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rebuilding with all new links to our new videos!

please excuse any non-working links

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 5 : COMPANY CLASS

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A virtual visit to Westbeth, the grand old building which houses The Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Merce teaches "company class." His longtime accompanist Pat Richter steps out from behind her piano to share insights on Merce's unique musicality. From the Cunningham Archive, the archivist David Vaughan fills you in on the studio's back story.

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Merce Cunningham Trust

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM (1919-2009) was a leader of the American avant-garde throughout his seventy year career and is considered one of the most important choreographers of his time. Through much of his life, he was also one of the greatest American dancers.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 5 : COMPANY CLASS

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A virtual visit to Westbeth, the grand old building which houses The Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Merce teaches "company class." His longtime accompanist Pat Richter steps out from behind her piano to share insights on Merce's unique musicality. From the Cunningham Archive, the archivist David Vaughan fills you in on the studio's back story.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 5 : COMPANY CLASS

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A virtual visit to Westbeth, the grand old building which houses The Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Merce teaches "company class." His longtime accompanist Pat Richter steps out from behind her piano to share insights on Merce's unique musicality. From the Cunningham Archive, the archivist David Vaughan fills you in on the studio's back story.

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with Elizabeth Streb

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Choreographer Merce Cunningham Dir Elliot Caplan & Merce Cunningham

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #4:  WITH ELIZABETH STREB

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Featuring Mondays with Merce interviews with Merce Cunningham and the innovative Elizabeth Streb, the "extreme action" choreographer. Discover surprising correspondences between these very different artists, and enjoy Streb's special insights into Merce's world.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

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The series begins with footage of an Event rehearsal and performance at Dia:Beacon in the Riggio Galleries (Sol Lewitt and Richard Chamberlain room); Merce teaching an advanced technique class to members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Studio at Westbeth, the historic building in New York City's West Village that was home to the company; and a Mondays with Merce interview with Merce Cunningham.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The series begins with footage of an Event rehearsal and performance at Dia:Beacon in the Riggio Galleries (Sol Lewitt and Richard Chamberlain room); Merce teaching an advanced technique class to members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Studio at Westbeth, the historic building in New York City's West Village that was home to the company; and a Mondays with Merce interview with Merce Cunningham.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The series begins with footage of an Event rehearsal and performance at Dia:Beacon in the Riggio Galleries (Sol Lewitt and Richard Chamberlain room); Merce teaching an advanced technique class to members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Studio at Westbeth, the historic building in New York City's West Village that was home to the company; and a Mondays with Merce interview with Merce Cunningham.

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a link to the
THE MERCE CUNNINGHAM TRUST WEBSITE

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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at City Center in NYC

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CUNNINGHAM TECHNIQUE® IN NEW YORK CITY

City Center Studios
130 West 56th Street
Monday - Friday
12:15 - 1:45 pm
Open Level

Taught by Jennifer Goggans, Carol Teitelbaum, Andrea Weber and other former Cunningham dancers.

Teaching Schedule

Week of APril 16th

April 16 - Jennifer Goggans

April 17 - Brandon Collwes @ Westbeth

April 18 - Carol Teitelbaum

April 19 - Patricia Lent

April 20 - Lisa Boudreau

Westbeth is located at 55 Bethune Street, New York, NY 10014. Class will begin at 12:30pm.

Class Rates

Payment by cash or check only.

For more information about classes at City Center contact jgoggans@mercecunningham.org

"Quite simply, my motivation for training in this technique is that it has made me a stronger, smarter dancer for all my other projects. Beyond the functionality as a physical warm-up, the class structure is embedded with ideas central to Cunningham's artistic legacy."

Christiana Axelsen
Independent choreographer; dancer for Beth Gill, Molissa Fenley, Michou Szabo, and zoe | juniper

"For a working dancer in the city I have yet to find an environment as connected as the one surrounding these classes. The dancers who attend as well as those who teach provide a connection to our field that is incomparable."

