A collection of three films by Merce Cunningham Elliot Caplan.
Deli Commedia is conceived as a slapstick comedy, Cunningham's nod to the improvised farces of the Italian 18th-century commedia dell'arte and to the two-reel comedies of the silent screen. The score - I Can't Go On to the Next Thing, Till I Find Out More About You, by Pat Richter, Cunningham's favourite class accompanist - functioned like the piano accompaniments to silent films. Sight gags, kinetic jokes, cakewalking, tango, lindy hop and imaginative juxtapositions of bodies, props and special effects figures in the choreography.
Merce Cunningham choreographed Changing Steps in 1973 and it was first included in a performance given at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. In its original form it consisted of a solo dance for each member of the company, 5 duets, 3 trios, 2 quartets, and 2 quintets, which could be performed in any order, and separately or overlapping if space allowed.
Beach Birds For Camera is a wide-screen film adaptation of a dance work originally made for the stage, featuring Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The film combines different shooting locations, black and white and colour film, and dolby stereo sound to present dance through the visual medium of film.
DVD InfoRegion: 2
Running Time: 81 minutes
Release Date: 30/05/06
