Monday, July 27, 2009

Merce Cunningham, 1919-2009

Why walk when one can leap?

                                                             Move as if you've forgotten everything you thought you ever knew about how to pass, kick, fall and run;

                                       Break everything down into independent constituent parts, recombine, overlay (simultaneous unisons that are not in unisons, duos that are not together, etc.); 

                                                                                                         Prowling.

                    Count like a dancer, steps neither in clock-time nor in musical time; 

The dance is distributed among the spines of the dancers, the dancers distributed throughout the entire available space, "front" is wherever in space each individual dancer faces;

                                                                 Aquire movement everywhere: from animals, pedestrians, the computer, stepdance, ballet; 

                                                                                              Torsos turn.

                   Events: constant interplay between practice, composition and repertoire;

                                     Dancers, musicians, artists working simultaneously but not at the same thing;

                                                       When do you ever find time to breathe?

                                                                 Feet. Can't. Fail.

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