merce cunningham 1940-1945
soloist with graham company
merce cunningham 1944
began to give recitals of own work in collaboration with composer john cage
merce cunningham 1949
formed the merce cunningham dance company
5 major characteristics of merce cunningham’s work
- decentralized stage
- fragmentation of the theatre arts
- chance dance
- non-narrative, non-representational, abstract
- freedom of audience interpretation
decentralized stage major characteristics of merce cunningham’s work
- eye of the audience is not drawn to one central event
- spectator is given the freedom to look at whatever they wish
- all events onstage are of equal importance
- no hierarchy
fragmentation of the theatre arts major characteristics of merce cunningham’s work
- doesn’t integrate the choreography with everything else
- intentionally disrupts the unity
- believed each art should function independently
- each artist should be free to create his own art without considering the other components
- this approach he thought reflected everyday life
chance dance major characteristics of merce cunningham’s work
- influenced by john cage
- choreography, music, lighting occur together by chance
what are the 3 way cunningham used chance
- fragmentation of theatre arts
- choreography (set himself choreographic tasks and problems)
- sequence of phrases (flipping cards, tossing coins, etc to determine the other of sequences in the dance)
since the 1980s what did cunningham use as his only choreographic tool
computer
- lifeforms is a program for generating movement
abstract, non representational, non narrative major characteristics of merce cunningham’s work
- works are as such
- no notion of character, story, theme, or mood
- dancers are about movement
freedom of audience interpretation major characteristics of merce cunningham’s work
- dance relates more closely to the experience of the viewer than to a specific idea he wanted to communicate
- believed that dance offers multiplicity of meanings to a number of people
what technique did merce cunningham create
cunningham dance technique
- one of 3 o become codified
- very specific and highly stylized
what is merce cunningham on the cusp between
modern and pm dance
merce cunningham introduce many of the ideas that were developed by who
pm choreographers
what can merce cunningham be called
an abstractionist
