Merce Cunningham was a respected dancer and choreographer. He was born in April of 1919 and passed away during the summer of 2009. He started his life in Centralia, Washington and ended his days in the Big Apple. His avant-garde dance performances and innovative choreography earned him plenty of fans and lots of critical acclaim. He created a body of work which is now a powerful and inspiring legacy.
In this blog post, we’d like to share more information about the life and work of Merce Cunningham. We’ll discuss the early period of his life and then move onto his major career highlights. We’ll also talk about just a handful of the awards and accolades that he received for his ground-breaking and compelling work.
Early Life Highlights
Merce always believed that people who committed their lives to dancing did so because they loved it. This is why he danced. He lived for the act of dancing itself and the feeling of vitality that it gave him.
The desire to dance started early, so he began to tap dance while he was still a boy. His tap dancing allowed hi
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Merce Cunningham was one of the greatest American dance artists. His seven-decade career was distinguished by constant innovation in which he expanded the frontiers of contemporary art, visual arts, performing arts, and music.
The Walker Art Center, a supporter of his creativity and work over several decades, created The Six Sides of Merce Cunningham as part of its ground-breaking exhibition - Common Time - devoted to Merce and his collaborators.
The Six Sides of Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham, considered the most influential choreographer of the 20th century, was a many-sided artist. He was a dance-maker, a fierce collaborator, a chance taker, a boundless innovator, a film producer, and a teacher. During his 70 years of creative practice, Cunningham's exploration forever changed the landscape of dance, music, and contemporary art.
During his career, Merce Cunningham created 190 repertory dances and more than 700 Events, in which he knit together movement phrases from past and future works into a choreographic event that could be performed anywhere.
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Merce Cunningham
American dancer and choreographer (1919–2009)
Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage, David Tudor, Brian Eno, and graphic artists Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, and Jasper Johns; and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.
As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company,[2] Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance. Many dancers who trained with Cunningham formed their own companies. They include Paul Taylor, Remy Charlip, Viola Farber, Charles Moulton, Karole Armitage, Deborah Hay, Robert Kovich, Foofwa d'Imobilité, Kimberly Bartosik, Flo Ankah, Jan Van Dyke, Jonah Bokaer, and Alice Reyes.