Misplaced Pages

#271728

43-611: Many of the great 20th and 21st century modern dancers and choreographers began at the Martha Graham Dance Company including: Merce Cunningham , Erick Hawkins , Pearl Lang , Pascal Rioult , Miriam Pandor , Anna Sokolow , and Paul Taylor . The repertoire of 181 works also includes guest performances from Mikhail Baryshnikov , Claire Bloom , Margot Fonteyn , Liza Minnelli , Rudolf Nureyev , Maya Plisetskaya , and Kathleen Turner . Graham began teaching in her studio at 66 Fifth Avenue, near 13th Street, and at

86-451: A few decades, but after Graham's death, private investors began holding out as well. The company performed on and off for the next decade. In 2000, the company canceled performances for the year and came close to bankruptcy. By 2004, the company began to perform again after two supreme court cases with Ron Protas, both of which the company won. The Martha Graham Dance Company continues to both perform Graham's works and create new ones based on

129-401: A particular sound—what did the I Ching suggest? Well, I took this also for dance . I was working on a title called, "Untitled Solo", and I had made—using the chance operations—a series of movements written on scraps of paper for the legs and the arms, the head, all different. And it was done not to the music but with the music of Christian Wolff . Cunningham valued the process of a work over

172-428: A pile of second-hand clothes picked out by the designer, Robert Rauschenberg . Rauschenberg was also responsible for creating a new set for every show with items he found in the theatre. Suite by Chance (1953) was his first work made entirely through chance procedures. Charts were created listing elements such as space, time, and positions. A coin was then tossed to determine each of these elements. Canfield (1969)

215-598: A profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance. As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance . Many dancers who trained with Cunningham formed their own companies. They include Paul Taylor , Remy Charlip , Viola Farber , Charles Moulton , Karole Armitage , Deborah Hay , Robert Kovich, Foofwa d'Imobilité , Kimberly Bartosik, Flo Ankah , Jan Van Dyke , Jonah Bokaer , and Alice Reyes . In 2009,

258-795: A soloist in the Martha Graham Dance Company for six years. He presented his first solo concert in New York in April 1944 with composer John Cage , who became his lifelong romantic partner and frequent collaborator until Cage's death in 1992. In the summer of 1953, as a teacher in residence at Black Mountain College , Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Throughout his career, Cunningham choreographed more than 200 dances and over 800 Events , or site-specific choreographic works. In 1963 he joined with Cage to create

301-431: A three-screen animation that was commissioned by and premiered at SIGGRAPH in 1998. This led to a live dance for the stage, BIPED , for which Kaiser and Eshkar provided the projected decor. In 2008, Cunningham released his Loops choreography for the hands as motion-capture data under a Creative Commons license; this was the basis for the open-source collaboration of the same name with The OpenEnded Group . Cunningham

344-613: Is a Taiwanese dancer. She was a principal dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company.   Born in 1984, she was raised in Taoyuan . Chien-Pott started dancing at the age of five, and began training aged 10. She later entered Taipei National University of the Arts ' seven-year dance program developed by Lo Man-fei . Chien-Pott continued to study dance under Merce Cunningham , and later performed with Buglisi Dance Theatre and Korhan Basaran and Artists, and Nimbus Dance Works. She joined

387-557: The Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, headed by Nellie Cornish , from 1937 to 1939 to study acting, but found drama's reliance on text and miming too limiting and concrete. Cunningham preferred the ambiguous nature of dance, which gave him an outlet for exploration of movement. During this time, Martha Graham saw Cunningham dance and invited him to join her company. In 1939, Cunningham moved to New York City and danced as

430-516: The Martha Graham Dance Company in 2011, after her second audition, and became a principal dancer in 2014 before leaving the troupe in 2016. Chien-Pott is described as "the most dramatically daring and physically chameleon-esque" dancer who is able to "communicates the emotional message of the Graham works with such beautiful clarity." She founded PEIJU Performing Arts in Taiwan. In 2017, Chien-Pott

473-502: The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Here she taught her special dance technique to the women who would become the first members of her dance company. They would practice new works for nine months and then give recitals in New York and abroad. During the years of 1938 and 1939, men joined the troupe. Later on, financial troubles would plague the company. At these times, Graham was supported by individual patrons. One of

SECTION 10

#1732773251272

516-786: The Walker Art Center 's first performance, instigating what would be a 25-year collaborative relationship with the Walker. In his performances, he often used the I Ching to determine the sequence of his dances and, often, dancers were not informed of the order until the night of the performance. In addition to his role as choreographer, Cunningham performed as a dancer in his company into the early 1990s. In 1968 Cunningham published his book Changes: Notes on Choreography , edited by Francis Starr, containing various sketches of his choreography. A mural, located in Washington Hall on

