- unitid
-
{"value"=>"24479", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"*MGZMD 480", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b21575876", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1957-2017", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1957/2017"}
{"value"=>"1976-2012", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1976/2012"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"David Gordon/Pickup Company records"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"82 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"34.75 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"56 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2.8 megabytes", "unit"=>"megabytes"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Jerome Robbins Dance Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"David Gordon is a choreographer, dancer, and founder of the Pickup Performance Company. Gordon's papers date from 1957 to 2017, and chronicle his dance career through photographs, programs, press clippings, flyers, and administrative files."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Gordon, David, 1936-", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>David Gordon is a New York City-based choreographer, director, writer, and dancer known for his postmodern dance performances.</p> <p>Gordon was born in New York City in 1936, and raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side and Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood. After graduating from Seward Park High School, Gordon attended Brooklyn College, where he studied art and first developed an interest in dance. Gordon joined the school's modern dance club, and subsequently landed the lead role in the college's production of <span class=\"title\">Dark of the Moon</span>.</p> <p>In 1958, after graduating from Brooklyn College, Gordon began dancing with the choreographer James Waring's company. Through his work with Waring, Gordon met the dancer Valda Setterfield, who had recently moved to New York City from England. Gordon choreographed his first duet with Setterfield, <span class=\"title\">Mama Goes Where Papa Goes</span>, in 1960. The following year Gordon and Setterfield were married, and in 1962, their son Ain was born. In order to help financially support the family, Gordon took a series of jobs designing window displays for retail stores and doing photography layout for magazines.</p> <p>In 1962, Gordon assisted in founding the Judson Dance Theater, which hosted performances at the Judson Church. Some of Gordon's early works included <span class=\"title\">Mannequin Dance</span> (1962), <span class=\"title\">Helen's Dance</span> (1962), <span class=\"title\">Random Breakfast</span> (1963), and <span class=\"title\">Silver Pieces (Fragments)</span> (1964). However, a poorly received 1966 solo performance of <span class=\"title\">Walks and Digressions</span> so discouraged Gordon, he did not choreograph another dance for five years.</p> <p>Gordon joined Yvonne Rainer's dance company in 1966, a collaboration that led to the formation of the Grand Union dance group in 1970. In addition to Gordon and Rainer, the group comprised the dancers Trisha Brown, Barbara Dilley, Douglas Dunn, Nancy Lewis, and Steve Paxton. The group performed improvisational pieces together until 1976.</p> <p>In 1971, Gordon formed the Pickup Performance Company to promote his own work. The company incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1976, and put on such performances as <span class=\"title\">Sleepwalking</span> (1971), <span class=\"title\">The Matter</span> (1972), <span class=\"title\">Chair</span> (1974), <span class=\"title\">Times Four</span> (1975), <span class=\"title\">Personal Inventory</span> (1976), <span class=\"title\">Wordsworth and the Motor</span> (1977), <span class=\"title\">Not Necessarily Recognizable Objectives</span> (1977), <span class=\"title\">What Happened</span> (1978), <span class=\"title\">An Audience With the Pope (or This Is Where I Came In)</span> (1979), and <span class=\"title\">Close Up</span> (1979).</p> <p>With the increasing success of his dance career, Gordon was able to give up his window display and design work, focusing full time on the Pickup Company and taking their productions on the road. The company toured the United States with, <span class=\"title\">Close Up</span>, <span class=\"title\">Dorothy and Eileen</span> (1980), <span class=\"title\">T.V. Reel</span> (1982), <span class=\"title\">Trying Times</span> (1982), <span class=\"title\">Framework</span> (1983), <span class=\"title\">My Folks</span> (1984), <span class=\"title\">Four Men Nine Lives</span> (1985), and <span class=\"title\">Transparent Means for Travelling Light</span> (1986).</p> <p>Between 1985 and 1986, Gordon produced two performances for the American Ballet Theatre, <span class=\"title\">Field, Chair and Mountain</span> (1985) and <span class=\"title\">Murder</span> (1986). The latter was adapted into the television program, <span class=\"title\">David Gordon's Made in U.S.A.</span>, which was part of the <span class=\"title\">Dance in America</span> series commissioned by WNET and <span class=\"title\">Great Performances</span> in 1987, and which earned Gordon an Emmy Award.</p> <p>In 1987, Gordon began work on an ambitious project called <span class=\"title\">United States</span>, in which he crafted productions unique to particular locations around the country. Gordon conducted extensive research, soliciting information about specific venues and cities, and enlisting over thirty regional co-presenters. This culminated in two years of touring that brought Gordon and his dancers to sixteen states, as well as Washington, D.C and Brazil.