DATE 
LOCATION 
EVENT
TYPE
thru July 12
Dusseldorf, DR
Pond Way (1998)
Deutsche Oper am Rhein will preform Merce Cunningham's " Pond Way" (1998) as part of Tanzkongress 2013 at 7:30pm June 7th. The choreography “Pond Way”, first performed in Paris in 1998. "Pond Way" was staged by former MCDC dancer and Cunningham 2012 Fellow, Andrea Weber (2004-2011). info
Deutsche Oper am Rhein will preform Merce Cunningham's " Pond Way" (1998) as part of Tanzkongress 2013 at 7:30pm June 7th. The choreography “Pond Way”, first performed in Paris in 1998. "Pond Way" was staged by former MCDC dancer and Cunningham 2012 Fellow, Andrea Weber (2004-2011). info
Performance
June 25 - July 16
Munich, DR
BIPED (1999)
BIPED will premiere on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 7:30pm at the Prince Regent's Theater (Prinzregententheater), Prinzregentenplatz 12 in Munich, Germany. Licensed by Bayerisches Staatsballett will perform BIPED (1999), staged by former company members Robert Swinston (MCDC 1980-2011) and Jennifer Goggans (MCDC 2000-2011), and Richard Siegal's Unitxt as part of their evening presentation of Exits and Entrances. Additional performances will be held on June 26, June 28, and July 16. Regarding BIPED, Cunningham has written: "The dance gives me the feeling of switching channels on the TV...the action varies from slow formal sections to rapid broken-up sequences where it is difficult to see all the complexity." Many people have commented on the elegiac nature of the closing moments of the piece. The décor for BIPED is an exploration of the possibilities of the animation technology of motion capture. The digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar collaborated with Cunningham, who, working with two dancers, choreographed 70 phrases that were transposed into digital images. These animated images, as well as abstract patterns (vertical and horizontal lines, dots, clusters), are projected on to a scrim at the front of the stage, behind which the live dancers may be seen. Cunningham also used computer software, DanceForms, to develop the choreography for the dance, which is in a number of sections: solos, duets, trios, and ensemble dances. The music by Gavin Bryars, also called Biped, is partly recorded and partly played live on acoustic instruments. Suzanne Gallo's costumes use a metallic fabric that reflects light. At one point in the dance the men, clothed in pajama-like outfits in a transparent fabric, bring on tops in the same fabric for the women. Aaron Copp devised the lighting, dividing the stage floor into squares lit in what looked like a random sequence, as well as the curtained booths at the back of the stage that permit the dancers to appear and disappear. info
BIPED will premiere on Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 7:30pm at the Prince Regent's Theater (Prinzregententheater), Prinzregentenplatz 12 in Munich, Germany. Licensed by Bayerisches Staatsballett will perform BIPED (1999), staged by former company members Robert Swinston (MCDC 1980-2011) and Jennifer Goggans (MCDC 2000-2011), and Richard Siegal's Unitxt as part of their evening presentation of Exits and Entrances. Additional performances will be held on June 26, June 28, and July 16. Regarding BIPED, Cunningham has written: "The dance gives me the feeling of switching channels on the TV...the action varies from slow formal sections to rapid broken-up sequences where it is difficult to see all the complexity." Many people have commented on the elegiac nature of the closing moments of the piece. The décor for BIPED is an exploration of the possibilities of the animation technology of motion capture. The digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar collaborated with Cunningham, who, working with two dancers, choreographed 70 phrases that were transposed into digital images. These animated images, as well as abstract patterns (vertical and horizontal lines, dots, clusters), are projected on to a scrim at the front of the stage, behind which the live dancers may be seen. Cunningham also used computer software, DanceForms, to develop the choreography for the dance, which is in a number of sections: solos, duets, trios, and ensemble dances. The music by Gavin Bryars, also called Biped, is partly recorded and partly played live on acoustic instruments. Suzanne Gallo's costumes use a metallic fabric that reflects light. At one point in the dance the men, clothed in pajama-like outfits in a transparent fabric, bring on tops in the same fabric for the women. Aaron Copp devised the lighting, dividing the stage floor into squares lit in what looked like a random sequence, as well as the curtained booths at the back of the stage that permit the dancers to appear and disappear. info
