简宁汉
מרס קנינגהם
マース·カニングハム
머시 디스 커닝햄
Мерс Каннингем

Nearly Ninety

source: mercecunninghamorg
In celebration of Cunningham’s 90th birthday, Nearly Ninety premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 16, 2009. Consisting mostly of solos, duets and trios, Alistair Macaulay of the New York Times described the choreography for Nearly Ninety as, “one of Mr. Cunningham’s most poetic cornucopias.” Much of the choreography focuses on human interaction and independence, as two dancers often meet without facing each other, challenging the traditional duet. The music was composed and performed by John Paul Jones, Takehisa Kosugi and Sonic Youth. Italian architect Benedetta Tagliabue designed the décor–a metallic structure standing at twenty-two feet, which was illuminated in bright colors, with videos by Franc Aleu projected onto it.
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source: modelabnet

Scenery for Merce Cunningham Dance Company for a play based on John Berger’s novel. Directed by Isabel Coixet.
Project by EMBT.

The scenography is a mobile structure which allows four different vantage points that frame the four movements, into which the choreography is divided. Several platforms, on different levels, house the musicians who are playing live: the group Sonic Youth, the Led Zeppelin guitarist, John Paul Jones; and the Japanese musician Takehisa Kosugi; one of these platforms also serves as the stage for one of the ballerinas.

The structure, constructed by the metal forger Esteve Miret in steel, is partially covered with a skin made from a semitransparent and iridescent cloth material which reflects light. The scenography also has projections from the videoartist Frank Aleu, who usually collaborates with La Fura dels Baus. They give this structure a solid appearance, its volume resembling a “rock”. And the fact is that the original idea came from a small piece, resembling a glass mountain, which reflected light and divided it into colours. From that full description object, Benedetta Tagliabue designed a volumetric structure which would also reflect those colours and that light through this semitransparent “skin”.

“The challenge was twice as difficult: on the one hand, because there had only been two previous projects in the field of scenography (a collaboration with La Fura dels Baus for their DQ show, premiering at the Liceu Opera House in 2000, and our own scenography that we designed to inaugurate the studio); and on the other, because Cunningham works in a way which is completely improvised, free, innovative and not restricted to pre-established methods and, therefore, there was no set idea about how to develop the project”. And if that wasn’t enough, Cunningham’s previous scenographers had been artists and designers of the stature of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol…”
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source: mercecunninghamorg

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 our time. Through much of his life, he was also one of the greatest American dancers. With an artistic career distinguished by constant innovation, Cunningham expanded the frontiers not only of dance, but also of contemporary visual and performing arts. His collaborations with artistic innovators from every creative discipline have yielded an unparalleled body of American dance, music, and visual art.

“IF A DANCER DANCES – WHICH IS NOT THE SAME AS HAVING THEORIES ABOUT DANCING OR WISHING TO DANCE OR TRYING TO DANCE OR REMEMBERING IN HIS BODY SOMEONE ELSE’S DANCE – BUT IF THE DANCER DANCES, EVERYTHING IS THERE. . . OUR ECSTASY IN DANCE COMES FROM THE POSSIBLE GIFT OF FREEDOM, THE EXHILARATING MOMENT THAT THIS EXPOSING OF THE BARE ENERGY CAN GIVE US. WHAT IS MEANT IS NOT LICENSE, BUT FREEDOM…”

