Merce Fair

John Cage & Merce
Cunningham

Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham (1919 - 2009), choreographer and dance pioneer

:: formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) at Black Mountain College (1933-1957), in 1953; it is performing its farewell dances this year, 2011; its school and archive will continue

::Merce Fair, July 16, 2011, Frederick P. Rose Hall

Excerpt from MCDC's Squaregame (1976) | Courtesy of Cunningham Dance Foundation - Music: S.E. Wave/E.W. Song by Takehisa Kosugi


Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds, mylar balloons in natural light, used as the décor for MCDC's Rainforest (1968), Atrium, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Columbus Circle, New York City


Cunningham's realization of John Cage's painting score Steps, in the Benjamin Menschel Arcade, Frederick P. Rose Hall


Some of Cunningham's dance scores/choreography charts, in the Archive curated by the New York Public Library and Merce Cunningham Dance Company archivist David Vaughan, Edward John Noble Foundation studio, Frederick P. Rose Hall

Rashaun Mitchell

::Among its original corps, dancers Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, Paul Taylor, and Remy Charlip, and musicians David Tudor and Cunningham's life partner, musician/artist/philosopher John Cage, the MCDC's founding musical director
::Current Music Director: Takehisa Kosugi - Current Director of Choreography: Robert Swinston - Current Executive Director: Trevor Carlson
::Notable collaborators with Cunningham and MCDC over the years have included visual, plastic and fashion artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Rei Kawakubo, Roy Lichenstein, Bruce Nauman, Ernesto Neto, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol, and musicians including Gavin Bryars, Gordon Mumma, Conlon Nancarrow, and Sonic Youth
::current company Brandon Collwes, Dylan Crossman, Emma Desjardins, Jennifer Goggans, John Hinrichs, Daniel Madoff, Rashaun Mitchell, Marcie Munnerlyn, Krista Nelson, Silas Riener, Jamie Scott, Robert Swinston, Melissa Toogood, Andrew Weber




Banners detailing some of MCDC's notable dances, Archive curated by the New York Public Library and Merce Cunningham Dance Company archivist David Vaughan, Edward John Noble Foundation studio, Frederick P. Rose Hall


In the Archive, curated by the New York Public Library and Merce Cunningham Dance Company archivist David Vaughan, Edward John Noble Foundation studio, Frederick P. Rose Hall


In the Archive, curated by the New York Public Library and Merce Cunningham Dance Company archivist David Vaughan, Edward John Noble Foundation studio, Frederick P. Rose Hall


Rose Theater, before the MCDC's penultimate dance performances of Squaregame and Duets


Excerpt from MCDC's Duets (1980) | Courtesy of Cunningham Dance Foundation - Music: Improvisation III by John Cage