Viola Farber

Viola Farber (February 25, 1931 – December 24, 1998) was an American choreographer and dancer.

Biography Viola Farber was born on February 25, 1931, in Heidelberg, Germany. In Germany, Farber began dancing. However, at the age of six she was discouraged by her parents. At the age of seven, Farber and her family moved to the United States. Even though her parents did not allow her to dance, Farber continued dancing on her own, though she focused more of her energy on learning to play the piano. During the one year that Farber spent at the University of Illinois studying music, she began taking dance classes from Margaret Erlanger. When Farber transferred to George Washington University, she focused on both music and dance. By 1952, Farber had transferred once again, to Black Mountain College was dance with Katherine Litz and music with Lou Harrison.

In 1953, Farber became a founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She created many roles in Cunningham's works, such as Crises, Paired Rune, and Nocturne. Farber is described as being “one of the great individualists of the company”. At this time, she also took various dance classes from Margaret Craske and Alfred Corvino in New York, and from Erika Thimey in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Farber was dancing with other choreographers. She performed the role of the vampire in Litz's Dracula as well as dancing with Paul Taylor's early company. Farber was the only female pianist in the first performance of Erik Satie's Vexations (organized by John Cage, and lasting over 18 hours). In 1965, she left Cunningham's company and in 1968, began her own company.

Viola Farber’s Dance Company and style Through having her own dance company, The Viola Farber Dance Company, Farber developed her own signature dance style. She often used improvisation in her rehearsals and in some of her first works. She allowed her dancers to rearrange and reshape the movement, however she set explicit limits. Her dancers were allowed to do whatever they wanted ”. Farber would almost ask dancers to manipulate the phrase and provided cues for beginning different sections. Although, these cues were never related to the music. Jeff Slayton, a member of the company and Farber’s longtime partner and ex-husband, commented that “if a dance had internal or set musical cues, we changed the music”. Her work challenged audiences and was often found compelling. The pieces Poor Eddie (1973) and Willi I (1974) were described as sadomasochistic, while No Super, No Boiler (1974) and Lead Us Not into Penn Station (1975) had humorous themes, and Dune and Nightshade (both choreographed in the early 1970s) had quiet themes. Most of the Farber's pieces were set to original scores, or were performed in silence. However, a few of her pieces were choreographed to classical music. For example, Nightshade was set to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14.

Farber died on December 24, 1998, in Bronxville, New York.

Works

Choreography by Viola Farber for Viola Farber Dance Company 1968

Excerpt

1969

Duet For Mirjam and Jeff Quota Passage Standby

1970

Tendency Area Code Curriculum Co-Op Mildred

1971

Survey Patience

1972

Default Route 6 Dune Poor Eddie

1973

Soup Spare Change

1974

Willi I Some of the Symptoms Dinosaur Parts No Super, No Boiler Defendant Houseguest

1975

Motorcycle/Boat Night Shade Duet For Willi and Susan

1976

Five Works For Sneakers Some Things I Can Remember Sunday Afternoon

1977

Brazos River (Collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg, David Tudor, Fort Worth Museum – Dance on Camera) Lead Us Not Into Penn Station Solo

1978

Turf Doublewalk Private Relations Dandelion Local

1979

Duet Ledge Tide

1980

Tracks Bright Stream

1981

Bequest

Choreography for Viola Farber Dance Company while in residency at Le Centre National de Dance Contemporaine d’Angers (The French National Center for Contemporary Dance) 1981-1983 1981

Cinq Pour Dix Attente Villa-Duage

1982

Etudes Echanges

1983

Écritures Sur L’Eau

Other works choreographed by Viola Farber 1965

Seconds (Solo for Viola Farber)

1965

Notebook (Quartet for June Finch, Margaret Jenkins, Dan Wagoner, and Rosalind Newman)

1968

Time Out (Solo for Viola Farber) Legacy (Solo for Viola Farber)

1969

Tristan and Iseult (Duet collaboration with Don Redlich) The Music of Conlon Nancarrow (Collaboration with Peter Saul)

1970

Passengers (Repertory Dance Theater- Utah)

1971

Pop. 18 (Ohio State University, Columbus) Pop. 11 (NYU Performing Arts) Five In The Morning (Repertory Dance Theater)

1972

Window (Ruth Currier Dance Company)

1973

Untitled Work (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

1975

Minnesota Mash (University of Minnesota, Minn.)

1976

Untitled Work (Margaret Jenkins Workshop in San Francisco) Temporary Site (Nancy Hauser Dance Company, Minneapolis)

1977

Autumn Fields (Ballet Theatre Contemporaine, Angers) Untitled Work (Viola Farber Workshop, NYC) Transfer (Nancy Hauser Dance Company, Minneapolis)

1979

Jeux Choréographique (Ballet Theatre Français and Larry Clark in Lyon, France) Clearing (Solo for Ze’eva Cohen)

1980

Untitled Work (Janet Gillespie and Present Co.) Just Correspondence (Duet/collaboration – Viola Farber and Jeff Slayton)

1981

Tea For Three (Duet for Viola Farber and Sarah Stackhouse) Untitled Work (Solo for Susannah Payton-Newman) Untitled Work (Viola Farber Workshop, NYC)

1982

Meanwhile Back In the City (Duet/collaboration Viola Farber and Jeff Slayton)

1983

Untitled Work (Duet/collaboration Viola Farber and Jeff Slayton)

1984

Last Waltz (Duet/collaboration Viola Farber and Jeff Slayton) Day’s Return (Long Beach Summer School of Dance – CSULB) Venom and Antidotes (London Contemporary Dance School) Autumn Edge (London Contemporary Dance School)

1985

January – (Last performance of Viola Farber Dance Company – Dance made for television in Devon, England – Television South West London)

1987

Bank Holiday (London Contemporary Dance School) Passing (London Contemporary Dance School) Winter Rumors (Extemporary Dance Theatre, London) Take-Away (Extemporary Dance Theatre, London) Preludes (Nation Youth Dance Company, London)

1988

Preludes (New Dance Ensemble – Minneapolis, Minn.)

1989

Last Call (Solo for Douglas Nielsen)

1992

Ainsi de Suite (Duet/collaboration Viola Farber and Mathilde Monnier)

1994

Threestep (Ship Wreck) – (Duet/collaboration Viola Farber and Ralph Lemon

1996

Dreams of Wind and Dust (CE DE CE, Setubal, Portugal) It’s Been A While (Duet/collaboration Viola Farber and Jeff Slayton)

Notable projects 1970s: Brazos River, video collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg and David Tudor 1974: Made site-specific dances at the Bronx Botanical Gardens and in the Staten Island Ferry waiting room. Sunday Afternoon (1976) and Private Relations (1979): Farber choreographed these works with a more relaxed feel.

Teaching career Adelphi University (1959–1967) Cunningham Studio (1961–1969) Bennington College (1967–1968) Appointed by French government to artistic director of Centre National de Danse Contemporiane in Angers (1981–1983) Sarah Lawrence College Director of Dance Department (1988–1998)