What is the Cunningham technique in dance?
What is the Cunningham technique in dance?
Cunningham Technique® was developed by Merce Cunningham to train dancers for his company. The technique emphasizes clarity of form, coordination of torso and legwork, rhythmic accuracy, spatial awareness and virtuosity.
How Cunningham and musician John Cage worked together with dance and music?
In the early years, Cage wrote prepared piano pieces for Cunningham and they toured performing together. When the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was formed in 1953, Cage became music director. He selected all the music and musicians. The composers and performers were his – and Cunningham’s – friends.
What is the role of Merce Cunningham in propagating dance throughout history?
The Innovator In the 1990s, Cunningham pioneered the use of the computer as a choreographic tool. The software DanceForms could model and animate the human form, allowing Cunningham to visualize sequences and phrases of dance on screen, which he would then translate to a dancer’s body.
What is Cunningham and Cage’s use of chance?
Merce Cunningham and John Cage began their partnership with Credo in Us in 1942, while Cunningham was still a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Both men used chance in creating art, which in their early years was a little-known concept. The dance coming together in complete silence.
What is ballet dance when and where did ballet originate?
The history of ballet begins around 1500 in Italy. Terms like “ballet” and “ball” stem from the Italian word “ballare,” which means “to dance.” When Catherine de Medici of Italy married the French King Henry II, she introduced early dance styles into court life in France.
What was the influence of composer John Cage on Cunningham’s creative process?
As Cage adopted chance operations in his music, tossing coins to determine the pitch, volume and duration of sounds, Cunningham realized he could also use a coin toss to order sequences of steps and numbers of dancers, and revolutionize his field.
Were Merce Cunningham and John Cage a couple?
In 1939, Cunningham moved to New York and danced as 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.
Did John Cage ever marry?
He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage’s romantic partner for most of their lives….
| John Cage | |
|---|---|
| Spouse(s) | Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff ( m. 1935; div. 1945) |
| Partner(s) | Merce Cunningham |
| Signature |
What did Merce Cunningham and John Cage do?
In the 1940s, Merce Cunningham and his life partner, composer John Cage, developed a radical new concept: music and dance could exist independently within the same performance. The dancers’ movements would no longer be tied to the rhythms, mood, and structure of music.
Was Merce Cunningham a good dancer?
Merce Cunningham was an exceptionally good dancer. Better yet, he was an incredibly accomplished master of modern choreography, with a prolific roster of over 150 dances and 800 of what he called dance ‘events’ attached to his name.
How did Merce Cunningham use chance and randomness in his work?
One of Merce Cunningham’s most influential strategies was his use of chance and randomness as a creative tool. Cunningham would often flip coins, roll dice, or even consult the I-Ching to guide the way he structured his choreography. This strategy, also favored by John Cage, challenged traditional notions of storytelling in dance.
Where did cage first meet Cunningham?
A teenage Cunningham first encountered Cage at the Cornish School in Seattle in 1938. Cage was the accompanist in Bonnie Bird’s dance class. Cage recognized a musical talent in Cunningham and enticed him into a percussion ensemble.
