There are many people, projects, and stories that didn’t, for whatever reason, end up in this book. I apologize for leaving you out (or leaving you in). Maybe the sequel.
Many thanks to Christopher Richards, our editor, for his initial enthusiasm and subsequent support, good words, and hard work; to Claudia Ballard at William Morris Endeavor for agenting Out Loud into existence; and to everyone at Penguin Press, particularly those involved in the book’s production. Thanks also to those, including MMDG staff and friends, who worked on the book’s preparation: collation, detection, verification, perusal, and advice.
Thanks to Mr. Wesley Stace, without whom . . . And to his family, Abbey, Tilda, and Wyn, for their warm welcome.
Thanks also to the many presenters and producers, at the many venues and organizations, for their past and current invaluable trust in my work: Jane Moss of Lincoln Center; Robert Cole and Matias Tarnopolsky of Cal Performances; Harvey Lichtenstein and Joseph V. Melillo of BAM; Mike Ross of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; Ellen Highstein of Tanglewood Music Center; Rick Davis and Tom Reynolds of George Mason University Center for the Arts; Josh LaBelle of Seattle Theatre Group; Janice Price of the Luminato Festival and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; Liz Thompson, Sam Miller, Sali Ann Kriegsman, and Ella Baff of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; David White of Dance Theater Workshop; Mark Murphy of On the Boards; Matt Krashan and Michelle Witt of Meany Hall for the Performing Arts; Val Bourne and Toby Beazley of Dance Umbrella London; Jeremy Alliger of Dance Umbrella Boston; Martha Jones of Celebrity Series; Alistair Spalding of Sadler’s Wells; Brian McMaster of the Edinburgh International Festival; Graham Sheffield of Barbican Centre; John Berry of the English National Opera; Nicholas Payne of the Royal Opera Covent Garden; Michael Mushalla of Double M Arts and Events; Helgi Tomasson of San Francisco Ballet; and Mikko Nissinen of Boston Ballet.
Particular thanks to the smart, generous, and levelheaded members of our board of directors: Judith R Fishman, David Resnicow, Mark Selinger, Jane Stine, Sarabeth Berman, Margaret Conklin, Fred Bland, Suzy Kellems Dominik, Shelby Gans, Sandy Hill, Timothy McClimon, Helen Meyer, Ellen Offner, York-Chi Harder, Nicholas Ma, Kathleen Howard, Allan Bufferd, Linda Rawlings, Harold Snedcof, and Cathryn Collins. Many thanks also to these great friends of MMDG: Ellen Poss, Antony Peattie, David Deutsch, Liz Liebman, Howard Hodgkin, Ellsworth Kelly, and Howard Gilman.
Regarding the Mark Morris Dance Group, I am humbly thankful for the enormous amount of work by so many dedicated people in so many ways to present what we create to the public. The planning, the training, the rehearsing, the designing, the advertising, the fund-raising, the travel, the payroll, the laundry. The magic part where everything comes together for a couple of hours in the theater for a new audience every night in every city. The enthusiastic belief in this very particular and inclusive culture. The priceless engagement with the neighborhoods and communities everywhere we go. The perseverance and unlimited imagination involved in perpetuating a band of artists as fine as this one. All in the service of the dance and the music—the core of who we are and what we have to give.
I am deeply grateful to the dancers and musicians with whom I’ve had the opportunity to work over all these many years. You know who you are. I appreciate every one of you for your diligence, devotion, and good humor; your variety and your depth of talent.
My humble gratitude to every old friend, every teacher, every partner, from every branch of music and dance, all over the world, who have variously stimulated, challenged, and inspired me for so long.
With my deepest love to my dear sisters, Marianne and Maureen, and their spouses and all of their progeny through all the generations. For my mother, Maxine.
—MM