Loading...
Creator
Cummings, Blondell
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 577
Physical description
3.17 linear feet (10 boxes). 28.5 gigabytes (1,769 computer files). 182 audio recordings. 329 moving image recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Blondell Cummings collection, (S) *MGZMD 577. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Blondell Cummings (1944-2015) was a Black postmodern choreographer, dancer, video artist, teacher, and founder of the Cycle Arts Foundation artist collective. This collection, which dates from 1969 to 2011, illustrates her choreographic work, dance performances, and teaching career through audio and video recordings, photographs, press materials, and administrative files. The majority of the collection is video recordings, and the emphasis is on the visual and creative aspects of Cummings' career

Biographical/historical information

Blondell Cummings was a Black postmodern choreographer, dancer, video artist, and teacher. Cummings was born on October 27, 1944 in Florence, South Carolina, and moved to New York City at a young age. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Dance and Education at New York University, and a Master of Fine Arts from Lehman College, where she focused on photography and film. Cummings received a two-year scholarship to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in 1972. She also studied with José Limón, Alvin Ailey, and Thelma Hill.

Cummings' performance career began in 1970, as a founding member of Meredith Monk's The House. She performed and toured with Monk for a decade, dancing in such productions as Vessel, Juice, Education of the Girlchild, Venice/Milan, Paris/Chacon, Needle Brain Lloyd and the Systems Kid, and the film Ellis Island. Other early Cummings performances include the 1976 Yvonne Rainer film Khristina Talking Pictures, and a 1983 performance of the Phillip Glass multimedia piece, The Photographer – Far From the Truth, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Cummings also performed with the Nimbus Dance Company (1978-1980) and Everybody Works (1980), a dance company that was directed by Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane.

Cummings began choreographing her own work in 1978. Her early pieces include Cycle (1978), The Ladies and Me (A Visual Diary) (1979), Poem (1979), My Red-Headed Aunt From Red Creek (1979), and A Friend I & II (1980). Around this same time, she also founded her art collective, Cycle Arts Foundation, which organized workshops and performances that incorporated dance, theater, visual media, and literary works to address contemporary social, political, and personal issues.

In 1981, Cummings was commissioned to create one of her most well-known works, Chicken Soup, a solo piece based on childhood memories of her grandmother, which featured music by both Brian Eno and Meredith Monk. Other works Cummings choreographed and performed in the 1980s include He Searched From Wall to Wall (1981), Blind Dates (1982), Food For Thought (1983), Work in Progress (1984), Passing Images (1984), Basic Strategies (I through V) (1984-1986), Relationships: Beginning and Endings (1986-1987), and 3B49 (1988). Commitment: Two Portraits, which Cummings directed in collaboration with Jessica Hagedorn, was aired on the PBS show, Alive From the Center, in 1988.

In 1995, Cummings performed her duet, Women in the Dunes, with Junko Kikuchi. The piece was inspired by the Kōbō Abe novel of the same name, and presented at the Japan Society in New York City. During the decade, Cummings also choreographed and directed For JB (1991-1993), Flash: My Red Aunt From Red Bank is Missing (1994), Taking Responsibility (1994), Harlem on My Mind (1994), For Anita (1995), To Josephine (1996), and Fathers and Daughters (1996).

Cummings was also a teacher and lecturer, and led numerous workshops on dance and theatre around the world. She held faculty positions at Cornell University, New York University, Wesleyan University, Hofstra University, and City College in New York City. She also served as the Artist-in-Residence at Mills College, Arizona State University, Duke University, and Williams College.

The National Endowment for the Arts named Chicken Soup an American Masterpiece in 2006. After receiving the designation, Cummings reworked the piece for a 2007 performance at the Joyce Theatre in New York City.

Cummings died from pancreatic cancer in New York City on August 30, 2015. Video and photographs of Cummings' work were included in the 2017 Brooklyn Museum exhibit, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. She was also the subject of a show at the Getty Museum, Blondell Cummings: Dance as Moving Pictures, in 2021 and 2022.

Scope and arrangement

The collection, which dates from 1969 to 2011, illustrates the professional artistic career of Blondell Cummings. Her work is chronicled through video recordings of choreographic works and dance performances, photographs, press files, teaching materials, administrative files, and costumes and artifacts. The collection is arranged topically into series comprising Choreography and Performances; Teaching and Instruction; Cycle Arts Foundation (CAF); Photographs; Press and Publicity; and Costumes and Artifacts.