559-675: The Cunningham Dance Foundation announced the Legacy Plan, a plan for the continuation of Cunningham's work and the celebration and preservation of his artistic legacy. Cunningham earned some of the highest honours bestowed in the arts, including the National Medal of Arts and the MacArthur Fellowship . He also received Japan's Praemium Imperiale and a British Laurence Olivier Award , and

602-1202: The Maze ", " Judith ", "The Witch of Endor", "Phaedra" and " Clytemnestra ". Her later works reflected her retirement as they stopped including a main heroine and focused on more abstract concepts. All of these works are still included in the company's repertoire and are occasionally performed. In 2005, Janet Eilber became Artistic Director and Denise Vale took the position of Senior Artistic Associate. In 2015, principal dancers included: Tadej Brdnik, PeiJu Chien-Pott , Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch, Lloyd Knight, Mariya Dashkina Maddux and Blakeley White-McGuire . Soloists include: Abdiel Jacobsen, Ben Schultz and XiaoChuan Xie. Dancers include: Natasha M. Diamond-Walker, Charlotte Landreau, Lloyd Mayor, Ari Mayzick, Lauren Newman, Lorenzo Pagano, Lucy Postell and Ying Xin. In recent years, Eilber has invited contemporary choreographers to contribute short pieces inspired by Graham’s "Lamentations" (1930). Participating artists include Yvonne Rainer , Lar Lubovitch , Liz Gerring , Richard Move , and Aszure Barton . Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip " Merce " Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009)

645-674: The Merce Cunningham Dance Company was held March 15, 2012, in Cunningham's studio at the top of the Westbeth building in the West Village. There have been numerous exhibitions dedicated to Cunningham's work. Also, his visual art was represented by Margarete Roeder Gallery until her death on December 11, 2023. The major exhibition Invention: Merce Cunningham & Collaborators at the New York Public Library for

688-798: The Performing Arts closed on October 13, 2007. Merce Cunningham: Dancing on the Cutting Edge , an exhibition of recent design for MCDC, opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, in January 2007. A trio of exhibitions devoted to John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, and Merce Cunningham, curated by Ron Bishop, was shown in the spring of 2002 at the Gallery of Fine Art, Edison College, Fort Myers, Florida. A major exhibition about Cunningham and his collaborations, curated by Germano Celant,

731-597: The approach he used to create décor for several MCDC's early works, served as the company's resident designer from 1954 through 1964. Jasper Johns followed as Artistic Advisor from 1967 until 1980, and Mark Lancaster from 1980 through 1984. The last Advisors to be appointed were William Anastasi and Dove Bradshaw in 1984. Other artists who have collaborated with MCDC include Daniel Arsham , Tacita Dean , Liz Phillips , Rei Kawakubo , Roy Lichtenstein , Bruce Nauman , Ernesto Neto , Frank Stella , Benedetta Tagliabue , and Andy Warhol . John Cage and I became interested in

774-484: The boundaries of "putting on a show", the removal of centre stage is an example of this—without a focal point for the audience, no one dancer or step holds the most value and can be seen as arbitrary ... or not. The Cunningham Dance Foundation announced the Legacy Plan (LLP) in June 2009. The Plan provided a roadmap for the future of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, as envisioned by Cunningham. The first of its kind in

817-680: The campus of Centralia College , was created in honor of Cunningham. Cunningham continued to live in New York City and lead his dance company as Artistic Director until his death. He presented his last work, a new work, Nearly Ninety , in April 2009, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music , New York, to mark his 90th birthday. Later that year he died in his home at the age of 90. Cunningham formed Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) at Black Mountain College in 1953. Guided by its leader's radical approach to space, time and technology,

860-521: The company has forged a distinctive style, reflecting Cunningham's technique and illuminating the near limitless possibility for human movement. The original company included dancers Carolyn Brown , Viola Farber , Marianne Preger-Simon , Paul Taylor , and Remy Charlip , and musicians John Cage and David Tudor . In 1964 the Cunningham Dance Foundation was established to support his work. MCDC made its first international tour in 1964, visiting Europe and Asia. From 1971 until its dissolution in 2012,

903-494: The company ran into financial and legal troubles. In her will, Graham left her legacy to Ron Protas giving him all rights to her choreography. His dispute with the Board of Directors came in the midst of financial troubles and talks of closing down the dance center. Protas responded by refusing to allow the company to perform Graham's works. This legal battle was fueled by the company's recent dry spell. Public funding had been cut for