Christiana Axelsen
Independent choreographer; dancer for Beth Gill, Molissa Fenley, Michou Szabo, and zoe | juniper

Cunningham Workshops Audition

New York City Center Studios

130 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019

Warm-up begins at 12:30pm

The audition is for the How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run (1965) and the Rune (1959) workshops listed below. If selected, you will receive daily technique class free of charge. Regular attendance in class is required and rehearsals are at City Center Studios unless otherwise stated. A limited number of MCT stipends will be awarded for this workshop based on the May 6 audition as well as previous participation in classes and workshops. To register for the audition, please complete an application here and send it to rsvp@mercecunningham.org by May 4.

"I feel that the work has challenged me to be precise and efficient. It has challenged me to be rhythmically clear and exact. I really appreciate that there is never anything extra to be 'put on' or added, and I have to find my own meaning in dancing. It feels like each piece I've learned requires me to step into a different realm."

Benny Olk
Freelance dancer, currently working with Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Moriah Evans and Daniel Roberts; graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts

"People often wonder what is the best way to support and foster the development of emerging artists. I think the workshops are a great solution. What could be better than working to improve technique and learn prestigious repertory under the direction of insightful and interested coaches? It is a great introduction to the NYC dance scene."

Andrew Harper
Independent choreographer; graduate of University of North Carolina School of the Arts

NEW YORK

Travelogue (1977) Fellowship Workshop

led by Andrea Weber (MCDC 2004 - 2011) & Marcie Munnerlyn (MCDC 2004 - 2011)

Travelogue reunited Cage, Cunningham and Rauschenberg who made his first design for sets and costumes since 1964. The decor was entitled Tantric Geography. The structure of Travelogue was similar to Antic Meet that being a series of turns as in vaudeville. It had bits of ballroom dancing, Balanchinian tangles, and a high-stepping cakewalk. The music used recordings of bird song by Norman Robinson. The program also listed telephone numbers that were dialed during the performance (according to a chance process).

MCDC in Travelogue. Photo by Jack Vartoogian 1977

The two week workshop will culminate in public studio showings on Friday, April 20 at 3:00pm and 4:30pm. To RSVP for a showing, please email rsvp@mercecunningham.org with the preferred showing time and number of guests. The 4:30pm showing will also be live-streamed here.

Pictures (1984) Weekend Intensive

led by Rashaun Mitchell (MCDC 2004 - 2011), Silas Riener (MCDC 2007 - 2011) & Jamie Scott (MCDC 2009 - 2011)

Saturday 1:30pm - 6:30pm & Sunday 11am - 5pm

Alan Good, Rob Remley, and Victoria Finlayson in Pictures. Photo by Lois Greenfield 1984

This weekend intensive workshop incorporates technique class, repertory and an examination of Merce's choreographic ideas. Chosen for its meditative use of the still image and shape, participants will learn the underlying structures and excerpted movement material from the dance Pictures. With the accompanying choreographic notes and some exercises for practical use of chance procedures as a starting point, participants will create their own short dances in response.

To register for the intensive, please email rsvp@mercecunningham.org by April 20.

How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run (1965) Workshop

led by Daniel Roberts (MCDC 2000 - 2005)

Rune (1959) Fellowship Workshop

led by Banu Ogan (MCDC 1993 - 2000)

© 2018 Merce Cunningham Trust

130 WEST 56TH STREET, SUITE 707 / NEW YORK, NY 10019

Tel 212.255.8240

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CUNNINGHAM TECHNIQUE® IN NEW YORK CITY City Center Studios 130 West 56th Street Monday - Friday 12:15 - 1:45 pm Open Level Taught by Jennifer Goggans, Carol Teitelbaum, Andrea Weber and other former Cunningham dancers.

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Cage and Tudor

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #15: JOHN CAGE

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With newly available archival film and photography of John Cage and David Tudor, this webisode also introduces to the series composer-musicians Christian Wolff and Gordon Mumma in recent interviews. Merce Cunningham talks about both Cage and Tudor, as artists and individuals.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #14:MERCE AS MODEL, WITH GUS SOLOMONS, JR.

