Jennifer Edwards hosts this episode honoring Gus Solomons jr, the celebrated choreographer, writer, and teacher. As the first Black dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Solomons was both a trailblazer and a trendsetter, forming his own company and making more than 150 works before his death in August 2023 at the age of 84. In this episode: Excerpts from Mondays with Merce: Episode 14 Merce as Model (2010). Director/Producer: Nancy Dalva. (c) Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.
Jennifer Edwards hosts this episode honoring Gus Solomons jr, the celebrated choreographer, writer, and teacher. As the first Black dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Solomons was both a trailblazer and a trendsetter, forming his own company and making more than 150 works before his death in August 2023 at the age of 84.
In this episode: Excerpts from Mondays with Merce: Episode 14 Merce as Model (2010). Director/Producer: Nancy Dalva. (c) Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.
Resources:
Mondays with Merce #14: Merce as Model, with Gus Solomons, Jr.
Remembering Gus Solomons Jr. 1938 - 2023
Gus Solomons Jr., 84, Dies; a Rare Black Presence in Experimental Dance
Choreography in Focus: Wendy Perron and Gus Solomons Jr.
[Music begins, composed by J.S. Bach, performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: Welcome to PillowVoices, a production of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, with content from the Pillow Archives. I’m Norton Owen, the Pillow’s Director of Preservation, and I'm happy to introduce Pillow scholar Jennifer Edwards, who is also the Director/Producer of PillowVoices. She will be your host for this episode honoring Gus Solomons jr: a dancer, choreographer, writer, and teacher who deeply impacted so many, opening possibilities for Black dancers as well as for seasoned performers.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Merce Cunningham’s Company did Crises, and I was transfixed. I had never seen anything that spoke to me that loudly that was dance. Because I had done tap dancing and you know all that. But suddenly, this was something, this was a movement expression that was cataclysmic. And I decided, okay. Because I had been on the fence about becoming a dancer, maybe or becoming an architect, make a living. And at that point, I think I realized that it was more than a desire. It was a need.
[Gus teaching class at the Pillow]
JENNIFER EDWARDS: That was Gus Solomons jr in a video series titled, “Mondays with Merce.” The series featured interviews with Cunningham dancers reflecting on their time in the company and was released in 2009. The clip was followed by a recording of Gus teaching at the Pillow in 2004 and we’ve developed the sound score that underrides this episode with moments from that class. My first interaction with Gus Solomons jr was during my audition for New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. At that time the audition consisted of a class that was part ballet, taught by a ballet faculty member and part modern, taught by a modern faculty member. Then many prospective students were thanked and let go. I was fortunate to move to the next phase of the audition process, which entailed the performance of a pre-rehearsed solo and an interview. Gus was my interviewer. I was a transfer student, and a single mother. And at the end of the conversation, Gus asked if I had any last questions for him. And I asked the question that I knew could ruin everything, but I asked it anyway. I shared that I was a single mom and that I’d be balancing being a fulltime student and parenthood. I asked him if he felt this would be an issue for the program. Gus looked me square in the eyes and said “Well, do you think it will be an issue?” Without hesitation I said “No” and with equal haste, Gus said, “Well then it won’t be an issue.” I share that story, because for me it epitomizes how Gus moved through the world. I went to NYU and Gus was my teacher and mentor and for years I would stop by Tisch and chat with Gus. He was always that forthright. His words cut through conjecture and emotionality, just like his long-limbed movements cut through space. And in fact, when Norton and I envisioned this podcast - before it even had the title PillowVoices, one of my first calls was to Gus. We’d envisioned him as the host of the show and he was interested - not knowing what that would entail, but always game to try new things. He had a full schedule that year - he was in rehearsals for a play and a European tour and so we went in a different direction. But his consistent curiosity and interest in experimenting, was what I remember most about Gus.
[Gus teaching class at the Pillow]
Described by New York Times writer Gia Kourlas as “a radiant and elegant force in the dance world,” Gus Solomons jr left this world in August of 2023. I’ve linked her piece and several articles and videos in the Episode Notes. His impact continues to ripple across the field and his presence is missed.