SECTION 20

#1732773251272

946-688: The company was based in the Westbeth Artists Community in the West Village ; for a time Cunningham himself lived a block away at 107 Bank Street , with John Cage. On July 20, 1999, Merce Cunningham and Mikhail Baryshnikov performed together at the New York State Theater for Cunningham's 80th birthday. In its later years, the company had a two-year residency at Dia:Beacon , where MCDC performed Events , Cunningham's site-specific choreographic collages, in

989-655: The contributors, Mrs. Wallace, made it possible for the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance find its current home at 316 East 63d Street. Many of Graham's early works were austere. She designed her own costumes and neglected scenery. In 1930, she choreographed "Lamentation", a piece in which the dancer's expressed emotion is aided by the Graham's choice in fabric. There are two major themes present in Graham's work: Amerindian experience and Greek mythology. Her work " Primitive Mysteries ", choreographed in 1931,

1032-467: The dance world, the plan represented Cunningham's vision for continuing his work in the upcoming years, transitioning his company once he was no longer able to lead it, and preserving his oeuvre. The Legacy Plan included a comprehensive digital documentation and preservation program, which ensures that pieces from his repertory can be studied, performed and enjoyed by future generations with knowledge of how they originally came to life. By other provisions of

1075-1055: The galleries of Richard Serra , Dan Flavin , and Sol LeWitt , among others. In 2007, MCDC premiered XOVER , Cunningham's final collaboration with Rauschenberg, at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In 2009, MCDC premiered Cunningham's newest work, Nearly Ninety , at the Brooklyn Academy of Music . The company concluded its farewell tour on December 31, 2011, with a performance at the Park Avenue Armory . Merce Cunningham Dance Company frequently collaborated with visual artists, architects, designers, and musicians. Many of Cunningham's most famous innovations were developed in collaboration with composer John Cage , his life partner. Cunningham and Cage used chance procedures to generate material, discarding many artistic traditions of narrative and form. Famously, they asserted that dance and its music should not be intentionally coordinated with one another. John Cage, after his death,

1118-538: The plan, the Merce Cunningham Trust, established by Cunningham to serve as the custodian for his works, controls his dances for licensing purposes; Cunningham associates prepared detailed records of the dances so they could be licensed and given authentic productions by other companies. Besides, the plan outlined a final international tour for the company, and, ultimately, the closure of the Cunningham Dance Foundation and Merce Cunningham Dance Company and

1161-570: The product. Because of his strong interest in the creation of the choreography he used chance procedures in his work. A chance procedure means that the order of the steps or sequence is unknown until the actual performance and is decided by chance. For instance in his work Suite by Chance he used the toss of a coin to determine how to put the choreographed sequences together. Indeterminacy was another part of Cunningham's work. Many of his pieces had sections or sequences that were rehearsed so that they could be put in any order and done at any time. Although

1204-521: The second of three sons. Both of his brothers followed their father, Clifford D. Cunningham, into the legal profession. Cunningham first experienced dance while living in Centralia. He took tap dance class from a local teacher, Mrs Maude Barrett, whose energy and spirit taught him to love dance. Her emphasis on precise musical timing and rhythm provided him with a clear understanding of musicality that he implemented in his later dance pieces. He attended

1247-469: The stage; it need not even be frontally oriented, but can be viewed from any angle (at performances in Cunningham's studio, for instance, audiences are seated in an L-shaped configuration). The viewer's focus is never directed to a particular spot; he must often decide among many centres of activity. Merce Cunningham saw randomness and arbitrariness as positive qualities because they exist in real life. Most of Cunningham's choreographic process works to break

1290-546: The technique she developed. Early works are a part of the "long woolen period" and include works such as "Primitive Mysteries" and " El Penitente ". Later, Graham turned to America for inspiration and created works such as "American Document", "American Provincials", " Appalachian Spring ", "Letter to the World" and " Salem Shore ". Later she turned to Hebrew and Greek mythology for " Cave of the Heart ", " Night Journey ", " Errand Into

1333-414: The transfer of all assets to the Merce Cunningham Trust. From Merce's death at age 90 through the Board's last meeting in 2012, the Legacy Plan implemented his wish that the company complete a worldwide legacy tour and then close. The final performance of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was on December 31, 2011, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. The final meeting of the board of directors for

Martha Graham Dance Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-664: The use of chance in the 50s. I think one of the very primary things that happened then was the publication of the " I Ching ", the Chinese book of changes, from which you can cast your fortune: the hexagrams. Cage took it to work in his way of making compositions then; and he used the idea of 64—the number of the hexagrams —to say that you had 64, for example, sounds; then you could cast, by chance, to find which sound first appeared, cast again, to say which sound came second, cast again, so that it's done by, in that sense, chance operations. Instead of finding out what you think should follow—say