The Blondell Cummings collection is arranged in six series:

  • Series I: Choreography and Performances
    1970-2011

    The Choreography and Performances series is mostly video recordings that are arranged into Choreographic Works; Dance Performances; Excerpts and Compilations; Other Choreographers, Dancers, and Performers; Audio Recordings; and Unidentified Projects. These recordings reflect Cummings' original choreography, collaborations with other artists, performances of her own work, and her performances of the works of others throughout her entire career.

    The Choreographic Works are arranged alphabetically by production title, and chronologically within each production when dates are known. Nearly all these items are video recordings of Cummings' own choreography. Basic Strategies I-V, Chicken Soup, Relationships, and Women in the Dunes are particularly well represented. There is a 1978 script for Cycle, along with several recordings of the piece. There are additional recordings of Cummings' original choreography present in the Dance Performances and Excerpts and Compilations files.

    The Dance Performances are arranged chronologically by performance date. These video recordings represent performances, and a few rehearsals of Cummings choreography, as well as performances of the work of others. There are also recordings from the Jacob's Pillow Festival in the 1980s, and a large group of recordings from Cummings' time working with Meredith Monk in the 1970s and early 1980s.

    The Excerpts and Compilations feature video recordings of samples and selections from a variety of Cummings' choreographic work and dance performances. Materials are arranged alphabetically by recording title. While many of the works are named, there are some unidentified pieces present. The performances with the most content are Basic Strategies, Chicken Soup, Commitment: Two Portraits, Food For Thought, and Women in the Dunes.

    The collection also holds video recordings of other choreographers, dancers, and performers. These files are arranged alphabetically by recording name. Cummings' rationale for collecting these recordings is unknown. Some of the artists and companies represented in these recordings include the Trisha Brown Dance Company, the Merce Cunningham Foundation, Yvonne Rainer, Oumou Sangaré, and Setsuko Yamada.

    Also held in the series is a group of of recordings from unidentified projects. The purpose and use of these recordings are unclear, but some were likely utilized in Cummings' choreographic work and dance performances.

  • Series II: Teaching and Instruction
    1973-2008

    This series addresses Cummings' work as an instructor at various institutions, workshops, and courses. There is small amount of correspondence present with universities including Mills College, Columbia University, and the University of California, Davis. There is also a selection of photographs of Cummings working with students at the New School, and recordings of video installations from her tenure with the institution. The rest of the teaching series contains recordings of lectures, workshops, and classes that Cummings organized or taught, which includes her work at both New York University and Mills College.

  • Series III: Cycle Arts Foundation (CAF)
    1986-2001

    Series III consists mostly of administrative materials related to Cummings' work with The Cycle Arts Foundation (CAF). Content includes correspondence, financial information, press kits, project proposals, and copies of Cummings' biographies and resumes.

  • Series IV: Photographs
    1969-2004

    The photographs in series IV primarily portray Cummings. The series also holds a combination of contact sheets, prints, slides, and digital images. While many of the photographs are unidentified, there is a group of labeled photographs which have been arranged alphabetically using Cummings' assigned titles. Identified productions include Chicken Soup, Fathers and Daughters, Food For Thought, and Cycle. Also present are images of Cummings performing solo, personal photographs, special events, and photographs documenting the filming of Miracle's Boys, a young adult television show directed by Spike Lee from 2004.

  • Series V: Press and Publicity
    1976-2008

    The Press and Publicity series comprises materials intended for promotional use, as well as documentation of Cummings' various media appearances. These files are arranged into Film and Television; Interviews; Fliers and Programs; and Posters. Of special interest here is a 1988 episode of the PBS series, Alive From Off Center, that features Cummings. The episode includes excerpts from Basic Strategies V, Commitment: Two Portraits, and To Collette, Too. Another documentary present is Retracing Steps: American Dance Since Postmodernism, which contains clips of Cummings' work. There are also recordings of interviews with Cummings held here, as well as a selection of promotional posters, fliers, and programs from her performances.

  • Series VI: Costumes and Artifacts

    The Costumes and Artifacts series includes five keikogi (traditional Japanese jackets) and one pair of hakama (traditional Japanese trousers), along with a textile inscribed with "Boston Kendo Club." Additionally, there is a set of Kendo equipment consisting of a helmet (men), a breastplate (dō), knee guards, and two pairs of gloves (kote). The series also contains two wooden puppets with cloth bodies and an unidentified artifact of circular rings made of sticks, the purpose of which remains unknown.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by the estate of Blondell Cummings in 2020.

Processing information

Processed by Tara Strongosky, Heather Lember, and Virginia Mullaney from 2022-2024.

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access restrictions

Inquiries regarding audio and moving image materials in the collection may be directed to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (dance@nypl.org). Audio and moving image materials will be subject to preservation assessment and migration prior to access. Items from the Costumes and Artifacts series can be requested by appointment only.