So, let’s hear more from Gus. Here he is speaking from the Doris Duke Theatre stage in a performance of From the Horse’s Mouth, on July 12, 2012. He shares a story about how dancing in a reconstruction of Ted Shawn’s piece titled Kinetic Molpai, in the early 1960s, shifted his thinking and approach to collaboration.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: I'm Gus Solomons jr and [audience applauds] thank you. Fifty years ago, in 1962, Ted Shawn asked choreographer Norman Walker to assemble a company of eight men to reconstruct his 1935 dance Kinetic Molpai. And I was lucky enough to be among them, along with Bruce Becker, Louis Falco, Wesley Fata, Al Huang, Tim Harem, William Louther and Kenneth Scott. Well, our coach was Barton Mumaw, who was one of Ted Shawn’s original Men Dancers. And Jess Meeker was also there to work with us who wrote the piano score for the original piece. Well, in 1960s, modern dancers like to show off the sexiness of their technique. Was all about me. And the late Robert Powell epitomize that aloof sexiness that we all envied so much. He was a star with the Martha Graham Company and John Butler. The idea of teamwork never occurred to us. I mean, that was alright the sports jocks maybe, but not for us, divas. Well, learning the Kinetic Molpai, was a revelation. We had a hard time learning the male partnering and movement cascades and the unison sections that required total cooperation to pull off. Now, it was the most strenuous dance any of us had ever done. Now, Ted, Shawn's Men Dancers, they were hauling rocks and building the buildings of the Pillow, when they weren't rehearsing and performing. They understood teamwork. After a lot of rehearsal, we began to work together, we thought, and support each other, we thought. And there was one section in the dance, It was a trio, where the three men did barrel turns around the stage, each one spotting the one in front of them. Well, one of the dancers on opening night, one of the dancers decided he's deceased, and shall go nameless [audience laughs], decided that he didn't look good doing the barrel turn so he just didn't go on stage [audience laughs]. And the man that was supposed to be spotting him, crashed into the back curtain and fell to the floor [audience laughs]. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt. But after that, we began to realize the responsibility of working in a team. Finally, we all realize that it wasn't all about “me” anymore. The Kinetic Molpai taught us all profoundly what it means, really, to share the stage [audience applauds].
JENNIFER EDWARDS: In that story, Gus shares a bit of his own trajectory in dance. But I’d like to underscore a few pieces of his history to set up this next clip from an oral history recording from 2004 at the Pillow, conducted by Norton Owen. Gus grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was a graduate of MIT where he studied architecture. He danced with Donald McKayle andmoved to New York City in his early 20s, where he danced with Martha Graham. He was then asked by Merce Cunningham to join as the first black member of the Cunningham company.
He worked with Joyce Trisler and Pearl Lang, among others, and was part of the original group that went on to form the Judson Dance Theater collective. In 1972 he formed Gus Solomons Company/Dance and began making his own work. And In 1996 he formed PARADIGM, a company formed to "promote and celebrate the talents of mature artists on stage" with Carmen de Lavallade and Dudley Williams. Gus was a dance writer for The Village Voice, Dance Magazine and the Chronicle of Higher Education and a Professor of Dance and Choreography at NYU.
Now we turn to the conversation with Gus and Norton.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: The first time I was here was the summer of 1962, when they did the first revival of Kinetic Molpai, Ted Shawn’s men’s piece. And that summer, we did Kinetic Molpai, and I believe, we did 16 Tons. That was the first. And then
NORTON OWEN:How, how did you end up doing that? How were you… because that was a…
GUS SOLOMONS JR: I really have no idea. I mean, I was invited, there were, a lot of the dancers that were around the Graham School, were invited to do it. And I was one of them, I guess. Because I had, at that point, I was I guess I was working with Donald McKayle. And maybe Pearl Lang already. Not sure. So, I was in that realm. Yeah, and Norman, and I knew a lot of Norman Walker's dancers, for instance. And he was putting the reconstruction together. So, we got into it.
NORTON OWEN: And then the next time, I believe, was with Donald McKayle, right?