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Choreographer, dancer, writer-the multifaceted Gus Solomons, Jr. talks about leaving Martha Graham to dance for Merce Cunningham, explicates the Cunningham work process and method, and discusses Merce as a model for perseverance in performance. Also featuring Sandra Neels, his dancing partner in the company, with archival footage of Cunningham coaching them in "Scramble" (1967).

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Los Angeles Music Center 's Walt Disney Concert Hall

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Beach Birds Choregrapher Merce Cunningham

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #13: "ROARATORIO"

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We begin with a section of Merce himself discussing revivals. Guests include stager Patricia Lent; designer Mark Lancaster; and Neil Greenberg, who danced in the original, and saw the revival's premiere. See archival film of Merce and the original cast; archival photos of composer John Cage and the Irish musicians who joined him in performance.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH #12: THE  CHALLENGE

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Conversations with Merce Cunningham from the MwM Film Library, newly discovered film of Merce teaching class in Chicago in 1961, and footage of Merce teaching Advanced Technique Class almost 50 years later. Company dancers describe what it was like to learn from Merce, and current Director of Choreography Robert Swinston reads Merce's own words on the "function of a technique."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #11: KEEPING IT REAL, WITH VALDA SETTERFIELD

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The legendary dancer-actress and former company member performs a Cunningham technique exercise for the Mondays with Merce cameras. Both Merce and Valda recall their dancing days together, and we show them in historic film. Including Cunningham's "Walkaround Time," with design by Jasper Johns after Marcel Duchamp, and music by David Behrman; and his "Winterbranch," with design by Robert Rauschenberg and music by La Monte Young.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

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The series begins with footage of an Event rehearsal and performance at Dia:Beacon in the Riggio Galleries (Sol Lewitt and Richard Chamberlain room); Merce teaching an advanced technique class to members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Studio at Westbeth, the historic building in New York City's West Village that was home to the company; and a Mondays with Merce interview with Merce Cunningham.

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with Elizabeth Streb

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Choreographer Merce Cunningham Dir Elliot Caplan & Merce Cunningham

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #4:  WITH ELIZABETH STREB

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Featuring Mondays with Merce interviews with Merce Cunningham and the innovative Elizabeth Streb, the "extreme action" choreographer. Discover surprising correspondences between these very different artists, and enjoy Streb's special insights into Merce's world.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 5 : COMPANY CLASS

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A virtual visit to Westbeth, the grand old building which houses The Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Merce teaches "company class." His longtime accompanist Pat Richter steps out from behind her piano to share insights on Merce's unique musicality. From the Cunningham Archive, the archivist David Vaughan fills you in on the studio's back story.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 5 : COMPANY CLASS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A virtual visit to Westbeth, the grand old building which houses The Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Merce teaches "company class." His longtime accompanist Pat Richter steps out from behind her piano to share insights on Merce's unique musicality. From the Cunningham Archive, the archivist David Vaughan fills you in on the studio's back story.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The series begins with footage of an Event rehearsal and performance at Dia:Beacon in the Riggio Galleries (Sol Lewitt and Richard Chamberlain room); Merce teaching an advanced technique class to members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Studio at Westbeth, the historic building in New York City's West Village that was home to the company; and a Mondays with Merce interview with Merce Cunningham.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #10: WITH MARK MORRIS

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With guest artist Mark Morris. About two choreographers who held each other in high esteem, despite, as Merce says, "thinking differently." In his office at The Dance Center, Mark Morris muses on his long experience of Cunningham's work, sharing some personal remembrances.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 9: ON CHOREOGRAPHY

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With guest artist Neil Greenberg, a noted post-modern choreographer, a master teacher, and a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1979-1986. Here he talks about seeing the company for the first time; about dancing for Merce; and about Merce's influence on his own life and work.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #8: REMEMBERING MERCE

