Cunningham, Merce

In 1939, Cunningham joined the company of Martha Graham and immediately proved himself a masterly master. Soon, however, he was bored with some of the features of her dance, in particular, the importance that the American dancer attached to the connection of soul and body, believing that the movement should express the “inner Self”. Together with composer John Cage, Cunningham believed that modern dance relies too much on individuals and borrows too much from literature. Like Cage, Cunningham began to use in the choreography the so-called “random method”, the principles of aleatorics (deciding which structure of dance to choose using lots, for example, dice). This, he believed, when composing songs, allowed him to get rid of the plot and stereotypical decisions dictated by an unconscious “inspiration” and replace them with an “objective” and, at the same time, case-tolerant method.

From the very beginning, from the 1940s, fragmentation was a key characteristic of Cunningham's work. In his dance, different parts of the body moved as if independently of each other, which created difficulties for the performers. The transition between the individual movements was abrupt, discontinuous, breaking the fluidity and rhythm, causing amazement. The audience was also amazed at how unusually Cunningham used the space of the stage and the fact that in his dance the movements were not connected with music.

In 1991, he began using a computer in his choreography, namely a program called LifeForms (Life Forms). In these programs, users can animate the figure and, by setting certain parameters, create a dance. The new technique only strengthened the tendency of Cunningham to invent "unnatural" movements. Some of his movements — for example, flexion of arms in an anti-rhythm with flexion of legs — are typical of movements generated by a computer. In the choreographic composition Beach Birds for Camera (1991), the fragmentation of the body, the hard movements similar to robots, and the strange angular movements of the arms and legs give out the influence of a computer program. Another choreographic work, "BIPED" (1999), uses the technique of "stopped motion". The camera catches the movement of sensors attached to the body of the dancers, and translates it into a digital image transmitted to the screen installed on the stage.

Cunningham used new technologies to expand the range of human movements and the possibilities of his coordination. From dancers, this requires considerable effort, changing their “natural” ways of moving. The dancers of the Cunningham troupe seem to "rewrite" the laws of human coordination. His works have often been criticized for their supposedly pure formality and even the lack of humanism. Nevertheless, its objectivity is far from empty formalism and has the goal of combating cultural stereotypes.

Died July 26, 2009 in New York. ^[one]

• 1982 - / ADF Award for Achievements in Contemporary Dance.
• Cavalier and officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor (1989, 2004), dozens of other national and international awards.

• Official site (eng.)
• Dee reynolds . On the performance and perception of the new choreography: the case of Merce Cunningham. - On_execution_ and_perception_ of new_choreography: _Serience_Mersa_Cunningham
• Free dance: history, philosophy, ways of development . Materials of a scientific conference. Moscow, 2005. - Conference Program