Trained with Martha Graham, with whom he maintained a relationship also
rich as tumultuous, Merce Cunningham, giant of modern dance,
innovative, proposed a «dance of intelligence» whose
dancer was the centre and whose circumferences were drawn by chance
random.
Merce Cunningham, whose France, in the person of
Michel Guy, knew he was one of the first countries to welcome him, in the
Autumn Festival, had built a dialogue not only
with John Cage, but with many composers and artists
artists, like him deeply rooted in their time.
He knew how to confront technological innovations: video
the 1970s, computer science in 1994, with the creation of the
choreographic composition Life forms. This revolution in writing
allowed him to engage in a new dialogue between the
real and virtual, which forever upset our way of seeing the
dancing.
Tireless, he performed on stage until more than seventy years,
in all the truth of a body sculpted and bruised by the demands of
dancer, until his last crossing of the stage imprinted with modesty
and simplicity.
Her work will continue her destiny, with her ballet as in the
institutions, such as the Opéra National de Paris.
Last April, the Biennale nationale de danse du Val-de-Marne
had given an exceptional opportunity to review his recent works:
next season of the Théâtre de la Ville
last creation, almost ninety.
The grandiose strength of the works of Merce Cunningham is eternal,
“life forms” will always remain, for all of us, life lessons.
Tribute by Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister of Culture and Communication to Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham has left us. Just a few weeks after the arrival of Pina Bausch, the death of this great artist plunges the world of dance into a profound affliction, to the extent of the imprint that this extraordinary choreographer will make.
Published on 27.07.2009
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