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Right, which I had forgotten about until I read it in the Bakalar Studio. And we did 16 Tons that year, and I don't, I guess… Blood of the Lamb and Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder [Owen: Right, right]. Yeah. I mean, [Owen: Yeah, yeah, Rainbow]. And that was the first time that Dudley and Carmen and I had worked together, in Blood of the Lamb. But that's what we'll…
NORTON OWEN: Actually I have the program that I'll share with you, because there were, there was at least one section that was you, Dudley, and Carmen.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Holy cow. Yeah, I was the minister. I remember that. I sometimes, I remember the song that we sing.
NORTON OWEN: We have some photographs I'll share with you also. And then and, and then you were in Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder also.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Right. I did that one lots of times.
NORTON OWEN: And then next time?
GUS SOLOMONS JR: The next time was ’88 when Liz Thompson invited us up to do 20 minutes worth of an evening long piece. And I thought, “but we can't cut it.” You know, what choreographers do about their work…It’s four-act. And she said, cut it down to 20 minutes. And so we did and it was way better. 20 minutes [Solomons jr laughs]. That piece was called what, Raw Meat. And it had an electronic score by Ken Schaefer. And it was about random, not random processes, about progressions [Owen: Mm-huh]. Numerical progressions – spatial patterns. And, it had Paul Angler in it
NORTON OWEN: That's right, who became General Manager here.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: I did not know that. Okay.
NORTON OWEN: Now and then from the 80’s that, from that appearance, what was next? This?
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Well, a few years ago, there was a sort of a meeting, a weekend retreat of choreographers that Allah [?] and I guess, Ivan Skoda organized. And I was one of those. And that was really great fun. And I don't think it's happened since. It should. That idea of having choreographers get together and just shoot the breeze, about work in general, about their own work and exchange notions was really helpful, and especially incidentally, without the pressure.
NORTON OWEN: Right. Well, it really seems, seems to me that bringing PARADIGM here now makes such beautiful sense. Certainly seeing the performance last night it really, it looks so at home here. And it makes so much sense to have all of the performers who have many different kinds of associations over the years. But I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the company and your you know how it came to be?
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Well, in 1996 actually. I, there was a gala. That was to honor Carmen de Lavallade, of all things, by the National Dance Guild. And they sent the list of all the performers and it went on for a page and a half of performers. And I thought this program is going to go forever. So, I saw Carmen's MSR Dudley's name. And I thought, well, maybe I, we could make a trio for us, and that would shorten the program like two dances, by two solos. And so, I made this trio in a couple of weekends. And it was a hit. So, we did it here. And we did it there. We did a dance workshop, we did Dance Now, we did various places. And people thought it was really exciting to see us working together in this way. And it came time to do one of the previous venues again. I said oh well, we have to make a new piece. So, I made Gray Study. And then we had a repertoire. And we thought we enjoyed working together at that time. And I thought, well, wouldn't it be interesting to see what younger choreographers would do with three old dancers who can't do all the tricks. And that became kind of the rationale for preparing on the idea of keeping all the dancers performing. Because the things that we have about experience and presence are things that younger dancers can learn from, and audiences appreciate. And then having younger choreographers have to stretch their, their propensities, their vocabularies to accommodate dancers who don't do all the technical tricks, I thought was an interesting idea. So, we picked choreographers: (a) whose work was extremely athletic and (b) who, who had a vision. And they include Robert Battle, and of course, Johannes, no... And next, we hope, Wally Cardona. [Owen: Fantastic]. Yeah
NORTON OWEN:Well, it is very exciting to see the program last night with more world premieres and a certain someone seemed to be an almost everything like you're in almost like…
GUS SOLOMONS JR: I was, I was busy [Owen: I noticed. Yeah, and, and particularly, Johannes’ piece was fascinating to see, the way they used you] Yes [can you talk about that a little bit?]. Yes. Well, the evolution of that piece is way too long to detail. By wound up being, it was supposed to be for Johannes, Carmen and me, originally. and then Carmen was engaged in the play, so she couldn't participate. So, Johannes changed the composition to encompass Keith and him and me. And it turns out, we're all equidistant apart in age, so he conceived of it as the same individual. So, it's called one same individual at three different stages of life, and how those philosophies interact, correct, as we’re all the same [Owen: individual]. And we made it in a really short time for Johannes, because he's European, likes to have a long time to rehearse. And we had to put it together and maybe three or four weeks. And then we had a break because he had to go away. And then Johannes went to Europe and won a competition. And then we came back the weekend before we came up here and back together. It was remarkable how quickly that went. Because there's something, even though the movement is not what you would think of as organic. There's something about the way he makes it, the process by which he puts it together that burns it into your muscle memory and so we put it together in a couple of days and…
NORTON OWEN: That’s great. Now you're, you're all living here, or most of you are actually staying on the grounds [Solomons jr: Right]. Are you enjoying the atmosphere?
