Merce Cunningham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Merce Cunningham (born April 16, 1919 in Centralia, Washington, United States) is an American dancer and choreographer.

A long-term collaborator with and romantic partner of composer John Cage, Cunningham is commonly recognized as one of the most innovative and influential figures in modern dance. Cunningham's dances emphasise strength and agility, and his choreography notoriously demands of his dancers difficult, nearly impossible physical feats of athleticism.

[edit] Biography

He studied tap dance in his youth, but Cunningham received his first formal dance and theatre training at the Cornish College of the Arts where he met John Cage, who was a piano accompanist for dance classes. Later he moved to New York and studied at the American School of Ballet. From 1939 to 1945 he was a soloist in Martha Graham's dance company, choreographing Paul Bowles' light opera The Wind Remains in 1943. He presented his first New York solo concert with John Cage in April 1944 and founded the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the summer of 1953 with its first performances at Black Mountain College.

Inspired by Albert Einstein's words "there are no fixed points in space," Cunningham developed a method of creating known as "Chance Operations," which he refined in close collaboration with Cage, his life partner. Influenced by zen and Dadaism, Cunningham would create a number of dance phrases and use methods such as dice, cards, or coins to determine order, number of repetitions, direction and spatial relation. Oftentimes he would also invite a musician to create a score and an artist to create a visual environment while he created the movement. Each would work separately and would unite the elements for the first time on stage before an audience. Although considered an abrogation of artistic responsibility by some, Cunningham was thrilled by a process that arrives at works that could never have been created through traditional collaboration. This does not mean, however, that Cunningham holds every piece created in this fashion is a masterpiece. Those dances that do not "work" are quickly dropped from repertory, while those that do are celebrated as serendipitous discoveries. In this fashion chance operations are similar to improvisation, used as a tool of creation by many artists.

Another of Cunningham's innovations was the develpoment of what might be called "non-representative" dance which simply emphasises movement: in Cunninghamn's choreography, dancers do not neccessarily represent any historical figure, emotional situation, or idea.

Although well into his eighties and no longer able to dance, Cunningham continues to choreograph with the aid of computer software, working with musical groups including Sigur Rós and Radiohead to create soundtracks for his projects.

Cunningham was on the development team for the dance software originally called Lifeforms now called Danceforms, the software allows the user to choreograph on a computer.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

Bremser, M. (Ed) (1999) Fifty Contemporary Choreographers. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10364-9
Cunningham, M. and Lesschaeve, J. (1992) The Dancer and the Dance. Marion Boyars Publishers. ISBN 0-7145-2931-1
Vaughn, David (1999) Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years. Aperture. ISBN 0-89381-863-1
Kostelanetz, R. (1998) Merce Cunningham: Dancing in Space and Time. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80877-3