RIP Merce Cunningham

Born in 1919 in Centralia, Washington, he began his training at the Cornish School of Performing and Visual Arts in Seattle. In 1939, Merce Cunningham went to New York where he became a soloist in Martha Graham's company. His collaboration with the great dancer (his teacher) lasted until 1945. During his stay in New York, he met the great composer John Cage, with whom he formed a deep artistic and lifelong partnership that would last approximately 50 years. Together, they proposed a series of radical innovations in the artistic landscape, among the most notable being the revolution in the relationship between music and dance, which became two elements conceived as independent, overlapping only during the performance. In 1947, in fact, "The Seasons" was staged, its choreography being developed in silence, while Cage composed the music, which would be associated with the dance only on the evening of the premiere.

In 1944, he presented his first choreography to Cage's music in New York, and in 1953 he founded the "Merce Cunningham Dance Company," which is considered one of the most important dance companies. For almost forty-one years, until his death in 1992, John Cage was its musical director.

It is also interesting to note the names of the artistic directors: until 1968, Robert Rauschenberg; from 1968 to 1980, Jasper Johns. At the latter's suggestion, he used Duchamp's work, The Large Glass, as the backdrop for his show titled "Walkaround Time," as a sort of homage to his art in the year of his death.

During this period, his interest also focused on making several films and videos on dance, allowing him to express his extraordinary vision of dance in new artistic forms. He devoted himself in particular and with great interest to the creative possibilities of the camera, especially with regard to modifying the usual point of view on movement, a sort of anticipation of what he would achieve in the future through the use of specific software.

In 1966, with Stan Van Der Beek, he created Variations, which takes place in a dark space where dancers activate sensors by interrupting a beam of light, triggering musical inserts by Cage, while images from films or everyday life are played on several screens. In 1973, he entered the Paris Opera with the creation Un jour ou deux.

Since the 1970s, Cunningham has cultivated this interest in the interaction between dance and video, choreographing numerous videos and documentaries, collaborating with various filmmakers including Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Robert Morris, Charles Atlas, and Elliot Caplan. In 1986, together with Cage, she created Life Forms, the first dance movement notation software. In 1989, she created Changing Steps with Elliot Caplan (a reworking of a 1975 performance).

In 1999, the collaboration with Atlas led to the production of the documentary Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime in Dance.

Sito web: merce.org

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