Category Archives: Dance

Iowa alums: Rita Dove, James McPherson, Ayanna Mathis

Posted on October 30, 2013 by wcd2

October 30, 2013 There would have been no marriage between Rita Dove and Fred Viebahn if it had not been for Iowa City. She was at the Writers’ Workshop, getting her MFA in 1977; he was from Germany, a Fulbright … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Cities, Contemporary literature, Dance, Germany | Tagged Ayanna Mathis, Chiba University, Fred Viebahn, International Writing Program, Iowa Writers' Workshop, James McPherson, Meiji University, Rita Dove, UNESCO | Leave a comment

Street Scene: Langston Hughes, Kurt Weill, Elmer Rice

Posted on July 11, 2012 by wcd2

July 11, 2012 It started out as a play by Elmer Rice: a Broadway run of 601 shows, the Pulitzer Prize in 1929, the movie in 1931. Kurt Weill saw it in Berlin, both the play and the film, and … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, African-American literature, Arts communities, Broadway plays, Cities, collaboration, Dance, Ethnicity, film medium, Interdisciplinarity, jazz, lyric, Media, Modernist poetry, Music, Remediation, Theater, Twentieth century literature, world literature, YouTube videos | Tagged " Anna Sokolow, " Life Magazine, "Lonely House, "Moon-faced, Abbey Lincoln, Berlin, blues, Broadway, Elmer Rice, Harlem, jazz, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, Musical Digest, Pultizer Prize, Starry-Eyed, Street Scene | 9 Comments

Yusef Komunyakaa and Chad Gracia, Gilgamesh

Posted on February 22, 2012 by wcd2

February 22, 2012 I’ve never given a talk at UCLA. Caltech, yes, in nearby Pasadena; also the Huntington Library. But never at the famed Royce Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue. So I’m a bit anxious about tomorrow: a graduate student … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Classics, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Cuneiform, Dance, epic, Handwritten script, Mesopotamia, Near Eastern poetry, Remediation, Theater, Translation, Visual arts, world literature | Tagged Caltech, Chad Gracia, Cunieform, Enkidu, epic, Gilgamesh, Huntington Library, Ode to the Maggot, Our Oriental Heritage, Pasadena, Sumeria, UCLA, Will Durant, Yusef Komunyakaa | 67 Comments

Black Mountain College

Posted on February 1, 2012 by wcd2

February 1, 2012 It’s a shame it was so short-lived. 1933-1957. Only 24 years. But maybe that’s the life-span one would expect from an entity like this: a mid-size player. That’s what Black Mountain College was. It didn’t have the … Continue reading →

Posted in abstract expressionism, Arts communities, Contemporary Art, Dance, Educational institutions, Experimental poetry, Interdisciplinarity, Modernist poetry, Music, Twentieth century literature, Visual arts | Tagged "Migration series", Alan Shapiro, Asheville, Black Mountain College, Buckminster Fuller, Charles Olson, Ellen Bruant Voigt, Heather McHugh, Jacob Lawrence, John Cage, legal persons, Merce Cunningham, NC, PBS "American Masters" series, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, Stephen Dobyns, Warren Wilson College | 1 Comment