FYI to All - I read this article about Merce Cunningham's anniversary performance a while back - just getting around to sharing it with you. Sounds like it was a pretty cool event. Choice music, costume, lighting, etc...
Candace. > Entertainment 10/15/2003 18:08:30 EST > JACK VARTOOGIAN/AP Photo > Cunningham Anniversary Ends on 'Sides' > By CLAUDIA LA ROCCO > Associated Press Writer > > > Raising a frail hand, 84-year-old choreographer Merce Cunningham > acknowledged > the audience's lengthy and loud standing ovation. And his dancers had yet > to > perform. > > The sold-out audience was primed for a stellar performance Tuesday night > as the > Brooklyn Academy of Music wrapped up the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's > 50th > anniversary season with the world premiere of "Split Sides." > > Cunningham delivered, beginning with his now ritualistic roll of the dice > to > determine the order of the night's performance. > > Flanked by his dancers and rockers Radiohead and Icelandic band Sigur Ros, > > Cunningham and a cast of artistic luminaries - artists Jasper Johns and > Robert > Rauschenberg and former dancers Caroline Brown and Sage Cowles - threw > four > times to set the order of music, decor, costumes and lighting. The > choreography's order, "Section A" and then "B," had been determined a bit > earlier to give the dancers time to rehearse the transition. > > Thursday night's rolls decided that Radiohead would perform its 20-minute > piece > before Sigur Ros. Robert Heishman's set would be followed by Catherine > Yass' > set. James Hall's black and white costumes would precede his color > costumes. > James F. Ingalls' 300 lighting series would be followed by his 200 series. > > True to Cunningham's famous love of chance, any or all of this could > change in > subsequent performances. But as you watch the piece, it is difficult to > imagine > or remember that all the work's elements had been created independent of > each > other. > > This was particularly true during "Section B," when the minimal, > lullabylike > music of Sigur Ros was eerily matched to angular yet oddly tender duets. > Cunningham's penchant for setting ballet positions slightly off kilter, > combined with a repeated sound such as a crank being wound up, brought to > mind > the mechanical movements of music box ballerinas. > > Of course, given Cunningham's avoidance of plot, viewers can imagine > anything > they want - constructing narratives only to occasionally remember that the > > gentle Sigur Ros music guiding their emotional responses could just as > easily > be Radiohead's densely layered electronica and voice samplings. Or that > Heishman's wintery abstract landscape in "Section A" might instead have > been > Yass' ghostly, refracted skyscrapers. > > While future audiences will judge subsequent combinations, the gods of > chance > smiled on Cunningham Thursday night. > > "Split Sides" felt more thought out than the night's opening dance, "Fluid > > Canvas," a New York premiere. Set to John King's heavy "longtermparking" > and > performed in front of a stream of images that sometimes resembled a > computer's > screen saver, the futuristic work too often lost itself in its quirky, > repetitive patterns. > > Still, the piece contained more than a few remarkable passages, including > a > superb solo by Derry Swan, who cut jagged patterns across the stage as a > small > sliver of white light expanded on the screen behind her. > > Merce Cunningham Dance Company performs at BAM though Oct. 18. > > ___ > > On the Net: > > Brooklyn Academy of Music: www.bam.org > > Merce Cunningham Dance Company: www.merce.org > > > Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may > not be > published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. > > > > > > > > > >