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Join us at the Merce Cunningham Studio on July 27, 2009, as friends gather in Merce's memory. See footage from our Mondays with Merce Film Library, including rare glimpses of Merce at work during his last summer. Mondays with Merce has been privileged to film more than 300 hours of Merce in conversation, in rehearsal with his company, and teaching class.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 7: EVENTS

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All about Events, Merce Cunningham's unique amalgams of excerpts from diverse pieces from across his repertory. There have been more than 800 Cunningham Events around the globe. See Merce rehearsing site-specific performances at the Dia:Beacon Museum, with excerpts from our location shoots incorporating the works of Dan Flavin, Sol Lewitt, Richard Serra, John Chamberlain, Bruce Nauman, and Imi Knoebel.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 6: PERFORMING

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What is it like to perform as yourself-in choreography made with no story line, and no matching music? In this webisode dancers Julie Cunningham and Daniel Madoff discuss how it feels to perform, as you watch them perform an "Event" set in the Bruce Nauman bleachers at Dia: Beacon.

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with Elizabeth Streb

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Choreographer Merce Cunningham Dir Elliot Caplan & Merce Cunningham

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #4:  WITH ELIZABETH STREB

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Featuring Mondays with Merce interviews with Merce Cunningham and the innovative Elizabeth Streb, the "extreme action" choreographer. Discover surprising correspondences between these very different artists, and enjoy Streb's special insights into Merce's world.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #3: "SOUNDDANCE"

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Rehearsals of the Company conducted by Merce, and archival performance footage of Cunningham's "Sounddance." With décor by Mark Lancaster and score by David Tudor. Merce talks about choreographing the work in New York with his own company, after working in Paris with the Opera Ballet.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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the webseries:

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the documentaries

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Mondays with Merce on youtube

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MONDAYS WITH MERCE on youtube

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Mondays with Merce

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MONDAYS WITH MERCE

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MONDAYS WITH MERCE

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE # 2: DANCING

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Holley Farmer, a member of the Company for more than a decade, on dancing for Merce. Footage of her signature solo from Cunningham's "Loose Time" performed in front of a Robert Rauschenberg backdrop as part of a " MinEvent."

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE #1:TECHNIQUE

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The series begins with footage of an Event rehearsal and performance at Dia:Beacon in the Riggio Galleries (Sol Lewitt and Richard Chamberlain room); Merce teaching an advanced technique class to members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Studio at Westbeth, the historic building in New York City's West Village that was home to the company; and a Mondays with Merce interview with Merce Cunningham.

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM: MONDAYS WITH MERCE: THE LAST INTERVIEW

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The series concludes with a unique episode showing the last twenty minutes of Merce Cunningham's final interview. He answers questions including "What did dancing mean to you?" "Should dance last?" and "How is it that your dances are so passionate?" in this final conversation for the series, filmed at the Cunningham Studio at Westbeth.

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⬇

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE

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SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE

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SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE

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MERCE CUNNINGHAM (1919-2009) was a leader of the American avant-garde throughout his seventy year career and is considered one of the most important choreographers of his time. Through much of his life, he was also one of the greatest American dancers.

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“Suite for Five”: Carolyn Brown, Merce Cunningham, Steve Paxton, Barbara Dilley

“Winterbranch” : Merce Cunningham, Carolyn Brown

“Variations V”:  John Cage, David Tudor, Gordon Mumma, with Carolyn Brown and Merce Cunningham in background

“Events”: Gordon Mumma, John Cage, David Tudor, with Jeff Slayton (?) and Valda Settterfield in background

“How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run”: Robert Swinston to left, with Daniel Squire, Jeannie Steele, Jonah Bokaer, Holly Farmer, Daniel Roberts, and  (?) Lisa Boudreau

“Un Jour Ou Deux” Paris Opera Ballet

“Exchange”: Cathy Kerr, Joseph Lennon, Merce Cunningham, Lise Friedman, Alan Good

“Duets”: Merce Cunningham, Cathy Kerr

“Channels/Inserts”: Alan Good, Jenifer Weaver

“Native Green”: Chris Komar, Helen Barrow

“Beach Birds”: David Kulick, Alan Good, Robert Swinston, Foofwa d'Imobilité (Frédéric Gafner)

“Scenario”: Jean Freebury, with Matthew Mohr and partially concealed dancer.

