Guide to the Papers of Philippa Cullen

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MS 6820

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Philippa Cullen
Title
Papers of Philippa Cullen
Date Range
1971-1989 (bulk 1971-1975)
Collection Number
MS 6820
Extent
0.6 metres (1 folio box)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
Special Collections (Manuscripts)

Introduction

Scope and Contents

MS 6820 comprises 12 manila folders of photocopied, typed and handwritten correspondence and documents relating to Cullen's employment and performance activities; notebooks and photographs relating to dance productions; documents relating to Cullen's tour under an Australian Council for the Arts grant plus letters relating to the formation and custody of the Philippa Cullen collection.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn3510737).

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Philippa Cullen, National Library of Australia, MS 6820, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection of Philippa Cullen's papers was formed by Jilba Wallace, a friend of Cullen's, following Cullen's death in 1975. Wallace deposited the collection with the Paddington Town Hall Trust Library in 1977. During the 1980s the collection was transferred to the Library, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. The papers of Philippa Cullen were donated to the National Library in 2005 by the Library, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.

Related material includes Otto Laske, Vitre : a mimic dance for one or more dancers : commissioned by the Philippa Cullen Dance Company, [Utrecht : Otto Laske, 1973?] (MUS N m 792.82 L345), and two Australian Information Photographs of Cullen in 'Homage to Theremin II' (PIC/9032/1-2).

Arrangement

The papers have been largely left in the order in which they were received.

Biographical Note

Born in Melbourne in 1950, Philippa Cullen was educated at Queenwood and Loreto Convent, Sydney. At the age of eight, she became a pupil at the Bodenwieser Dance Studio. During her dance studies at the Bodenwieser Centre, Cullen appeared in works choreographed by Margaret Chapple, Keith Bain and Jacqui Carroll including Bain's 'Primitive Suite', first performed at Ballet Australia's second workshop performance on 9 August 1964 at Cell Block Theatre, Sydney, and Jacqui Carroll's 'Entangled', first performed in another of Ballet Australia's choreographic workshops on 5 October 1969, also at the Cell Block.

One of Cullen's earliest choreographic works, 'Electronic Aspects', was performed in Ballet Australia's 1970 choreographic competition. 'Electronic Aspects' was set to music composed by Nicholas Lyons and featured nine dancers including Jacqui Carroll, Kay Dunne, Christine Koltai, and Geoffrey Cichero. In 1971 Cullen performed in Kay Dunne's Ballet Australia competition work '…we bled inside each other's wounds'. Cullen's second and final entry to a Ballet Australia choreographic competition was 'Utter' (1972) created for five dancers and with music 'performed, and words spoken and sung by dancers, arranged by the choreographer in collaboration with the writer George Alexander'. 'Utter' received a special mention from the judges.

In 1970 Cullen graduated from Sydney University with a BA degree, majoring in English and Italian with sub-majors in Fine Arts and Medieval History. During her studies at Sydney University, Cullen initiated dance classes and improvisational performances for Sydney University students. While at the University, Cullen came into contact with the theremin, an electronic musical instrument in which tone is generated by two high-frequency oscillators and pitch controlled by the movement of the performer towards and away from the circuit.

Cullen's first performance integrating the theremin, 'Homage to Theremin II' (1972), was a collaboration with composer Greg Schiemer, electrical engineer Phil Connor and architecture student Manuel Nobleza. This work utilised four theremins, each differing in shape and size and each with its own antenna, allowing the dancers to control the music accompanying their movements.

In May 1972 Cullen applied for an overseas travel grant to explore 'the medium of electronics and its potential for extending dance as an art form'. Cullen's trip took her to Europe, Africa, and India between August 1972 and early 1974. During her travels Cullen spent time at the Instituut Voor Sonologie (The Institute of Sonology), Utrecht University, The Netherlands, working with composer-in-residence Otto Laske. As a result of their contact Laske produced a graphic score for Cullen, Vitre, after a text by Rene Char, for one or more dancers. Laske composed a score in labanotation describing gestures and positions as well as vocal and body sounds along a flexible timeline of about 20 minutes.

