Nech Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Merce Cunningham, Influential Choreographer, Dies at 90 Merce Cunningham, the American choreographer who was among a handful of 20th-century figures to make dance a major art and a major form of theater, died Sunday night. He was 90 and lived in Manhattan. Of course you are all aware of JPJ's recent involvement with Sonic Youth at his 90th b-day celebrations in Brooklyn. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/...unningham-dies/ mods: If there's a better place to post this please move as desired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninelives Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 So sorry to read this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal light Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 He lived a good life. Rest in peace, Merce Cunningham, and thank you for the dances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Merce Cunningham Sets Plan for His Dance Legacy DANIEL J. WAKIN NY Times Published: June 9, 2009 Merce Cunningham, the nonagenarian choreographer, is planning for a world without him. He has decided that when he dies, or when the right time comes, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will embark on a final two-year international tour and then shut down, the Cunningham Dance Foundation, which supports the company, announced on Tuesday. By other provisions of the plan, the Merce Cunningham Trust will take control of Mr. Cunningham’s dances for licensing purposes; the dancers will each receive a year’s salary as severance and extra money to help find new careers; staff members and the musicians who play for his performances will also receive payments. Meanwhile, Cunningham associates will prepare detailed records of the dances so they can be licensed and given authentic productions by other companies. The foundation has embarked on an $8 million fund-raising campaign to pay for the transition. The plan is Mr. Cunningham’s effort to confront the vexing problem of how choreography created by a lone master and interpreted by a dedicated company should be treated once the master has died. He turned 90 on April 16. Cunningham associates say the plan can serve as a model for other creative artists, particularly choreographers with their own companies, to protect their legacies. At the least, it should help Mr. Cunningham’s body of work avoid the ugliness that surrounded the legacy of Martha Graham (who gave Mr. Cunningham his start in dance) after her death in 1991. The Graham foundation fought a bitter legal battle with Ron Protas, Ms. Graham’s heir, over rights to her ballets and was eventually awarded most of them. “It’s really a concern about how do you preserve the elements of an art which is really evanescent, which is really like water,” Mr. Cunningham said in an interview last week. “It can disappear. This is a way of keeping it — at least with our experience here — of keeping it alive.” The announcement came at a news conference at the dance company’s studio in the West Village. Mr. Cunningham did not attend because, foundation officials said, he was uncomfortable discussing the matter in public. One of the company’s dancers, Daniel Madoff, surrounded by eight colleagues, said, “It deeply saddens us to think about a future without Merce.” But he said the dancers support the plan. Despite the careful planning, several issues remain unresolved, including what will initiate the transition plan. It certainly goes into effect on Mr. Cunningham’s death, but he could also make the decision beforehand. When asked what might prompt him to do so, he said: “It could be fatigue. It could be a lot of things. Certainly the financial situation could have a great deal to do with it.” The board of the Cunningham foundation could also make the decision to cease company operations and begin the transfer to the trust, said Allan Sperling, a board member and a lawyer who helped work out the plan. “It’ll be clear,” Mr. Sperling said, based on Mr. Cunningham’s capacities in the future. “He’s the key to the whole thing,” Mr. Sperling added, noting that some board members had suggested that the winding down begin now, but that Mr. Cunningham refused. “I don’t want to drop it,” Mr. Cunningham said. “If necessity makes that happen, all right. But at the moment, I’d like to continue.” At some points in the interview Mr. Cunningham appeared to contradict the documents prepared by the foundation, which included clear references to the company’s eventual closing. That is the plan, he acknowledged. “But I hope that in its own way it can go on,” he said. “I’m under no illusions about things not changing. I would like it mostly if the ideas we explored were continued, not only with the present people but with other companies.” Mr. Sperling said Mr. Cunningham had mentioned the possibility of the trust’s keeping on a few dancers to teach his works at other companies. Mr. Cunningham added that he can accept the company’s future closing. “So if it stops, then it stops,” he said. “I won’t be around. I’m not going to say yes or no.” ” Then he offered another possibility. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “if they close the present company down, they can start building something else.” Another uncertainty is whom Mr. Cunningham will name as successor trustees, and thus who will control his legacy. They are likely to come from his closest associates, who include Robert Swinston, his assistant; Trevor Carlson, the foundation’s executive director; and Laura Kuhn, executive director of the trust for the composer John Cage, Mr. Cunningham’s longtime collaborator and companion. The plan calls for the Cunningham trust, which was established in 2000, to assume control of Mr. Cunningham’s personal art collection, including works by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, who each designed sets for him. It will also take charge of the sets, props, costumes, archives and the digital “capsule” of each dance, which will include video, audio, lighting designs, and production notes. The final two-year tour will offer a “triumphant conclusion to the creation phase of Merce’s work,” a document outlining the plan says. Mr. Cunningham has stipulated that tickets to New York performances should cost $10. In the interview Mr. Cunningham acknowledged the fragility of his choreographic record. “I understand that my pieces, whatever they’re worth, can easily enough be forgotten not only for what they were,” he said, “but because as time continues, something else is happening which changes, which will push dance in different directions.” To put it nicely, who gives a shit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquamarine Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Perhaps those who hope the future of the arts is comprised of more than Guitar Hero. Nice one, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glicine Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Though I'm not a fan of avant-garde dancing, I'm sure Merce Cunningham has a profound influence on a lot of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninelives Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 To put it nicely, who gives a shit? Er, I do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal light Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Me, too. I have seen both him and his company perform. I appreciated his fresh outlook on life. Merce Cunningham merce.org/about_biography washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrycja Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Good God *sigh*, is this like the third or fourth set of three now? RIP Merce, thanks for the dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorer714 Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Perhaps those who hope the future of the arts is comprised of more than Guitar Hero. Finally, a bit of profundity from an apprentice.You've gained a touch of respect from me Stevie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Finally, a bit of profundity from an apprentice.You've gained a touch of respect from me Stevie! Yeah, shitting all over Michael Jackson after 'his' death is very respectable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I have got a horsey Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Though I'm not a fan of avant-garde dancing, I'm sure Merce Cunningham has a profound influence on a lot of people. Merce Cunningham belongs to a group of 5 men who's influence changed the face of 20th Century culture. Cunningham, along with John Cage, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg gave birth to the 1960's, basically. These guys were the seeds of that massive cultural change that began in the late 40's, early 50's. All these guys knew each other or knew of each other's work in the early days, and all of the great culturally important people of the 1960's and 70's, such as Ken Kessey, Bob Dylan, Timothy Leary, Hunter S Thompson, Barry Miles, Andy Warhol etc are connected to and were inspired by these 5 guys. Cunningham, with John Cage, through his avant-garde dance pretty much invented performance art and 'happenings', which, because of his influence, developed into one of the counter-cultural backbones of the 1960's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Yeah, shitting all over Michael Jackson after 'his' death is very respectable. Get over it already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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