“Pond Way”: Andrea Weber, Silas Reiner

“Biped”: Holly Farmer, Lisa Boudreau

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(©James Klosty

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All photos courtesy of the Merce Cunningham Trust.

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CUNNINGHAM OBITUARY

Alastair Macaulay

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In his works, independence was central: dancers were often alone even in duets or ensembles, and music and design would act as environments, sometimes hostile ones. His movement - startling in its mixture of staccato and legato elements, and unusually intense in its use of torso, legs and feet - abounded in non sequiturs.

In his final years, while still known as avant-garde, he was almost routinely hailed as the world's greatest living choreographer. Mr. Cunningham had also been a nonpareil dancer. The British ballet teacher Richard Glasstone maintains that the three greatest dancers he ever saw were Fred Astaire, Margot Fonteyn and Mr. Cunningham. He was American modern dance's equivalent of Nijinsky: the long neck, the animal intensity, the amazing leap. In old age, when he could no longer jump, and when his feet were gnarled with arthritis, he remained a rivetingly dramatic performer, capable of many moods.

International fame came to him before national fame. In due course he was acknowledged in America as one of its foremost artists, but for a time his work was known here only in specialist dance, art and music circles. Not so in London, Paris and other cities. There Mr. Cunningham was widely celebrated as the creator of a new classicism, as Diaghilev's successor, as one of the most remarkable theater artists of his day. And it was in Europe that he was most acclaimed right through to this decade, with sold-out Cunningham seasons in Paris at the Théâtre de la Ville or the Opera.

Yet he was always a creature of New York. Close to the founding members of the New York Schools of Music, Painting and Poetry, Mr. Cunningham himself, along with Jerome Robbins and the younger Paul Taylor, led the way to founding what can retrospectively be called the New York School of Dance.

These choreographers both combined and rejected the rival influences of modern dance and ballet, notably the senior choreographers Graham and Balanchine. They absorbed aspects of ordinary pedestrian movement, the natural world and city life. They tested connections between private subject matter and theatrical expression. And they re-examined the relationship between dance and its sound accompaniment. With Graham and Balanchine, they made New York the world capital of choreography, and the New York School influenced the world in showing how pure dance could be major theater.

Many of the dancers who passed through Mr. Cunningham's company, notably Mr. Taylor and Karole Armitage, went on to become prestigious choreographers themselves. Many other choreographers, notably Twyla Tharp and Mark Morris, have paid tribute to his influence.

Mr. Cunningham's most celebrated and revolutionary achievement, shared with the composer John Cage, his collaborator and companion, was to have dance and music created independently of each other. His choreography showed that dance was principally about itself, not music, while often suggesting that it could also be about many other things.

"Ambiguity" and "poetry" were among Mr. Cunningham's favorite words when talking about choreography. So was "theater." Wit and humor abounded in his work; his conversation was full of laughter and wry anecdotes. Partly because dance was the main subject of his choreography, and partly because he often created dances requiring virtuoso skill, he did more than any other choreographer to demonstrate that dance can be classical while being in most ways far from ballet.

Mercier Philip Cunningham was born on April 16, 1919, in Centralia, Wash., the third of four children of Clifford Cunningham, a lawyer, and the former Mayme Joach. (One brother died before Mercier's birth.) His two other brothers, Dorwin and Jack, followed their father into the legal profession.

Like many artists, he grew up feeling different, "from about age 2." Later, with this in mind, he made a solo for himself called "Changeling" (1957).

But he also took his birthplace with him. Even the names of Cunningham works like "Borst Park" (1972), "Inlets" (1977) and "Inlets 2" (1983), all made in New York, referred to parts of Washington. It was there that his interest in wildlife began. Although he did not enjoy country life, his series of "nature studies" continued for decades, from "Springweather and People" (1955) to "Pond Way" (1998). In "Solo" (1975), which he alone ever danced, he seemed to metamorphose from one animal into another.

