Selections from the MMDG Press Collection, 1980-1989

The MMDG Archive’s physical press collection runs from some of the Dance Group’s earliest performances around 1980 through the mid-2010s, at which time most press moved to predominantly digital formats. Here we examine some of the writers who responded to Mark Morris’s choreography in this first decade of press, recently digitized for the first time. Especially highlighted in this exhibit are writers outside of the New York mainstream, which nevertheless includes many distinguished observers — at the New York Times, for example, Jennifer Dunning, Jack Anderson, Anna Kisselgoff, and Alastair Macaulay; for Dance Magazine, Joan Acocella, who also penned the first biography on Mark Morris in 1993; and for the New Yorker, Arlene Croce.

Our hope is that archival processing and this exhibit can elucidate other writers' contributions to the Dance Group's history. Writing for publications such as the Boston Globe, the Village Voice, Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer, and Seattle Weekly, the writers featured here cover premiering repertory works, profile Mark Morris and his dancers, and deliver a number of eclectic critical responses. The reviews are paired with relevant excerpts of video documentation where available. Please write to us at archives@mmdg.org to access full recordings for research purposes.