web sounds:
The Compleat Modernist
2009-07-28
The Compleat Modernist
On Sunday night, Merce Cunningham passed away in his
New York home. He was 90 years old. Dancer, choreographer,
teacher. That evening, his dance company was performing at
Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts.
Cunningham's RainForest with Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds
First performed 1968
“You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.
- Merce Cunningham (1919 - 2009)
Maybe you have seen images, like the one above, from
Cunningham's pieces or have seen the dances performed live. We
remember one viewing in which an aging Cunningham appeared on
stage crouching and pigeon toed captivating the audience with
his twitching and precise movement like an impish bird of
nature. Cunningham's work was full of such moments, however
abstract. For a lifetime of creating such moments, audiences
will forever be grateful.
Mary Emma Harris writes in her book The Arts at Black
Mountain College (MIT Press) how in the spring of 1948,
John Cage and Merce Cunningham visited the college in
North Carolina on a tour to the West Coast.
Cage gave the first performance of his recently completed Sonatas and Interludes (February 1946-March 1948) for prepared piano, and Cunningham danced. To demonstrate their delight and appreciation, the faculty and students loaded their car with gifts of food and paintings when they left...