Scholars have explored the relationship between US experimentalism and vitalist
philosophy largely through John Cage’s reception of Henri Bergson. Recent scholarship
has shown the importance of vitalism to the wider New York School. Evidence from
Feldman’s archive suggests he too absorbed Bergsonian philosophy. Feldman signalled
this when he wrote of ‘Henri Bergson’s élan vital … and how to fake it’ in his
unpublished lectures, New York Style. He borrows vitalist vocabulary for piece titles
(Extensions and Durations) and, in an early sketchbook, describes his open-form
Intermission 6 as ‘an outline of becoming’. These interests are also apparent in his
collaborations. His nearly-lost dance piece Figure of Memory, written for choreographer
Merle Marsicano, is Feldman’s only other open form piece (along with Intermission 6).
Marsicano employed similar vitalist language to Feldman and applied it to her dance.
Feldman’s collaboration with Marsicano signals a shared vernacular metaphysics
mingling Bergsonism, self-abnegation, and aesthetic form.