He took his first dance classes in Centralia. In 1936, he went to Washington, D.C., to study at George Washington University alongside his elder brother Dorwin. He quit after a few months, but it was there that he first saw choreography that electrified him, in a performance by the Kurt Jooss company.

In 1937 he began study at the Cornish School in Seattle. At first he concentrated on theater but also started his first formal study of modern dance with Bonnie Bird, a young woman who had trained and danced with Graham and who went on to become an internationally renowned teacher. A clash with the drama teacher Alexander Koriansky (who disliked modern dance) led to Mr. Cunningham's switching his first area of study from theater to dance.

In his mind, however, he never left theater. Under Koriansky he had begun to play in Shakespeare and Chekhov and to practice Stanislavskian methods. In later years he was excited by many radical figures in drama, not least Antonin Artaud, and in the 1960s, as he and his company began to tour internationally, theater figures like Lindsay Anderson and Peter Brook hailed his work as drama.

At the Cornish School Bird's classes introduced him to modern dance as a rigorous discipline. He also started to choreograph. And he became close to Joyce Wike, an anthropology student who had privileged access to the Swinomish Indian tribe; he once watched an extraordinary dance ceremony from which nontribesmen were barred. (One of his first major solos for himself, from 1942, was called "Totem Ancestor." ) His interest in anthropology became a permanent source of inspiration, most obviously in "RainForest" (1968), where he took ideas from Colin M. Turnbull's account of life among African pygmies.

In 1938 Bird hired the young composer John Cage as her chief accompanist and music director. Bird and Cage introduced Mr. Cunningham and other dance students to the photography of Edward Weston (whose son was a Cornish student) and to the paintings of Paul Klee and Mark Tobey. Tobey's work, like Klee's, anticipated many of the 1940s breakthroughs of Abstract Expressionism, particularly in its decentralized use of space; Cage and Mr. Cunningham became devotees.

In 1939 Bird took her students to the first West Coast session of the Bennington College modern dance summer School at Mills College. Mr. Cunningham was 20. His extraordinary dance talent - his jump was phenomenal and remained so for many years - was immediately recognized. He accepted an offer from Graham, and that September moved to New York. Stepping onto a New York sidewalk for the first time, he looked at the skyline and, as he often recalled, said, "This is home."

That December he danced on Broadway in a Graham season at the St. James Theater. His long neck and sloping shoulders reminded people of a Picasso acrobat.

Graham, unsure that her teaching methods were sufficient for him, sent him to study at the School of American Ballet. When Lincoln Kirstein, co-founder of New York City Ballet, asked him why a modern dancer should study ballet - the two genres existed in virtual warfare at the time - Mr. Cunningham replied, "I really like all kinds of dancing." Though he was not the first modern dancer to study ballet, his way of splicing elements from both genres in his own work was a breakthrough. He was soon invited to teach modern dance at the school.

The second man to dance in Graham's previously all-female company, Mr. Cunningham remained a member of it until 1945, appearing in the premieres of masterworks like "El Penitente" (1940), "Letter to the World" (1941) and "Appalachian Spring" (1944).

Spending time alone in a studio, he began to explore his own ideas about dance. In 1942 Mr. Cage and his wife, Xenia, an artist, arrived in New York; Mr. Cunningham and Xenia appeared in a 1943 Cage percussion orchestra performance at the Museum of Modern Art, as a photo spread in Life magazine records. Cage urged him to choreograph, and the two began to develop what would emerge in the early 1950s as the most radical of their ideas about dance theater: that dance and music should be performed at the same time but prepared separately, both autonomous and coexistent.

Cage and Mr. Cunningham also became lovers, and the ensuing breakup of the Cages' marriage was painful. For many years only a few people realized that the Cage-Cunningham relationship was sexual. Although their offstage partnership became an open secret, the subject was not open until 1989, when Cage, answering an unexpected public question about it, surprised everyone by replying, "I do the cooking, and Merce does the dishes."

