The Estate Project

NAME: Morris, Mark

BIRTH DATE/LOCATION:
29 August 1956, Seattle, Washington

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Susan Hadley (center) in Mark Morris' New Love Song Waltzes.
Photo: Beatriz Schiller, courtesy Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

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IDENTIFICATION AND BIO:
A modern dancer and choreographer whose work is frequently performed by ballet companies, Mark Morris has said that he is not interested in making work about AIDS. Nevertheless, some of his pieces pay homage to those who have become ill and died, notably the passage known among the dancers of Morris's company as "Buddy Take a Fun Ride" in Love Song Waltzes. This passage, usually known as "Nicht wandel," after the German title of one of Brahms's songs, was inspired by the HIV diagnosis of Morris dancer Jon Mensinger. Morris biographer Joan Acocella (see below) explains: "The message Nicht wandel—don't go—undoubtedly had a personal meaning.... In the summer of 1989 ... Jon Mensinger, one of the members of the 'old company' and for several years a very close friend of Morris's, found out that he was HIV-positive. Mensinger is the man who keeps escaping and being pulled back in 'Nicht wandel.' The plea is quite direct" (114).

KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
Nancy Umanoff, executive director
Mark Morris Dance Group
3 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-624-8400
nancy@mmdg.org

HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
(name and contact info, relationship to the artist and the work, assessment):
Mark Morris and the dancers of the company.

VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
(location, format, condition, assessment):
The Mark Morris Dance Group holds video of the piece. According to Nancy Umanoff (18 November 2000), however, "it's poor quality archival footage shot from the back of the theater."

PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
(location, format, condition, assessment):
The Mark Morris Dance Group keeps photographs of Love Song Waltzes in its files.

MOVEMENT NOTATION
(location, type [including notes taken by dancers], assessment):
None. Morris does not believe movement notation is an effective means of preserving his choreography.

PRODUCTION MATERIALS
(scores, sound recordings, set/costume designs):
Morris' company maintains all production materials in storage.

ORAL HISTORY:
Morris is frequently interviewed in the press. The biography by Joan Acocella (see below) is the best source for these interviews.

PERSONAL PAPERS
(location of newspaper clippings, printed programs, press releases, notes, files, diaries; assessment):
Morris's personal papers are maintained by his company. The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library maintains a clippings file for "Morris, Mark," call number MGZR.

IMMEDIATE NEEDS
(archival assistance? storage? other?):
None identified.

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
Jon Mensinger was born 9 February 1957 and died 13 September 1994.

LIST OR OVERVIEW OF WORKS
(title, premiere date, music, production notes, performers):
This is the single work of Morris's that directly references HIV/AIDS:

Love Song Waltzes (1989)—premiered 4 November by the Mark Morris Dance Group at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels; music by Brahms (Liebeslieder, op. 52, 1868-69); lighting by James F. Ingalls; danced by Joe Bowie, Tina Fehlandt, Penny Hutchinson, Olivia Maridjan-Koop, Clarice Marshall, Jon Mensinger, Kraig Patterson, Mireille Radwan-Dana, Keith Sabado, Joachim SchlØmer, Jean-Guillaume Weis, Holly Williams.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Acocella, Joan. 1993. Mark Morris. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. 114-116.
Keefe, Maura. 1994-1995. "An Interview with Mark Morris." Salmagundi 104-105 (Fall/Winter): 219-240, illus.
Tobias, Tobi. 1995. "All Grown Up: Mark Morris." New York Magazine (11 December): 56-60.

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