MERCE CUNNINGHAM (1952)
Of all his collaborations, Cunningham’s work with John Cage, his life partner from the 1940s until Cage’s death in 1992, had the greatest influence on his practice. Together, Cunningham and Cage proposed a number of radical innovations. The most famous and controversial of these concerned the relationship between dance and music, which they concluded may occur in the same time and space, but should be created independently of one another. The two also made extensive use of chance procedures, abandoning not only musical forms, but narrative and other conventional elements of dance composition—such as cause and effect, and climax and anticlimax. For Cunningham the subject of his dances was always dance itself. Born in Centralia, Washington on April 16, 1919, Cunningham began his professional modern dance career at 20 with a six-year tenure as a soloist in the Martha Graham Dance Company. In 1944 he presented his first solo show and in 1953 formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a forum to explore his groundbreaking ideas. Over the course of his career, Cunningham choreographed more than 150 dances and over 800 “Events.” Dancers who trained with Cunningham and have gone on to form their own companies include Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Karole Armitage, Foofwa d’Immobilité, and Jonah Bokaer. Cunningham’s lifelong passion for exploration and innovation made him a leader in applying new technologies to the arts. He began investigating dance on film in the 1970s, and choreographed using the computer program DanceForms during the latter part of his career. He explored motion capture technology to create décor for BIPED (1999), and his interest in new media led to the creation of Mondays with Merce. This webcast series provides a never-before-seen look at the Company and Cunningham’s teaching technique with video of advanced technique class, Company rehearsal, archival footage, and interviews with current and former Company members, choreographers, and collaborators.

An active choreographer and mentor to the arts world until his death at the age of 90, Cunningham earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts. Among his many awards are the National Medal of Arts (1990) and the MacArthur Fellowship (1985). He also received the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in 2009, Japan’s Praemium Imperiale in 2005, the British Laurence Olivier Award in 1985, and was named Officier of the Legion d’Honneur in France in 2004. Cunningham’s life and artistic vision have been the subject of four books and three major exhibitions, and his works have been presented by groups including the Ballet of the Paris Opéra, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, White Oak Dance Project, and London’s Rambert Dance Company. Cunningham passed away in his New York City home on July 26, 2009. Always forward-thinking, Cunningham developed the precedent-setting Legacy Plan prior to his death, to guide his Company and ensure the preservation of his artistic legacy.
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source: cotidianulro

Ultima creaţie a lui Merce Cunningham, coregraful dispărut în iulie 2009, “Nearly 90²”, este şi cea mai sculpturală. 13 dansatori sunt prinşi într-o succesiune fluidă de mişcări ce se desfăşoară pe traiectorii lineare clare, configurând noi stări ale corpului. De la un capăt la altul al piesei, dansatorii, bărbaţi şi femei, se observă şi se apropie, se sprijină unii pe ceilalţi în surprinzătoare duete calme şi voluptuoase, înainte de a fi prinşi în vârtejul unui dans din ce în ce mai viu, pe măsură ce lumina se intensifică până la a ajunge orbitoare în final.
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source: mask9

简宁汉舞蹈团艺术总监，是美国前卫艺术先锋，从艺七十年，公认是当代举足轻重的编舞名家，也是美国最伟大的舞蹈家之一。简宁汉1919年4月16日生于华盛顿州的辛策 利亚，二十岁开始以现代舞为职业，在玛莎·葛兰姆舞蹈团当了六年独舞员。1944年推出首个独舞专场，1953年组成简宁汉舞蹈团。在这几十年事业生涯 中，他共编排了一百五十多出舞蹈，推行了八百多项“事件”。由简宁汉一手训练出来、后来自创舞团的舞蹈员，计有保罗泰勒、泰利莎布朗、露仙达·查尔特斯、卡露·艾密蒂殊、福瓦·邓莫比利堤、祖纳·波卡尔等。他在1999年的作品《虚拟时空》尝试采用动态捕捉技术来创作背景装置，创作了一个网页系列《与梅西共度星期一》再度开创新领域。
简宁汉于九十高龄去世，生前编舞不停，也乐于扶掖后进，在艺术圈中赢得不少最高荣誉，其中包括1990年的美国国家艺术奖，1985年的麦克亚瑟奖。此外，他于2009年获授雅各枕舞蹈奖、2005年获得日本的高松宫殿下纪念世界文化奖、1985年获得英国的罗兰士奥利花奖，并于2004年获法国政府授予军团武士荣誉勋衔。他一生的贡献及艺术观点，成了四本书、三个大型展览会的主题，他的作品亦曾获多个艺团演出，包括巴黎芭蕾舞团、纽约城市芭蕾舞团、美国芭蕾舞剧场、白橡木舞蹈计划、伦敦的蓝布特舞团等。