NAME: Bauman, Art

BIRTH DATE/LOCATION:
c. 1940

DEATH DATE/LOCATION:
27 January 1993, Manhattan, age 53

»
Art Bauman's Dialog (1967).
Photo: Edward Effron, courtesy Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

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  • identification & bio
  • key contact
  • human repositories
  • video documentation
  • photographic documentation
  • movement notation
  • production materials
  • oral history
  • personal papers
  • immediate needs
  • other relevant information
  • overview of works
  • bibliography
  • back to introduction
  • back to index of choreographers


  • IDENTIFICATION AND BIO:
    A prominent modern dancer and choreographer, Art Bauman was instrumental in founding New York's Dance Theater Workshop in 1965 along with Jeff Duncan and Jack Moore. He began choreographing in 1962 and became known for mixed-media dances in a collage style, frequently designed to be performed in specific theater spaces, notably at DTW. According to his obituary in the Dance/USA Journal, "His best known dance was Dialog, a solo in which the choreographer, live and on film, portrayed a businessman racing against time and corporate pressures." Bauman was also a teacher of choreography at such institutions as Barnard College, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, American Dance Festival at Connecticut College, and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

    KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
    Bauman was survived by his companion and his sister.

    Bill Singer, executor
    Singer & Fedun, LLC
    2230 Route 206
    P.O. Box 134
    Belle Mead, NJ 08502
    908-359-7873 (phone)
    908-359-0128 (fax)
    singerfedun@att.net

    Marion Koltun Dienstag, Executive Director
    Dance Theater Workshop
    219 W. 19th Street
    New York, NY 10011
    212-691-6500 #378
    212-633-1974 (fax)
    marion@dtw.org

    HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
    (name and contact info, relationship to the artist and the work, assessment):

    None identified.

    VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
    (location, format, condition, assessment):

    The following videotapes are housed in the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library:

    Bach Fifth Clavier Concerto [and] Errands (1976)—videorecording; videotaped in performance at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, in December; performed by members of the Jeff Duncan Dance Repertory Company, with faculty members and students of Denison University; one 3/4 in. videocassette (29 min.); call number MGZIC 9-2394.

    Get Down!: Benefit for Performance Space 122 (1988)—compilation video; taped in performance by Video D Studios for Dance Theater Workshop's Dance/Video Access project at Performance Space 122, New York, on 4 February; three 3/4 in. videocassettes (135 min.); call number MGZIC 9-3721.

    Headquarters [and] A Short Lecture and Demonstration on the Evolution of Ragtime as Presented by Jelly Roll Morton (1977)—videorecording taped at the American Theatre Laboratory, New York, in April by Dennis Diamond; one 3/4 in. videocassette (30 min.); call number MGZIC 9-3456.

    PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
    (location, format, condition, assessment):

    None identified.

    MOVEMENT NOTATION
    (location, type [including notes taken by dancers], assessment):

    Bauman's Errands (1966) has been notated in Labanotation and is in the archives of the Dance Notation Bureau. No ancillary materials are housed at DNB.

    PRODUCTION MATERIALS
    (scores, sound recordings, set/costume designs):

    None identified.

    ORAL HISTORY:
    At the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library:

    Bauman, Art, interviewee. Interview with Art Bauman; oral history/ interview by Farlow, Lesley; four sound cassettes (4 hours); call number MGZTC 3-1764; see also MGZTC 3-1712.

    PERSONAL PAPERS
    (location of newspaper clippings, printed programs, press releases, notes, files, diaries; assessment):

    The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library holds a clippings file for "Bauman, Art," call number MGZR.

    IMMEDIATE NEEDS
    (archival assistance? storage? other?):

    None identified.

    OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
    None identified.

    PARTIAL LIST OR OVERVIEW OF WORKS
    (title, premiere date, music, production notes, performers):

    This list is from McDonagh (see below); works subsequent to the 1976 publication of McDonagh are unknown:

    Journal (1962)

    The Time of Singing (1963)

    Desert Prayer (1963)

    Barrier (1963)

    Break Forth into Joy (1963)

    Nocturne (1963)

    Errands (1966)

    Headquarters (1966)

    Periodic (1966)

    Burlesque/Black & White (1967)

    Dialog (1967)

    Relay (1968)

    Chances (1968)

    Sketches for Nocturne (1969)

    Approximately 20 Minutes (1970)

    Processional Hymn, Sermon, Sanctis & Recessional (1970)

    Dancing in Sheep Meadow (1971)

    DTW Improvisation Group (1971)

    Materializations (1971)

    Dancing in the Cathedral (1972)

    A Dance Concert for Radio (1972)

    You are Here (1972)

    A Movement Project (1972)

    Dances for Women (1973)

    A Piece About Pieces (1973)

    Mute Piece (1973)—with Anthony LaGiglia

    BIBLIOGRAPHY:

    • Baker, Rob. 1972. "The Dance Theater Workshop Company, Theatre of the Riverside Church, June 16-18, 1972 [review of Dialog]." Dance Magazine (August): 73.
    • Dance Magazine. 1993. "Obituaries: Art Bauman" (May): 87.
    • Dance/USA Journal. 1993. "Obituaries: Art Bauman" (Winter): 28.
    • McDonagh, Don. 1976. The Complete Guide to Modern Dance. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company. 339-42.
     
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