</p> <p>In 1991, Gordon wrote, directed, and choreographed, <span class=\"title\">The Mysteries and What's So Funny</span>, a piece that featured Setterfield in the role of Marcel Duchamp, and included music by Philip Glass. The work garnered both a Bessie and an Obie award for Gordon. This was followed up with another Obie Award winning piece, <span class=\"title\">The Family Business</span> (1994), a collaboration with Gordon's son. That same year, Gordon directed and choreographed the musical, <span class=\"title\">Shlemiel the First</span>, which won Drama-Logue Awards for both direction and choreography.</p> <p>Gordon was awarded the National Theatre Artist Residency Grant in 1995, and worked with the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis to direct and choreograph Max Frisch's <span class=\"title\">The Firebugs</span>. This was followed by additional collaborations with Ain Gordon on <span class=\"title\">Punch & Judy Get Divorced</span> (1996) and <span class=\"title\">The First Picture Show</span> (1999). Gordon's next three productions, <span class=\"title\">Autobiography of a Liar</span> (1999), <span class=\"title\">FAMILY$DEATH@ART.COMedy</span> (2001), and <span class=\"title\">Private Lives of Dancers</span> (2002) were all performed at Danspace in New York City. Subsequent works which Gordon directed and choreographed include <span class=\"title\">Dancing Henry Five</span> (2004), <span class=\"title\">The Chairs</span> (2004), <span class=\"title\">He Who Gets Slapped</span> (2004), <span class=\"title\">Aristophanes' The Birds</span> (2006), and <span class=\"title\">The Roundheads and Pointheads</span> (2002-2009).</p> <p>In 2012, Gordon revisited some of his older works for <span class=\"title\">The Matter/2012: Art and Archive</span>, which featured versions of <span class=\"title\">Mannequin</span>, <span class=\"title\">Chair</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Matter</span>, all of which was part of a series celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the first Judson Dance Theater performances. The following year, Gordon was awarded a Doris Duke Artist Award.</p> <p>In 2016, Gordon put on a series of performances and workshops called, <span class=\"title\">Live Archiveography</span>, in conjunction with an installation at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts. The installation utilized materials from Gordon's archive to reflect on his career, and culminated in a website chronicling his life and career in his own words.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The David Gordon/Pickup Company records date from 1957 to 2017 (bulk dates 1976-2012), and contain files which detail Gordon's career as a dancer and choreographer. The collection holds production files, photographs, press and publicity files, administrative materials, and sketchbooks. Gordon's files are arranged chronologically, providing insight into his creative process in a manner that reflects his career trajectory.</p> <p>The Production Files contain a mixture of materials for specific productions, and documentation for performances, tours, appearances, events, residencies, and workshops. Files for an individual production typically hold photographs, press clippings, programs, and promotional items, while tour files generally hold agreements, correspondence, contracts, flyers, itineraries, photographs, programs, reviews, and technical specifications for venues.</p> <p>The files for <span class=\"title\">United States</span> are the most thorough, and include research materials, design drafts for posters and artwork, detailed technical files, performance and tour files, permissions, and photographs. These materials detail the research process from the production's early conception, to performances over two years in multiple states. The <span class=\"title\">United States</span> Technical Files hold cue sheets, lighting hookups, tracking sheets, and technical specifications for various venues, while the Performances and Tour files contain agreements, contracts, correspondence, itineraries, additional technical specifications, and press clippings.</p> <p>There is a small selection of photographs that were filed separately from the Production Files. These images are mostly headshots of Gordon and Valda Setterfield, as well as some undated group portraits.</p> <p>The Press and Publicity files hold materials which were arranged separately from the production files. These files contain reviews, profiles, interviews, and pieces written by Gordon.</p> <p>The Administrative files include grant applications, fellowship applications, office correspondence, meeting notes, and the Pickup Company by-laws.</p> <p>There are also two undated sketchbooks which contain Gordon's designs and drawings. These materials are not attributed to any specific performance or project.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by David Gordon, 2017.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Videos of performances have been individually cataloged as the \"David Gordon archive\" and are available at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Heather Lember</span> in <span class=\"date\">2018</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Electronic records are currently unavailable.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1957
- keydate
-
1957
- date_end
-
2017
- date_inclusive_start
-
1957
- date_inclusive_end
-
2017
- date_bulk_start
-
1976
- date_bulk_end
-
2012
- extent_statement
-
34.75 linear feet (82 boxes); 2.8 megabytes (56 computer files)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"David Gordon/Pickup Company records, *MGZMD 480. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}