THE LEGACY PLAN
The first of its kind in the dance world, the Cunningham Dance Foundation’s precedent-setting Legacy Plan delineates the future of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) and ensures the preservation of Merce Cunningham’s artistic legacy. The multifaceted plan includes the celebratory two-year Legacy Tour, which offers audiences a final opportunity to see the company Cunningham personally trained before it disbands at the end of 2011. The plan also supports career transition for the dancers, musicians, and staff who have invested their time and creative efforts into the realization of Cunningham’s vision, and provides for the creation of digital Dance Capsules to preserve his work and bring it to life for future generations.
BIPED
First night – April 23, 1999
XOVER
First night – October 5, 2007
RAINFOREST
First night – March 9, 1968
The revival and presentation of Rainforest is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow
Finally, the new work, XOVER. This pays tribute to Cunningham's two closest collaborators, the late John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg. There is, however, nothing poignant about the urban cacophony that their contributions generate: Rauschenberg's backdrop is a collage of roadwork images, Cage's scores are an overlay of electronic noise and fragmented speech. But in their midst, Cunningham's white-dressed dancers move in a world of alert, self-contained beauty. There is a deft, surprising weave of exits and entrances criss-crossing the stage, but at their centre is a long, raptly nuanced duet.
Cunningham’s white-dressed dancers move in a world of alert, self-contained beaut.
Дафия Бедар – «Солей», Квебек, 2004
BIPED remains a thing of jaw-dropping wonder. Ravishing
Jenny Gilbert, The Independent (London)
What remains so appealing and even surprising today about RainForest its childlike gentleness
Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times
Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) was a leader of the American avant-garde throughout his seventy-year career, and is considered one of the most important choreographers of our time. Merce Cunningham Dance Company, founded in 195, has forged a distinctive style reflecting Cunningham’s technique and his radical approach to space, time, and technology. The Company’s collaborations with groundbreaking artists from all disciplines have refinded the way audiences experience the isual and performing arts.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