Mr. Cunningham began to present his own choreography in 1942. In 1944, with music by Cage, he presented a performance of dance solos that he later regarded as the true beginning of his career as a choreographer.

But his own dancing came first; he was the main dancer of his choreography for decades. His animal-like qualities of grace and intensity were as remarkable as his jump. His dance vocabulary owed much to both Graham modern dance (especially its use of the back) and to ballet (especially its use of the legs and feet).

For many people Mr. Cunningham was also a superlative dance teacher, right up to this year. Although he often spoke of teaching as if it were a necessary evil, he was passionate about it. No other choreographer has asked dancers to move the torso with such rigor and intensity while also keeping the lower body busy. No modern-dance choreographer has ever made more brilliant use of legs and feet.

In 1947 Kirstein commissioned him to make a dance for Ballet Society (the 1946-48 precursor to New York City Ballet). When Mr. Cunningham asked what kind of piece he wanted, Kirstein, thinking he was being open-minded, said, "Well, I think it should have a beginning, a middle and an end." Mr. Cunningham, however, steeped in Joyce's "Finnegans Wake," thought of how nature doesn't have finite forms with beginnings and ends. Instead, his mind turning to Joycean and cyclical form, he choreographed "The Seasons" (1947).

Like Cage and other composers, as well as several painters, Mr. Cunningham also began experimenting with chance as a compositional tool. He used the I Ching in particular, but also cards and dice to determine which parts of the body would be used, which directions, how many dancers. The point had nothing to do with improvisation; Cunningham choreography was very precisely made. Rather, he wanted to banish predictable compositional habits.

The I Ching is the "Book of Changes," and Mr. Cunningham's choreography became an expression of the nature of change itself. He presented successive images without narrative sequence or psychological causation, and the audience was allowed to watch dance as one might watch successive events in a landscape or on a street corner.

"Psychology doesn't interest him; zoology and anthropology do," Mr. Cunningham's leading co-dancer, Carolyn Brown, once wrote. When another dancer asked what "Minutiae" (1954) was about, Mr. Cunningham took her to the window of the New York studio, showed her the street below and said, "That."

Zen Buddhism was another influence. Although Mr. Cunningham's choreography often featured qualities of attack and conflict, it also expressed a Zen kind of acceptance. Mr. Cunningham, always a superlative dance soloist, now created a dance theater in which the basic condition was soloism. Even in a duet or a trio, each dancer retained marked degrees of independence and detachment.

The Merce Cunningham Dance Company gave its first performances in 1953, at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina. And it was there that Mr. Cunningham and Cage met the young painter Robert Rauschenberg, who embraced their ideas.

With Rauschenberg, the company became a three-way demonstration of the autonomy of the theater arts. The dancers often did not know what their costumes, décor or music would be until the dress rehearsal or first night. Mr. Cunningham, Cage and Rauschenberg all found this liberating, and the work cemented them as colleagues. In tours across America, Cage would drive the company van while Rauschenberg took charge of the lighting.

From the mid-1940s, Mr. Cunningham began using other composers as well, including David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman and Takehisa Kosugi. Brian Eno, Gavin Bryars and Sonic Youth have been among more recent musical colleagues.

Mr. Cunningham was himself a remarkable dance partner. One female dancer said the strength and focus he applied made a duet with him the equivalent of a profound sexual experience. Male-female duets always stimulated his creative imagination: he showed how people can be intensely involved and isolated at the same time in a relationship, both cooperating and independent.

Modern dance had been notable for its earnestness; Mr. Cunningham's work was often characterized by humor. "Antic Meet" (1958), for example, seemed to satirize the more foolish mannerisms of the Graham dance theater. Much of Mr. Cunningham's wit arose out of his concentration on pure form. An unpredictable change of rhythm or direction, a brisk figure of nifty footwork could provoke the same smiles and laughter as the jokes in a Haydn symphony.

