Tribute to Merce Cunningham

Maurice Béjart.
Pina Bausch
And now, Merce Cunningham, on Jul 27th 2009.

Another giant gone. Another milestone in the history of modern dance. The father of one of the 5 official modern dance techniques. Merce Cunningham, 90 y.o.. Ok this would have happened one day. but so close to Pina? Can the fathers and mothers of modern dance survive when the others are gone? There are still a few there. and hopefuly for a long time. Carolyn Carlson, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Lucinda Childs, etc.

I will not tell you the life of Merce Cunningham. You only have to Googlize his name to get much more information than I could ever give.  No, I only want to tell you what I feel this American choreographer has given to dance. So it's only going to be my own view on him.
Photo: Annie Leibowitz

He was born in 1919, and was not meant to dance. And at the time, the only dance you could learn was basically ballet. But he had the chance to meet Bonnie Bird, who was taught by Martha Graham, that is the very mother of modern dance. And from this meeting was Merce Cunnigham born, even if he after learnt ballet. Merce Cunningham had the chance to meet modern dance before ballet, which probably influenced his whole destiny. Martha Graham, one again, contributed to the evolution of dance.
But Merce cunningham wouldn't be Merce Cunnigham without his relation with  composer John Cage. Together; they re-invented the relation between music and dance. Music was not at the service of dance anymore, it could exist for itself. And on other hand, dance did not have to exactly follow the music. Therefore, Merce Cunningham is for me the choreographer that gave music and dance two distinct identities. And it is worth saying that he was always rehearsing without any music; and only introduced the music to his dancer at the last rehearsal. A real challenge for them. Paroxism was his piece where the sequence would be randomly changed everyday, meaning that all the steps have to be adaptable to any music. That was a revolution that has inpsired many choreographs.
His language; of course. Not yet classic but not modern as well. some mix, with the introduction of the upper body. And a very geometrical dance. Very  precise. Very hard technique.
finally, the costumes. He was among the first to introduce the academique; which shows the whole body, while qa the time, tutus and ballet were the norm.

In the end; he did a lot for dance. I could see one of his pieces in 2004 in Paris. He was there. and; as all the great great choreographers, his body could not dance anymore. But everything in him was still dancing. Impressing. emotional. Like Pina. Like Maurice. Bye,all, and I hope dance will go on growing up even without you. It's weird to realize you're not there anymore, and you won't create anything new. While we were used to discovering one new piece year. Bye, and thanks.