Series: Frames of Reference
Program: Dance in Open Spaces
Date: 1979-01-01
Subject: Modern dance; Landscape
Copyright Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Clip Description
This compilation, which opens with "Frames of Reference" talent Midge Graves in dance class, is a showcase for works created by the Workshop and other filmmakers, showing dancers working out of doors. Film clips featured include Thomas Edison's film of a Maypole dance, Doris Humphrey's "A Hoop and Scarf Dance", Irma Duncan (an Isadora Duncan disciple) and her dancers in a garden with great columns, an underwater ballerina, Maya Deren's "A Study in Choreography for Camera", John Butler's "Carmina Burana", Donald McKayle's "Rainbow Round My Shoulder," and an Italian television commercial.

Workshop pieces featured include segments of "George's House," "City Motion Space Game," "District 1," and the complete "As Quiet As...." Directed by Fred Barzyk.

"Frames of Reference" was a series that began circa 1978. Half-hour shows were produced to showcase commissioned and already created works. It was around this time that the focus of the Workshop shifted, to concentrate more heavily on creating works for broadcast. During its time, "Frames of Reference" was the focus of the Workshop's national arts programming effort. The series ended circa 1983.

Program Description
This compilation, which opens with "Frames of Reference" talent Midge Graves in dance class, is a showcase for works created by the Workshop and other filmmakers, showing dancers working out of doors. Film clips featured include Thomas Edison's film of a Maypole dance, Doris Humphrey's "A Hoop and Scarf Dance", Irma Duncan (an Isadora Duncan disciple) and her dancers in a garden with great columns, an underwater ballerina, Maya Deren's "A Study in Choreography for Camera", John Butler's "Carmina Burana", Donald McKayle's "Rainbow Round My Shoulder," and an Italian television commercial.

Workshop pieces featured include segments of "George's House," "City Motion Space Game," "District 1," and the complete "As Quiet As...." Directed by Fred Barzyk.

"Frames of Reference" was a series that began circa 1978. Half-hour shows were produced to showcase commissioned and already created works. It was around this time that the focus of the Workshop shifted, to concentrate more heavily on creating works for broadcast. During its time, "Frames of Reference" was the focus of the Workshop's national arts programming effort. The series ended circa 1983.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Dance159.HTML