Geometry of Circles

Written by	Philip Glass
Date	1979
Publisher	Dunvagen Music Publishers

"Geometry of Circles" is a series of unnumbered animation pieces created for Sesame Street in 1979. Cathryn Aison commissioned Philip Glass to write music for animation based on her storyboard which had been submitted to and approved by Edith Zornow of CTW.

The shorts consist of the movement of six circles (each with a different color of the rainbow) that are formed by and split up into various geometric patterns. Glass's music underscores the animation in a style that closely resembles the "Dance" numbers and the North Star vignettes written during the same time period as his Einstein on the Beach opera.

The film has featured in public screenings and museum exhibits. In October 2012, the third movement from the film was included in the "Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The short usually aired in separate segments (the following gallery cites the earliest known appearance of each as individually aired). The earliest known occurrence of all four segments airing back-to-back was in Episode 1448.

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(EKA: Episode 1576)

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(EKA: Episode 1755)

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(EKA: Episode 1836)

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(EKA: Episode 2164)

Releases

Video

• 40 Years of Sunny Days (from this segment)

Online

• sesamestreet.org Template:SSvideo (from this segment)