Mr. Cunningham finally achieved international fame with a world tour in 1964. As soon as the curtain rose on opening night in London, at Sadler's Wells Theater, the company members felt that they were receiving a quality of attention they had never received before. The tour included several other European cities and crossed Asia.

Once, discovering that the company was booked to perform in a space without a proscenium arch, Mr. Cunningham decided to arrange a one-off anthology of separate sections of choreography, using costumes and music different from those of their original contexts. This became a new and important Cunningham genre, the Event. Events provoked questions about how choreography could look when decontextualized and recontextualized. How would a solo from a 2002 work look between a duet from a 1982 work and a 1997 quartet, all before a 1953 Rauschenberg décor and in newly designed costumes?

Events also stimulated Mr. Cunningham's love of unconventional spaces for performance; over the years they included the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Grand Central Terminal in New York and a beach in Perth, Australia.

At the end of the 1964 tour, Rauschenberg and some dancers left the company. In the years afterward the group's designers included Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.

Mr. Cunningham continued to experiment. In the 1970s he became fascinated by filming dance. But one of the most controversial elements in Cunningham dance theater in recent decades was Mr. Cunningham himself, now aging visibly. Often he gave himself roles in which his seniority was an element in the drama.

In 1989 he began to explore composing dances on a computer; his first dance made this way was "Trackers" (1991). This became, until late in his life, his main method of dance making. He also increasingly resorted to using a wheelchair and stayed at home while his company toured. He is survived by his younger brother, Jack, of Centralia.

John Cage died in 1992. Although he had advocated the autonomy of the arts, he was often a controlling figure. Mr. Cunningham once said of life without Cage: "On the one hand, I come home at the end of the day, and John's not there. On the other hand, I come home and John's not there."

Mr. Cunningham's dance invention remained fecund after Cage's death. "Biped" (1999), with computer-generated visual imagery suggesting many aspects of transcendence, proved the single most sensational dance choreographed by anyone in the 1990s.

Mr. Cunningham remained a man of secrets. Few people knew he had taught himself Russian or had written his own translation of "The Bear" by Chekhov. When he invited Baryshnikov to dance a duet with him in his New York 80th-birthday season ("Occasion Piece," 1999), he surprised Mr. Baryshnikov by writing to him in perfect Cyrillic script. He took up drawing, frequently combining features of two or more different species to create a convincing but fictional animal.

Mr. Cunningham often spoke and wrote movingly about the nature of dance and would laugh about its maddening impermanence. "You have to love dancing to stick to it," he once wrote. "It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive."

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Merce Cunningham, Visionary Choreographer, Dies at 90

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In his works, independence was central: dancers were often alone even in duets or ensembles, and music and design would act as environments, sometimes hostile ones. His movement - startling in its mixture of staccato and legato elements, and unusually intense in its use of torso, legs and feet - abounded in non sequiturs.

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LISTEN TO JOHN CAGE                        on sound and silence

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LISTEN TO JOHN CAGE                        on sound and silence

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Merce Cunningham Dance Company at BAM: BIPED

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Merce Cunningham: The Legacy Tour 2011 Next Wave Festival BAM Howard Gilman Opera House The Legacy Tour BIPED, 1999 Choreography by Merce Cunningham Music by Gavin Bryars Decor by Shelley Eshkar & Paul Kaiser Costumes by Suzanne Gallo

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Merce Cunningham reading....

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Legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham joins Walker curators Philippe Vergne and Philip Bither, along with archivist David Vaughn, for an informal conversation about his career.

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Robert Heisman & Catherine Yass Costumes

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Merce Cunningham Dance Company at BAM: Split Sides (Silas Riener solo)

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Merce Cunningham: The Legacy Tour 2011 Next Wave Festival BAM Howard Gilman Opera House The Legacy Tour Split Sides, 2003 Choreography by Merce Cunningham Music by Radiohead & Sigur Ros Decor by Robert Heisman & Catherine Yass Costumes by James Hall