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)