I had so much fun diving into the Jerome Robbins Dance Division archives during Nutcracker season that I’ve decided to continue on sharing tidbits of information about the rep being performed this season! Tonight Merce Cunningham’s Summerspace returns to the stage. Originally danced by Merce and his company in 1958, it was set on NYCB for the first time in 1966.
“When ‘Summerspace’ was first performed, at the American Dance Festival, in Connecticut, the audience didn’t react much. ‘It all passed in front of them,’ Cunningham said, ‘but they didn’t see it.’… The first ballet company to take it on was New York City Ballet, in 1966, and according to Carolyn Brown, who had danced in the American Dance Festival première, most of the Cunningham dancers hated N.Y.C.B.’s version”—Joan Acocella, NYTimes, March 9, 2017
(top left) Patricia Neary, 1966. Photo by Martha Swope.
(bottom left). Deni Lamont, 1966. Photo by Martha Swope.
(top and bottom right) Kay Mazzo, 1966. Photo by Martha Swope.
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