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Tag: Merce Cunningham

Exploring Virtual Village Voices, Part 3: cummings, Cunningham, and Draper

In 2021 and 2022, Village Preservation developed an innovative outdoor public art exhibition that was displayed throughout Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. VILLAGE VOICES featured photographs, artifacts, and soundscape recordings to celebrate and honor the artistic, social, political, and cultural movements that have grown in our neighborhoods, and the people who gave them voice.  We […]

    Isamu Noguchi: Artist of the Century

    He was one of the most significant, prolific, and versatile artists of the 20th century, and he produced several of his many iconic pieces from a studio located in a hidden Greenwich Village alley. We are referring to Isamu Noguchi, whose design work observed no boundaries. Drawing from influences as diverse as Italian marble work, […]

      Merce Cunningham: Dance-Maker, Innovator, Teacher, and Villager

      Merce Cunningham, considered by many one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century, was a multi-dimensional artist. He was a dance-maker, a fierce collaborator, an innovator, a film producer, and a teacher. During his 70 years of creative practice, Cunningham’s exploration forever changed the landscape of dance, music, and contemporary art. The avant-garde […]

      Archive Exploration Made Easy On Our New Website

      Archiving is one of the many ways that Village Preservation ensures the preservation of our neighborhoods. By keeping records and files of images, stories, and the processes of preservation since neighborhood residents first came together to advocate for their neighborhoods, we keep Village histories alive. We have always made these archives accessible for anyone who […]

      Merce Cunningham’s Centennial: Leaping into 100

      Villager, dancer, and choreographer Merce Cunningham is an artist whose work continues to live vibrantly in 2019, which marks Cunningham’s centennial. The Merce Cunningham Centennial is celebrating a century of artistic expression through events, presentations, and discussions about Merce, dance, and his influence on culture. This Village Preservation Oral History participant will continue to be […]

      Village Preservation Oral History: Merce Cunningham

      Village Preservation shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village and the East Village such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each of these histories includes the experiences and insights of long-time residents, usually active in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. Merce Cunningham […]

      Westbeth – Adaptive Reuse Trailblazer, Home, Studio, and Community for Over 50 Years

      1968 was a big year for New York City and the world – music, arts, staggering political and social change. And, in the midst of it all, a tan block-square collection of connected buildings known as the Bell Telephone Laboratories was transformed into the Westbeth Center for the Arts.  A key component of that transformation […]

      On This Day: Bell Labs Invents the “Talkie”

      Seen a movie lately? If so, you have the West Village’s Bell Laboratories (now known as Westbeth) to thank for all the dialogue, music and sound effects that you heard. On this date in 1926, the revolutionary technology responsible for what were then known as “talkies” — or the addition of soundtracks to motion pictures […]

      Happy Birthday, David Vaughan!

      Ninety two years ago today, dance archivist David Vaughan was born in London, England.  Vaughan was the archivist for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1976 until it disbanded in 2012.  The Merce Cunningham Dance Company was located in Westbeth in the West Village since 1971.  In addition to being the archivist, Vaughan is also […]

      Westbeth Announced: August 7th, 1967

      On August 7th, 1967, the J.M. Kaplan Fund and the newly-constituted National Endowment for the Arts announced plans for a project that would help transform Greenwich Village, New York, housing for artists, industrial buildings, and older industrial cities across the world. The project was the conversion of the disused former Bell Telephone Labs on the […]

        LGBTQ History: MacDougal Street

        (This post is the first of a series on the history of the LGBTQ community in Greenwich Village.) It is easy to assume, in the aftermath of the Stonewall riots, that Greenwich Village’s LGBTQ history happened entirely on Christopher Street. Of course, there’s a lot more to LGBTQ history in the Village than Stonewall, just […]