Merce Cunningham

MERCE CUNNINGHAM (1919 –2009)

Merce Cunningham, an American dance extraordinaire, was born and raised in Centralia, Washington. He was the second of three sons and both he and his brothers followed their father’s foot steps in the dance career. However Cunningham did not only dance his also choreographed some of the most amazing dance routines in the world. Unfortunately Cunningham died in 2009 but after a seventy year career his legacy still lives on today.

Cunningham started his first professional training at Cornish School (now called Cornish College of the Arts) in 1937, he continued to train here until 1939 until Martha Graham saw him dance and asked him to join her own dance company where he stayed for six years before starting his own dance company ‘Merce Cunningham Dance Company’ in 1953. Cunningham first performed solo in 1944 in New York with composer John Cage who became Cunningham’s life partner until his death in 1992; whilst alive Cage collaborated with Cunningham frequently. As a couple they joined together to create ‘Walker Art Center’ first performance in 1963, they done many collaborative work for 25 years.

In many of Cunningham’s performances he would use the ‘I Ching’ in order to determined the sequence of his dances; this is when the dancers would get set moves/sequences labeled 1-6 and Cunningham would roll a dice and then the dancers would dance out whatever has been rolled, Cunningham liked to be un-expected and spontaneous. Cunningham himself performed as a dancer until 1990 aged 71. In his life he choreographed 200 dances and 800 events.

Cunningham’s influence on the dance industry is defiantly one of the largest in the world, he was known for his originality and expansion of space, he used kaleidoscopic imagery of city streets, natural processes and animals. He overarched classical clarity, dignity and virtuosity. By elaborating inflections of the spine and varying articulations’ of the legs he made a new style of dance.

Cunningham’s technique wasn’t like other chorographers of his time. In his first years of dancing dance was about emotion and looking fluent. He changed that, many of his dances can appear quite wooden but structured, they don’t have to flow at all. This type of technique helps a dancer to become sharper; the movement has to be perfect as if not it will show. His most famous ‘Dice’  technique prepares a dancer for if something goes wrong, they should always be prepared for the next step, he says 6324 and they will be able to it as they know 1-6 off my heart to an exceptional standard. Most dance company where about expressing movement, Cunningham was about knowing movement, not just knowing though; performing the movement.

In his life he was recognized for his dance skills on many occasions he received numerous awards one being British Laurence Olive Dance award in 1985.