MERCE CUNNINGHAM 1919-2009

MERCE CUNNINGHAM DIED ON JULY 26, 2009, AT THE AGE OF 90, WAS ONE OF THE GIANTS OF AMERICAN DANCE: A PROLIFIC AVANT-GARDE CHOREOGRAPHER, A COMMANDING PERFORMER AND, TOWARD THE END OF HIS LIFE, A POWERFULLY EVOCATIVE PRESENCE ONSTAGE. BORN IN WASHINGTON STATE IN 1919, HE WAS DANCING DOWN THE AISLE OF HIS CHURCH AT THE AGE OF 4; AT THE AGE OF 80, HE APPEARED IN A DUET WITH MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV. HE NEVER STOPPED COMING UP WITH NEW STEPS. HE SAID, "IF THE DANCER DANCES, WHICH IS NOT THE SAME AS HAVING THEORIES ABOUT DANCING OR WISHING TO DANCE OR TRYING TO DANCE, EVERYTHING IS THERE."

THOUGH CUNNINGHAM (CENTER, NEAR THE FLOOR, ABOVE) GREW UP AS A PERFORMER UNDER THE TUTELAGE OF MARTHA GRAHAM BEGINNING IN THE LATE 1930S, HE WOULD EVENTUALLY MOVE AWAY FROM THE FIERCE, DEEPLY EMOTIVE CONTORTIONS OF AMERICA'S GODDESS OF MODERN DANCE. BY 1953, HE HAD STARTED THE MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY, BEGINNING A LEGENDARY COLLABORATION WITH THE INNOVATIVE MODERN COMPOSER JOHN CAGE, WHOM HE MET WHILE WORKING WITH GRAHAM AND WHO WOULD BECOME NOT JUST AN ARTISTIC BUT A LIFE PARTNER.

FROM THE BEGINNING, CAGE AND CUNNINGHAM'S COLLABORATIONS INVOLVED TENUOUS RELATIONS BETWEEN MUSIC AND DANCE, WITH THE TWO COMING TOGETHER MOMENTS BEFORE DEPARTING ON THEIR OWN PATHS. IN LATER WORKS, THE CHOREOGRAPHY AND MUSIC WERE INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER. CUNNINGHAM'S DANCERS WERE SAID TO REHEARSE IN SILENCE, ONLY HEARING THE MUSIC SHORTLY BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE ITSELF. THE DANCE WAS ALL-CONSUMING. CUNNINGHAM (SECOND FROM RIGHT, ABOVE) SAID, "WHEN I DANCE, IT MEANS: THIS IS WHAT I AM DOING."

CUNNINGHAM FAMOUSLY CHOREOGRAPHED BY CHANCE, SOMETIMES BY THE TOSS OF A COIN. INDEED, HE PRESERVED THE APPEARANCE OF RANDOMNESS IN HIS ART — EVEN THOUGH THE "RANDOMNESS" WAS CAREFULLY STAGED. STILL, IT COULD BE BEWILDERING TO SOME. "DISEMBODIED ARMS MAY PROJECT FROM BEHIND CURTAINS TO SERVE AS COATRACKS; THE DANCERS MAY SUDDENLY SUSPEND ALL MOTION TO STAND FIERCELY WASHING THEIR HANDS; THE HERO, DRESSED IN A MULTICOLORED COAT, MAY ROLL ABOUT GRUNTING LIKE A PIG OR BAYING LIKE A HOUND." CUNNINGHAM WOULD INNOVATE WITH DIGITAL WORKS LIKE "BIPED" INTO THE 21ST CENTURY.

THE PAINTER ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG, LEFT, WHO DIED IN 2008, WAS AN ARTISTIC ADVISER TO CUNNINGHAM'S COMPANY FOR ABOUT A DECADE AND CONTINUED TO COLLABORATE WITH THE DANCER THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE. IN 2000, THEY WORKED TOGETHER ON A PIECE TO RAISE FUNDS TO RESURRECT LA FENICE, THE GREAT THEATER IN VENICE THAT HAD BEEN CONSUMED BY ARSON IN 1996.

CAGE, LEFT, AND CUNNINGHAM WERE TOGETHER FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY, A UNION THAT ENDED ONLY WITH THE COMPOSER'S DEATH IN 1992. IN THAT PERIOD, THE DUO STARTLED THE ARTS WORLD WITH EDGY PIECES LIKE "AEON," "A BLINDING FLASH OF MAGNESIUM FLARES STIRRED CUNNINGHAM'S 10-MEMBER TROUPE INTO AN OTHERWORLDLY, SLOW-MOTION BALLET [AS] CAGE SLOWLY RAISED AND LOWERED HIS ARMS LIKE A RAILROAD SIGNAL, WHILE HIS TWO-MAN ORCHESTRA CONJURED A PERCUSSIVE NIGHTMARE WITH SUCH EAR-SPLITTING ACCENTS AS A NAIL FILE RASPED ACROSS A METAL MUSIC STAND."

CUNNINGHAM RECEIVED THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN 1985. BUT HE WOULD HAVE 15 MORE YEARS OF WORK IN HIM. TO CELEBRATE HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY IN APRIL, HE PUT TOGETHER "NEARLY NINETY," A NEW WORK SET TO MUSIC COMPOSED BY JOHN PAUL JONES OF LED ZEPELLIN, THE EXPERIMENTAL COMPOSER TAKEHISA KOSUGI AND SONIC YOUTH. IN HIS REVIEW, ALASTAIR MACAULAY OF THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLED THE PIECE "ONE OF MR. CUNNINGHAM'S MOST POETIC CORNUCOPIAS" AND SAID HE WAS THE "GREATEST LIVING ARTIST SINCE THE DEATH OF SAMUEL BECKETT."