Merce at Black Mountain, revisited by L.A. Dance Project @ the Hammer

Dance · Visual arts
The Hammer Museum took on a Merce-ish mood, February 20, when L..A. Dance Project revitalized a classic Cunningham event to mark the opening of a new exhibition, Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933 – ­1957. [In the photos, “Project” dancers Anthony Bryant and Lilja Rúriksdóttir.] Cunningham, along with artistic collaborator and life partner ...

Merce lives

Dance
It’s exciting to see the Merce Cunningham Trust kick into high gear, deploying, under strict license and supervision, the master’s iconoclastic choreography onto dance troupes around the world (Cunningham died in 2009). Over the years, it’s been controversial whether dancers without specific training in Cunningham’s rigorous technique can properly execute his choreography. Clearly, based upon ...

Our great choreographer Merce Cunningham explained 2

Dance
I’m in a Cunningham frame of mind. Please enjoy and learn from this wonderful Cunningham tribute by Alastair Macaulay, the chief dance critic of the New York Times.

Merce Cunningham’s “Winterbranch” by L.A. Dance Project 2

Dance
SEPT 29 2012 UPDATE: CONCERT REVIEWED ON THE HUFFINGTON POST HERE. A wonderful dark and gloomy photo of Merce Cunningham’s “Winterbranch” (1964) with early cast members Carolyn Brown and Gus Solomons, Jr. We’ll watch the re-staging of this High Cunningham classic this weekend courtesy of L.A. Dance Project, the newly launched repertory dance company sponsored ...

One of a kind, Merce Cunningham … and the lore left behind

Dance
Courtesy of arts·meme friend Nancy Dalva [her blog, the informal formalist], the recently named Merce Cunningham Trust Scholar in Residence, comes this marvelous photo of the great dance maker who passed away in 2009. Nancy sits, at right, in conversation with Cunningham. Among her other activities, Nancy has been producer/writer of the Internet series Mondays ...

Minneapolis gets Merce Cunningham Dance Company collection

Dance · Visual arts
The good news in the dance world is that the Merce Cunningham Dance Company collection of set pieces, costumes, painted drops created for relentlessly innovative choreographer by leading artists, designers and musicians has a loving home. Alas dance fans will have to traipse to Minneapolis to see the stuff, made in New York City though ...

Merce Cunningham, genius, his company in final year of touring

Dance
Click on photos for better view —   Excerpted from article concerning the wind-up of MCDC as a performing ensemble, from March 2011 issue of “Dance” Magazine Intended to avoid the disastrous legal squabbles of the Martha Graham Dance Company in the 1990s, the [Legacy] plan provides a road map to ensure the continued life ...

To Ann Arbor for Merce Cunningham concert

Dance
We’re very excited about our visit to University of Michigan Power Center to see Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform next Saturday night. The program includes the marvelous “Split Sides,” made in 2003 to a rock score by Sigur Rós and Radiohead. I wrote about “Side Splits” in La Opinión at the time. Read it here. ...

Cunningham “Legacy Tour” enters final year in 2011

Dance
In one year’s time, New Year’s Eve 2011/12, Merce Cunningham Dance Company will close for business. Try to see the company in the next year. You will not regret it. Here are some upcoming dates … January 14-15, 2011 Grand Theater Hong Kong Cultural Center Hong Kong Nearly 90² Click here for more information February ...

Merce and the midgets 2

Dance
Researching Merce Cunningham Trust trustee and former Cunningham dancer, Patricia Lent, I came across this post-911 story — a sweet tale so well written in the New York Times by Jennifer Dunning. The story concerns a class of P.S. 234 third graders taught by Ms. Lent, then a school teacher. She takes her kids to ...