A visionary choreographer and exceptional dancer, Merce Cunningham is hailed as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. During his prolific 70-year career, he created more than 150 choreographic works for himself and his company that revolutionized dance both formally and conceptually. Through his collaborations with the dozens of composers and visual artists who created décor and sound for his dances, Cunningham extended his influence across artistic disciplines. Although his company disbanded after his death in 2009, his movement technique is still taught and his dances continue to be staged by dance companies worldwide.
Education, Early Work with Martha Graham and John Cage
Born and raised in Centralia, Washington, Cunningham studied drama and modern dance at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle. In 1939, he moved to New York to join the Martha Graham Dance Company, performing in El Penitente (1940) and Appalachian Spring (1944). At this time, Cunningham also began developing his own choreographic works. One of them, Credo in Us (1942), was his first collaboration with composer John Cage, a partnership in both art and life that would continue until Cage’s death in 1992.
Formation of Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Robert Rauschenberg and Minutiae
In 1953, Cunningham formed his own company as a platform on which to explore his ever-evolving ideas about dance. Over the next 58 years, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) evolved from a small, struggling troupe that traveled the country in a Volkswagen Microbus to an internationally renowned professional company that included 15 dancers and several resident musicians. One of the key dances from their first decade, Minutiae (1958), was also the first collaboration between Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg. The latter’s collapsible décor was also the first of his Combines, the painting/sculpture hybrids that were among his most important bodies of work. Rauschenberg would serve as the company’s resident designer until 1964.
Variations V, BIPED, Ocean
Never content to repeat himself, Cunningham continually experimented with new technologies, unorthodox creative processes, and nontraditional performance venues. For example, the sound accompaniment for Variations V (1965) was created during performance when the dancers came near one of a series of antennae placed on stage or handled a prop fitted with contact microphones. BIPED (1999) featured choreography created using motion capture technology and computer software. The final performances Ocean (1994), produced by the Walker, took place in 2008 in a Minnesota granite quarry, and was accompanied by a 150-piece musical ensemble performing Cage’s original score.
Key Conceptual Ideas
In 1994, in an essay entitled “Four Events that Have Led to Large Discoveries,” Cunningham described the key concepts that shaped his work. The first was the separation of dance from music, which allowed each art to be created independently and come together only during the “common time” of a performance. The second was his use of chance operations to determine sequence, duration, spatial relationships, and other elements of a dance, which removed his habits of taste and mind from the creative process. The third came with the use of film and video, which offered new ways to experience and present his work. Finally, he cites the development of computer software as revolutionary tool for both making dances and teaching them to his students.
Legacy, The Merce Cunningham Trust
The Merce Cunningham Trust was created in 2000 to preserve, enhance, and maintain the integrity of Cunningham’s work. After his death in 2009, his company embarked on a two-year world tour and then disbanded, in accordance with Cunningham’s wishes. After the end of the tour, the Walker acquired MCDC’s archive of some 4,300 costumes, décor, posters, photographs, and sketches representing 150 of Cunningham’s choreographic works. The collection formed the core of the Walker’s 2017 landmark exhibition Merce Cunningham: Common Time.
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