Making Television Dance
Uchida and Washington with production crew on set.
Excerpt from the Twyla Tharp/Don Mischer TV special that fused performance, documentary, and innovative television technologies.
Joel Gold, Tharp and Mischer during production. Photo by Herbert Migdoll.
Washington, Rawe and Way perform Country Dances during the taping of Making Television Dance. Photo by Herbert Migdoll.
Tharp performs an excerpt from Happily Ever After during the taping of Making Television Dance. Photo by Herbert Migdoll.
Baryshnikov and Tharp rehearse Once More, Frank for the documentary portion of Making Television Dance. Photo by Tom Rawe.
Tharp and Baryshnikov rehearse Once More, Frank. Photo by Tom Rawe.
Premiere
Production
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Choreographer
Twyla Tharp
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Director
Don Mischer
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Producer
WNET
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Music by
Snuffy Jenkins,
Pappy Sherril and The Hired Hands,
Frank Sinatra
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Lighting Designer
George Riesenberger
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Costume Designer
Santo Loquasto
Dancers
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Number of Dancers
6
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Runtime
00:56:00
Description
Making Television Dance gave Tharp and Don Mischer free reign to explore some the technical possibilities that make dance uniquely suited to the screen. “I wanted to make something that was at least as much television as it was dance,” Tharp states in a voiceover. Whereas Tharp had utilized special effects in previous television projects, Making Television Dance uses early electronic and computer effects to alter and enhance the dancing.
The production features Country Dances (1976) and Once More, Frank (1976). Both works were created for this special, which took a year to edit. In the meantime, the two pieces were performed live a number of times before the air date. The program also includes Tharp in a solo excerpted from Happily Ever After (1976).
From the original program: “The Television Laboratory at WNET/13 is supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and NY State Council of the Arts. Participation of the TTDF Inc. was made possible by a special grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This program was made possible by grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the NEA.”