Returning to Australia in early 1974, Cullen continued her investigation into the possibilities of electronics and dance, presenting a series of seminars over nine days at One Central Street Gallery, Sydney, giving workshops and demonstrations of the findings of her travels. In September 1974 she presented a 24 hour concert, 24-Hour Chess, with Ian Robertson and Aleks Danko at Hogarth Gallery, Sydney. Subsequent performances include the 1975 Computers and Electronics in the Arts exhibition in Canberra. Cullen died suddenly while travelling in India in 1975.

References: Cullen, Philippa, 'Towards a philosophy of dance', in Writings on Dance, 4. Making History (Spring 1989), pp. 18-25. Wallace, Jilba, 'A life's work: Philippa Cullen 1950-1975', in Writings on Dance, 4. Making History (Spring 1989), pp. 8-15. Alexander, George, 'The hot electron: some notes on the single-dance of Philippa Cullen', in Writings on Dance, 4. Making History (Spring 1989), pp. 26-31. Jones, Stephen, 'Philippa Cullen: dancing the music', in Leonardo Music Journal; Vol. 14, Issue 1, (December 2004), pp. 64-73.

Item Descriptions

Series 1. Correspondence, 1974-1989

Letters written in 1974-75 by Cullen requesting employment as a dance therapist, letters from Mary Ewington (acting director, Tasmanian Youth Theatre), Ewing Gallery, University of Melbourne, Frank Wigham (lecturer, University of New England), Kenneth Gillespie (director, Tasmanian Ballet), Tony King (University of Sydney). Also included are later letters from the City of Mildura Arts Centre and Sunraysia Television Ltd. to Jilba Wallace regarding requests for material to form a Philippa Cullen Collection and letters from Jilba Wallace concerning the deposit of the collection with the Paddington Town Hall Trust Library and access of the collection from the Library, City Art Institute (now College of Fine Arts), University of New South Wales.

Series 2. Writings, 1969-1973

Comprises a notebook containing diary entries, exercises, reviews, choreographic and rehearsal notes (54p + 39p), 'Autobiography' [1970?] (2p), a photocopied typescript article by George Alexander 'Philippa Cullen's 'Utter'' (prepared for Music Now), and a notebook written in Auroville, India, in 1975.

Series 3. Dance productions, 1972-1975

Notebooks, flyers, photographs, choreographic diagrams, an application for a grant from the Australian Council for the Arts, and a report acquitting the grant. The application includes a curriculum vitae for Cullen.

'Homage to Theremin II '(also known as Age to Theremin No. 2), (1972) (File 1)

'Utter' (1972), 'Lightless' (1972), and 'Conservatorium workshop programme' (1972) (File 2)

Central Street seminar, (1974) (File 3)

Twenty Four Hour Concert, (1974) (File 4)

Sixth Mildura Sculpture Triennial, 1975 (File 5)

Australia 75: Fesitval of Creative Arts and Sciences, Canberra, 7-16 March, 1975 (File 6)

'An Enchanted Clemency' (1975), 'Action, Music, Theatre' (n.d.) (File 7)

Series 4. Overseas tour, 1971-1974

Applications for travelling grant from the Australian Council for the Arts and for a Churchill Fellowship, references, correspondence with the Australian Council for the Arts, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and the cultural academy Kalakshetra, Madras, photographs and programs for dance performances, and reports by Cullen on the progress of her tour for the Australian Council for the Arts, and a handwritten draft document by Cullen 'Submission to James Murdoch and Music Board' outlining her proposed activities after her return from her 1973-1974 overseas tour.

Series 5. Contracts / accounts, 1972-1973

Contracts with dancers and technicians, correspondence from the State Conservatorium of Music, Sydney regarding the auspicing of an Australian Council for the Arts grant, and with McDonell & Moffitt solicitors regarding payment of a grant from an Australian Council for the Arts.

Series 6. Writings on Dance, 4. Making History (Melbourne : Writings on Dance, Spring 1989)

This issue of Writings on Dance includes three articles on Cullen.


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