURSDAY, MARCH 29:
3:00 PM— PANEL DISCUSSION, TURNER RECITAL HALL
REVOLUTIONARIES IN THE ACADEMY!
John Cage and Merce Cunningham: A conversation on Form, Composition, and Creativity
A dialogue on the intersection of music and dance, featuring Jennifer Goggans former dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Dr. Michael Slayton, chair of the Blair School of Music Composition Department, Joy Calico, Associate Professor of Musicology at Blair, and Michael Holland, Artistic Director of VORTEX.
5:00-6:30 PM—DANCE STUDIO, MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM
CUNNINGHAM DANCE TECHNIQUE
Former Merce Cunningham dancer, Jennifer Goggans, leads this class focused on the dance technique developed by Merce Cunningham.
FRIDAY, MARCH 30:
5:00 – 6:30 PM—DANCE STUDIO, MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM
CUNNINGHAM DANCE TECHNIQUE
CHANCE, CREATIVITY, & CUNNINGHAM TECHNIQUE
Former Merce Cunningham dancer, Jennifer Goggans, leads this class on the intersection of Cunningham Technique with creativity and chance operations.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CALL (615) 322-7651
Support for this program provided by a Creative Campus Innovation Grant. Additional support provided by: Mark Wait, Dean, Blair School of Music; Frank Wcislo, Dean of The Ingram Commons; Sandra Stahl, Office of the Dean of Students; and by JoEl Logiudice, Office of Creative Engagement. Blair thanks the Hutton Hotel for generously providing guest artist accommodations.
About Blair Percussion VORTEX
Blair Percussion VORTEX performs historically relevant and strikingly contemporary repertoire. It embraces the free spirit of invention that animated and informed the early writers for percussion who broke rules, defied ingrained traditions, and crossed disciplines, giving voice to an art that could speak to the modern age. Following John Cage’s dictum “Percussion music is revolution,”VORTEX enthusiastically courts composers, actors, engineers, choreographers, filmmakers, lighting designers—artists of all stripes—to form enduring partnerships that mirror real-world performance opportunities.
VORTEX is as much about a way of approaching performance as it is the repertoire performed. Concerts are highly curated, taking into account the sum of the visual, dramatic, and musical parts. Recent hybrid collaborations include the theatrical adaptation of The Tell-tale Heart for percussion and actor, live accompaniment of silent film, and several commissioned percussion works. The roster of artistic collaborators includes engineer/musician John Harrison, electric violinists Tracy Silverman and Daniel Bernard Roumain, actor Jim Lovensheimer, electronica/remix artist Brad Bowden, composer Jeffery Briggs, world-renowned CRASH founder and composer Mary Ellen Childs, and in 2012, former dancers of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
VORTEX is bold, innovative, and cutting edge, regularly crossing the line between conventional chamber music and unexpected theater. Students in this group bring strong percussion performance skills, an eagerness to take on daring, new musical challenges, and an interest in being prepared as 21st century musicians. In 2010, VORTEX was named “Best Next-Wave Student Music Ensemble” by Nashville Scene arts critic Russell Johnston.
A high quality video recording of this program is available for viewing within the Wilson Music Library, Blair School of Music. Be sure to ask for the archival copy.