Introduction

In this interview Bonnie Bird provides details of her background at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, followed by her connection with Martha Graham and her dance company, and then, in fall 1937, her return to the Cornish School where her students included Merce Cunningham and her accompanist was John Cage. She was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1914, and in 1938 she married the psychologist Ralph Gundlach. They were both members of the Seattle Artists League, an organization with leftwing associations, which would cause trouble for them in the McCarthy era.

Bird left the Cornish School in 1940, discouraged by the decline in student numbers, but after World War II she went on to develop contemporary dance in universities and community arts centers. She was a founding member and president of the American Dance Guild, as well as of the Congress on Research in Dance. In 1974 she was invited by Marion North, principal of the Laban Centre in London, to become director of the Dance Theatre Department, where she set up the first British academic programs in dance with degrees ranging from BA to PhD. In 1982 Bird founded Transitions Dance Company, the leading British professional training company for young dancers, and was artistic director until her death in 1995.

Leta E. Miller sums up Bird's importance in the Seattle period: “Among those artists who influenced Cage's work, none played a greater role than Bonnie Bird. Her impact on his compositional development extended far beyond her initial invitation for him to come to Seattle … she served as the catalyst for his most important innovations in this period.”

Rebecca Boyle took a first-class degree in music at Goldsmiths College, University of London; then, as a Fulbright Scholar at Yale University, she gained a master's degree in musicology. She spent her early career at IMG Artists, an international arts management company, working in New York, London, and Paris, before setting up a performing arts education venture, Artis, of which she is chief executive.

Interview

By permission of Heidi Smith

RB When did you first meet John Cage and Merce Cunningham?

BB I have to separate the two! [laughs] I first met Merce because he was a student of mine.