footage of Taliesin dance performances?

Palli Davis Holubar · Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:16 am

Now that the first short clip of the Ballet Russes has been discovered by a V&A curator,
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=79902
Michael and I are curious about Gurdjieffian dance performances at Taliesin. A couple of narratives we have read are entertaining, but is there any film footage?

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:38 pm

I've been curious about that myself. It is amazing that there seems to be no footage (or even photos...) of those performances. It seems from accounts of apprentices that the concerts and dances were numerous. Is this all under lock and key at Taliesin West?

Or could it be that Olgivanna, by way of Gurdjieff, wished that the spiritual and mystical nature of these dances be preserved? The one thing that speaks against this theory is that there are other more contemporary Gurdjieff dance performances which can be viewed online.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 2:52 pm

All I've ever seen are a couple of stills, one b/w of Olga (pre-FLW) with the troupe on stage, and a posed photo of "The Three Phases Of Love" in the 6/11/1971 issue of Life Magazine (pg 53), which includes Io. Geiger regarded the movement classes, as they were called, the bain of life at Taliesin, and did whatever he could to avoid them.

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 3:13 pm

Bob Beharka had a similar response. He would hide in the drafting room and stay busy, or be in the basement workshop building lamps, etc.. he never had to get involved. Of course, being shipped out to supervise construction of 3 or 4 houses help him have an "out".

Aaron was too gracious to say anything negative, in fact he said it was kind of fun.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 4:45 pm

I suppose the question I would want to ask is whether Wright ever indulged in the exercises... waving his cane about and being a dervish...

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:01 pm

I would have paid good money to see that.

dtc · Post by **dtc** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:23 pm

I can see it now, Mr. Wright with his pork pie hat, short sleeve shirt, short pants and suspenders, dancing on one of his Chinese or Caucasian rugs, of course with his cane.
A dervish to say the least!

m.perrino · Post by **m.perrino** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:24 pm

greetings all ; esp Palli ! i have never seen any film of the dance festival's at T-W and very few stills . I would guess if anything is available it is either in the archives - Indira would know, or in private collections of former apprentices....Palli, I hope you and Michael don't abandon perfrs for twirls, LOL....

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:20 pm

Mark Heyman told me about an incident that took place between Frank and Olga shortly after he started at Taliesin. Mark was preparing breakfast for the Wrights in the T-West kitchen while the couple were arguing about something in the bedroom wing. Suddenly, he heard Frank, emerging from the bedroom, bellowing at Olga as he strode toward the exit: "Taliesin will never become a Gurdjieff Institute as long as I'm alive!!" Olga, trailing after him, whined, "But, Frank! Frank!...." to no avail.

owenCollins · Post by **owenCollins** » Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:35 pm

Indira does have some videos. Old tapes,(betamax etc..) that have been converted onto DVD. They did do a Film of Time Upon Time (1970) that was performed for the camera. The sound is way better than the home movie quality videos of the other performances. They do have a variety of pictures of the dances. And of course most of the costumes from the dances after 1963. To view them you would need to go to the archives.