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Absolutely. Everybody just relaxes. Paces. It's, it's very it's, it's relaxed, but it's also very conducive to work, hard work. And you can devote all your energy to the work. You don't have to think about distractions of city life.
NORTON OWEN:In talking about PARADIGM, you seem very quick to, to refer to yourself as older dancers. Yet, is there any kind of I mean, I know when in Carmen's Pillow Talk the other day she, she said that she preferred to, more mature was, was the way she put it. [Solomons jr: Well, you know, call a spade a spade]. We old… [laughs].
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Or mature or experience, or whatever you want. But we've been around a long time. And that's what it's about, I think. It's the fact that, that experience, because dance is always thought of as a young person's profession. And so, all those wonderful values that could be explored, are thrown away in so many cases, because people feel they have to stop. And we don't, you know. I mean it gets physically harder and harder to, to do whole programs, with, I mean, this, me doing five dances is ridiculous. But um, and if Keith hadn't had this obligation go away, he would have done Gray Study. He's working more and more…But I thought, well, let's see if I can do it. So, I may be sorry, but I [Owen: got some quick costume changes here]. Yes. And the guys helped me with those [Owen: And Johannes be ready with those the clothes]. And it turns out, we can, you know, you can change in 30 seconds. And so, we're, we're there, we're ready. Ahead of the gel changes. In most cases. You go. [Owen: Yeah]. And I, you know, there's something nice about that. When you have to just keep going, you don't have time to think about you're tired, or this hurts or whatever, you just get some water and go on again. And that's a very wonderful experience. That is sort of a good life lesson in general.
NORTON OWEN: I think you are right. You are right [laughs].
GUS SOLOMONS JR: Because the idea of, of PARADIGM was a trio. And we wanted to, I wanted to keep it that small, so that essentially all the pieces are still three people, or less or fewer. But the idea was that we would do the whole evening, ourselves. And we did that up until we went to Vancouver last year. No, I'm sorry. It was before that. The Joyce, All Together Different, we, three of us did the whole evening. And then we went to Vancouver, Carmen was no longer doing four pieces already. We had three Sarita Allan to our replacement two of them. And so that I mean, and we thought it was a good idea to have some cover, just in case. So, but I still like the idea of having us do an evening. Um, so. And I think part of what binds the evening together, because the works are so diverse, is the fact that it's the same small family of people doing all of the dancing.
[Gus teaching at the Pillow]
JENNIFER EDWARDS: We’ll close by returning to Gus’s interview on “Mondays with Merce” as he reflects on his approach to performing. And we’ll follow that by a clip of Gus teaching class in the Doris Duke Theatre at the Pillow.
GUS SOLOMONS JR: You have enough ego to dare to present yourself for inspection by an audience. And yet, there is an implicit awareness that what dancing is considered for most people has nothing to do with what you can do. And yet, you're willing to show your own ability, lack of ability, with, with intention, that makes it integris. So, the tricky part is not trying to do things that you're not capable of doing, at all. And finding a way to do movement that is appropriate and comfortable to your physicality. And that's, that's really easier said than done.
[Gus teaching at the Pillow]
[Music begins, composed, and performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: That’s it for this episode of PillowVoices. Thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Jacob’s Pillow, we look forward to sharing more dance with you through the films, essays, and podcasts at Dance Interactive dot Jacob’s Pillow dot org. And of course, through live experiences during our festival and throughout the year. Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for helping launch this podcast series. Please subscribe to PillowVoices wherever you get your podcasts, and visit us again soon, either online or on site.
NOTE: Excerpts from Mondays with Merce: Episode 14 Merce as Model (2010). Director/Producer: Nancy Dalva. (c) Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.