1419-721: The use of chance operations was considered an abrogation of artistic responsibility, Cunningham was thrilled by a process that arrives at works that could never have been created through traditional collaboration. This does not mean, however, that Cunningham considered every piece created in this fashion a masterpiece. Those dances that did not "work" were quickly dropped from the repertory, while those that did were celebrated as serendipitous discoveries. Cunningham used "non-representational" choreography which simply emphasizes movement, and does not necessarily represent any historical narrative, emotional situation, or idea. Such non-representational dance appears in many styles throughout history, but

1462-433: Was all female until she created her first male-female duet in 1938, “ American Document ”. In the movement entitled ‘Puritan Episode’ she danced with her future husband, Erick Hawkins. Hawkins became her lead male dancer for the company and her frequent dance partner. The two danced together in her most famous Americana piece “Appalachian Spring”. The piece premiered in 1944, set to music by Aaron Copland. After Graham's death

1505-450: Was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage , David Tudor , Brian Eno , and graphic artists Robert Rauschenberg , Bruce Nauman , Andy Warhol , Roy Lichtenstein , Frank Stella , and Jasper Johns ; and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo . Works that he produced with these artists had

1548-571: Was created after her visit to the American Southwest, and is a re-enactment of the ritual in honor of the Virgin Mary. It is set in three movements: the first movement is based around the birth of Jesus, the second Jesus' crucifixion, and the third Mary going to heaven. Her work “ Frontier ” is the first piece she created with scenery: a fence and two ropes. It was a female solo that premiered in 1935 with music by Horst. Her company

1591-545: Was created by using playing cards. Each movement was assigned a playing card and chosen randomly. Cunningham's lifelong passion for exploration and innovation made him a leader in applying new technologies to the arts. He began investigating dance on film in the 1970s, and after 1991 choreographed using the computer program LifeForms, a software made by Zella Wolofsky , Tom Calvert, and Thecla Schiphorst . Cunningham explored motion capture technology with digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar to create Hand-drawn Spaces ,

1634-811: Was first seen at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona in 1999, and subsequently at the Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal, 1999; the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, 2000; and the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 2000. Cunningham choreographed almost 200 works for his company. PeiJu Chien-Pott PeiJu Chien-Pott ( Chinese : 簡珮如 ; pinyin : Jiǎn Pèirú ; Wade–Giles : Chien P'ei -ju ; born 1984)

1677-650: Was named Officier of the Légion d'honneur in France. Cunningham's life and artistic vision have been the subject of numerous books, films, and exhibitions, and his works have been presented by groups including the Paris Opéra Ballet , New York City Ballet , American Ballet Theatre , White Oak Dance Project , and London's Rambert Dance Company . Merce Cunningham was born in Centralia, Washington , in 1919,

1720-415: Was not commonly used by ballet or Martha Graham , Cunningham's primary influences. In the use of chance procedures, Cunningham abandoned the more traditional structured form of dance. He did not believe that dance needs a beginning, middle or end. In Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three (1951), Cunningham used Indeterminacy for the first time in this piece; the changing element for each show

1763-626: Was one of the first choreographers to begin experimenting with film. He created an original work for the video Westbeth (1974) in collaboration with filmmaker Charles Atlas The computer program later became DanceForms and uses avatars of dancers with color-coded limbs as a platform for choreography. In 2009, Cunningham's interest in new media led to the creation of the behind-the-scenes webcast Mondays with Merce . The use of stage space also changed in Cunningham's choreography. The "front and centre" spot traditionally coveted by soloists no longer exists in his works. Dance can take place on any part of

Martha Graham Dance Company - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-564: Was succeeded in the role of music director by David Tudor . After 1995, MCDC's music director was Takehisa Kosugi . MCDC commissioned more work from contemporary composers than any other dance company. Its repertory included works by musicians ranging from Cage and Gordon Mumma to Gavin Bryars , as well as popular bands like Radiohead , Sigur Rós and Sonic Youth . The company also collaborated with an array of visual artists and designers. Robert Rauschenberg , whose famous "Combines" reflect

1849-449: Was the sequence of the sections. In Field Dances (1963), Cunningham experimented with giving the dancer more freedom. Each dancer was given a sequence of movements with which they could do as they pleased. This included exiting and entering at will, executing it in any order and as many times as desired. In Story (1963), Cunningham experimented with the variables of costumes and sets. Before each performance dancers chose an outfit from

#271728