Why is Merce important to me?

Merce Cunningham has changed the way dance is performed and has literally made his own style of dance. I care about Merce because in researching Merce I have learned about this unique way of choreographing. His use of “chance” choreography makes his works completely unpredictable and surprising for every performance. Merce’s interest is in what the body can do and how he can push the boundries of what the body can do.

The public should care about his legacy because MANY dancers have studied with him or have worked with his partner, John Cage. He has completely changed the way audiences view dance and was successful in his purpose performance. Taking emotionality out of dance takes a special kind of dancer to do onstage.

In 2000 Merce made a Legacy Plan. A copy of the plan can be downloaded on his company’s website. In his plan he quoted,

“My idea has always been to explore human physical movement,” said Cunningham. “I attempt to teach students and dancers about my technique, but in a way that allows room for individuality. I would like the Trust to continue doing this, because dancing is a process that never stops, and should not stop if it is to stay alive and fresh.”

Contribution to Dance

Merce Cunningham is truly a one-of-a-kind choreographer. Putting technique aside he created a way of moving which allowed the audience to see pure movement and not movement with emotion, or so were his intentions. Dance was the only idea being presented in Merce’s dances. His dances could range in movement from big and virtuosic to pedestrian based. He liked to push the boundaries of movement: using the computer program DanceForms allowed him to come up with movements that might have seemed (or have actually been) impossible but he was able to get another view on the movement by watching his dancers attempt to do the movement. I can’t think of any other choreographer that used this method to choreograph movements.



Probably his most well-known contribution to the dance world is his use of chance operations in which he would literally leave movement choices up to chance. He also had a very unique way of putting together his works in terms of the relationship between the dance the music and the lighting/stage set-up in that he wouldn’t allow these things to come together until performance time (he adopted this idea from his partner, John Cage).

What was going on in the world?

I haven't really found anything about any world events that might have influenced any of Cunningham's work. I don't really interpret Cunningham to be one that is influenced by what is going on in the world. Some things that happened during his time that could have influenced his work include:

• World War II: The Red Army arrives at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland and finds the Nazi concentration camp where 1.1-1.5 million people were murdered.
1952
• Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" in Woodstock, New York
1962
• The Mona Lisa was assessed at US $100 million, the highest insurance valuance for a painting in history
1968—Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "mountaintop" speech
Hollywood adopts the movie ratings system
1980
• Mark Morris, choreographer, gets together some friends, calls them the Mark Morris Dance Group, and puts on its first show at the Merce Cunningham Studios
• 1970’s—computers become commercially feasible
-->By the 90’s computers had become a common household appliance
---->The computer was very important to Merce as he suffered from arthritis
-->Used the computer program DanceForms to make his works
• 1983—the CD was officially launched in the UK
• 1996—the first DVD was shown

Professional Lineage/collaborations/lessons

I couldn’t find much about Merce Cunningham’s dance lineage. He studied dance at what is now called Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. He began his professional dance career with the Martha Graham Dance Company. He was with her company for six years as a soloist, and then in 1953 he created the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC). In 1955, only two years after MCDC was founded, his company made its first appearance at Jacob’s Pillow.
Once he had his own company he began to collaborate with other artists. The most influential of all the artists he worked with is John Cage, musical advisor in MCDC from the beginning and Merce’s life partner from the 40’s until Cage’s death in 1992. The two met at Cornish College of the Arts. He, therefore, also worked with David Tudor whom was associated with John Cage.
Another notable artist that Cunningham worked with was Andy Warhol. Warhol created a piece called Clouds which he made for Cunningham’s dance piece called Rainforest in 1968. He worked with Robert Rauschenberg in 1954 in a piece titled Minutiae. A quote from Cunningham, “But with "Minutiae" [1954] a different idea about the addition of décor came in. I asked Robert Rauschenberg to make something for it. The dance was not finished. I did not tell him what to make, only that it could be something that was in the dance area, that we could move through it, around it, and with it if he so liked… He made an object and beautiful as it was, I knew it wouldn’t work, because it needed a pipe to hang on. He made a second one through which we walked, huddled, and climbed. It was like an object in nature.”
Other distinguished artists he collaborated with include: Bruce Nauman—contemporary American artist who was influenced by John Cage and Philip Glass among others, Tacita Dean—best known for her work in 16mm film, Roy Lichtenstein—American pop artist, influenced by popular advertising and comic books, Ernesto Neto—contemporary visual artist, Frank Stella—designed the set and costumes for Cunningham’s piece titled Scramble, Rei Kawakubo—an untrained fashion designer (featured as a Guest designer for H&M in fall 2008), Romeo Gigli—a designer, and Benedetta Tagliabue—an architect.
Some of Cunningham’s students went on to create their own dance companies. Karole Armitage—company member from 1976-1981--company name is Armitage Gone! Dance. Paul Taylor--company name is Paul Taylor Dance Company. Viola Farber--Viola Farber Dance Company. Robert Kovich--The Estate Project—for artists with aids. Kimberly Bartosik--Daela. Floanne Ankah--SIMPLE [production]. And finally, Jonah Bokaer.

Merce Cunningham...who is he?

Merce Cunningham was born on April 16th, 1919 in Centralia, Washington. He had two brothers: one older, one younger. His brothers followed his father's footsteps into the legal profession.
Cunningham recieved his first formal dance training at what is now known as Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. At the age of twenty he began his professional dance career when Martha Graham saw him dance and asked him to join her company; he ended up being a soloist in Graham’s company for six years.
He worked with John Cage whom was his life partner and usually collaborated with him. Merce founded the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953. He did this while he was in residency at Black Mountain College. His interests as a choreographer included space, time, and technology. He choreographed over 150 dances. For his 90th birthday he created a new piece of work called Nearly Ninety which was performed in April 2009 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Some notable dancers that have trained with Cunningham that now have their own companies include (but is not limited to) Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown, and Karole Armitage.
As I mentioned earlier, one of his choreographic interests was technology. He used a program called DanceForms, which can be found on his company’s website, which is a program that allows you to draw out choreographic ideas and bring them to 3D life. He also had his own webcast series which he called Mondays with Merce.
Some of the awards that he earned during his lifetime include National Medal of Arts (1990), the MacArthur Fellowship (1985), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award (2009), Japan’s Imperiale (2005), the British Laurence Olivier Award (1985). In 2004 he was named Officer of the Legion d’Honneur in France.
Prior to his death on July 26th, 2009 he created a Legacy Plan to direct his company and ensure the preservation of his artistic legacy.

Websites used to find this information…
http://www.merce.org/index.html
www.wikipedia.com