… is dead.
Cunningham was one of the lions of modern dance. He turned his back on the Graham/Balanchine legacy, and—along with Jerome Robbins and Paul Taylor—helped mold dance into a major contemporary art form.
Cunningham was born in Centralia and attended Cornish College of the Arts, where he met and fell in love with John Cage.
After seeing him dance, Martha Graham invited Cunningham to New York. He eventually rejected Graham’s style (too fusty), quit her company, and formed his own—a major moment in dance history. Along with Cage, Cunningham collaborated with Warhol, Nauman, Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, and many others.
He died at 90 and hadn’t danced in a long time. But those who saw him haven’t forgotten. From the NYT:
He had also been a nonpareil dancer. The British ballet teacher Richard Glasstone maintains that the three greatest dancers he ever saw were Fred Astaire, Margot Fonteyn and Mr. Cunningham. He was American modern dance’s equivalent of Nijinsky: the long neck, the animal intensity, the amazing leap. In old age, when he could no longer jump and when his feet were gnarled with arthritis, he remained a rivetingly dramatic performer, capable of many moods.
… until 1989, when he reached the age of 70, he appeared in every single performance given by his company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company; in 1999, at 80, though frail and holding onto a barre, he danced a duet with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the New York State Theater. And in 2009, even after observing his 90th birthday with the world premiere of the 90-minute “Nearly Ninety,” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music he went on choreographing for his dancers, telling people as they went to say farewell to him that he was still creating dances in his head.
He kept choreographing until the end. And may have been the only 80-year-old in history to perform a duet with Baryshnikov.
RIP, Merce. (And, as the first commenter noted, to Pina Bausch who died a few weeks ago.)
Photo from merce.org.
Indeed, a major loss. It’s worth giving a shout out to Pina Bausch, who passed a couple weeks ago, too.
Thanks for posting this. The dance world has lost two greats in the last month.
About 23 years ago I spent most of an intimate day with Merce and Mary-Claire Burke who was at that time solely at the helm of the Bathhouse Theater. (This was during one of the periods Arne threw us all to the wolves, for anyone who remembers). Their conversation about dance and design and art and life was mesmerizing and for the most part completely over my head. I had sense enough to keep my mouth shut for once in my life. It’s a treasured memory of both of those greater than life people.
This is very sad and huge loss to the arts. Paul Taylor better stay fit, since he’s one of the last of that generation and I can’t imagine losing him.
Rest in peace, beautiful ones.