Performance
July 12 - 13
Spoleto, IT
Winterbranch (1964)
Teatro Romano. The LA Dance Project will perform a program featuring Moving Parts (Benjamin Millepied), with Quintett (William Forsythe) and Winterbranch (Merce Cunningham). This program will feature Millepied's new work, Moving Parts, set on a score by composer Nico Muhly and visual design by noted New York painter Christopher Wool. The company will also revive Merce Cunningham's controversial 1964 Winterbranch, a movement exploration of falling bodies set to a mostly two-note score by La Monte Young, staged by Jennifer Goggans (2004-2011) and William Forsythe's Quintett, a 1993 study in loss and hope to avant-garde composer Gavin Bryar's looping composition "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet.” info
Teatro Romano. The LA Dance Project will perform a program featuring Moving Parts (Benjamin Millepied), with Quintett (William Forsythe) and Winterbranch (Merce Cunningham). This program will feature Millepied's new work, Moving Parts, set on a score by composer Nico Muhly and visual design by noted New York painter Christopher Wool. The company will also revive Merce Cunningham's controversial 1964 Winterbranch, a movement exploration of falling bodies set to a mostly two-note score by La Monte Young, staged by Jennifer Goggans (2004-2011) and William Forsythe's Quintett, a 1993 study in loss and hope to avant-garde composer Gavin Bryar's looping composition "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet.” info
Performance
Sept. 3 - 21
Lyon, FR
Suite For Five (1956)
The Conservatoire Nationale Superieur Musique et Danse de Lyon will license the work Suite For Five (1956). The staging will be co-taught by Cedric Andrieux (1999 - 2007) and Andrea Weber (2004 - 2011). This dance was created by adding a trio, a duet and a quintet to Cunningham’s earlier Solo Suite in Space and Time. By 1958, the original piece had been modified so that Cunningham’s five solos were reduced to three, and a solo for Carolyn Brown was added. The classic purity and tranquility of Suite for Five is acknowledged in the program note, which read, “The events and sounds of this ballet revolve around a quiet center, which though silent and unmoving, is the source from which they happen.” The music, Cage’s Music for Piano, and the choreography, relied on the imperfections in paper and on chance operations, to determine both the musical composition and the movement of the ballet. Robert Rauschenberg designed the earth-toned leotards, with lighting by Beverly Emmons. info
The Conservatoire Nationale Superieur Musique et Danse de Lyon will license the work Suite For Five (1956). The staging will be co-taught by Cedric Andrieux (1999 - 2007) and Andrea Weber (2004 - 2011). This dance was created by adding a trio, a duet and a quintet to Cunningham’s earlier Solo Suite in Space and Time. By 1958, the original piece had been modified so that Cunningham’s five solos were reduced to three, and a solo for Carolyn Brown was added. The classic purity and tranquility of Suite for Five is acknowledged in the program note, which read, “The events and sounds of this ballet revolve around a quiet center, which though silent and unmoving, is the source from which they happen.” The music, Cage’s Music for Piano, and the choreography, relied on the imperfections in paper and on chance operations, to determine both the musical composition and the movement of the ballet. Robert Rauschenberg designed the earth-toned leotards, with lighting by Beverly Emmons. info
Showing
Oct., 2013 - July, 2014
Dresden, DR
Dance! Moves
The Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, a universal museum of man, in Dresden,Germany, whose work focuses on the biological, social, and cultural dimensions of the human condition (www.dhmd.de) is currently preparing an exhibition on the subject of dance, which will run from 12 October 2013 to 20 July 2014. Dance! Moves that move us is a physical and intellectual investigation of the social, cultural and aesthetic facets of dance and the dancing body. Please see attached synopsis for more information. For the section "Archives", which is dealing with the multifarious traces that the dancing body leaves behind it and investigates how society attempts to document, preserve and pass on the material and immaterial heritage of dance, we are very interested in exhibiting a sequence from the movie "Merce Cunningham. A Lifetime of Dance" (1999) by Charles Atlas. In particular we want to exhibit the footage showing Merce Cunningham using the choreography software DanceForms (former LifeForms) and talking about computer technology as an element of dance. We want to show this important video in connection with the subject of notation - there will be shown old and rare dance manuscripts by Feuillet, Tomlinson but also original material by Rudolf von Laban. The section will end with William Forsythe's Motion Bank project. info
The Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, a universal museum of man, in Dresden,Germany, whose work focuses on the biological, social, and cultural dimensions of the human condition (www.dhmd.de) is currently preparing an exhibition on the subject of dance, which will run from 12 October 2013 to 20 July 2014. Dance! Moves that move us is a physical and intellectual investigation of the social, cultural and aesthetic facets of dance and the dancing body. Please see attached synopsis for more information. For the section "Archives", which is dealing with the multifarious traces that the dancing body leaves behind it and investigates how society attempts to document, preserve and pass on the material and immaterial heritage of dance, we are very interested in exhibiting a sequence from the movie "Merce Cunningham. A Lifetime of Dance" (1999) by Charles Atlas. In particular we want to exhibit the footage showing Merce Cunningham using the choreography software DanceForms (former LifeForms) and talking about computer technology as an element of dance. We want to show this important video in connection with the subject of notation - there will be shown old and rare dance manuscripts by Feuillet, Tomlinson but also original material by Rudolf von Laban. The section will end with William Forsythe's Motion Bank project. info
Exhibition
Oct. 17-18
Norwich, UK
Sounddance (1975)
Norwich Theatre Royal. The Rambert Dance Company continues touring their 2013 revival of Sounddance staged by Jeannie Steele (1993 - 2005). Cunningham created Sounddance upon his return from spending nine weeks at the Paris Opera (building Un Jour ou Deux). In direct opposition to the rigidity of the classical dancers in Paris, Cunningham wanted to choreograph a fast and vigorous piece. The foot and torso movements in Sounddance were so complex, that it was as if the dancers were performing under a microscope. The entrances and exits took place through a tent-like opening upstage, and as the finale concluded, the dancers were swept back into it, as though they were being sucked into a wind tunnel. David Tudor’s powerful score for Sounddance provided an energetic accompaniment to Cunningham’s fast pace choreography. Mark Lancaster designed the costumes, which were light yellow and gray, and the opening contraption at the back of the stage was sand colored. info
Norwich Theatre Royal. The Rambert Dance Company continues touring their 2013 revival of Sounddance staged by Jeannie Steele (1993 - 2005). Cunningham created Sounddance upon his return from spending nine weeks at the Paris Opera (building Un Jour ou Deux). In direct opposition to the rigidity of the classical dancers in Paris, Cunningham wanted to choreograph a fast and vigorous piece. The foot and torso movements in Sounddance were so complex, that it was as if the dancers were performing under a microscope. The entrances and exits took place through a tent-like opening upstage, and as the finale concluded, the dancers were swept back into it, as though they were being sucked into a wind tunnel. David Tudor’s powerful score for Sounddance provided an energetic accompaniment to Cunningham’s fast pace choreography. Mark Lancaster designed the costumes, which were light yellow and gray, and the opening contraption at the back of the stage was sand colored. info
Performance
Nov. 14-17
Seattle, WA
BIPED (1999) & Suite for Five (1956) excerpts
R.B. Jerome Bel presents "Cederic Andrieux" at Seattle's On The Boards, November 14 - 17, 2013. The solo performance by by Cédric Andrieux (MCDC 1999 - 2007) includes with extracts of pieces by Trisha Brown (Newark), Merce Cunningham (Biped, Suite for 5), Philippe Tréhet (Nuit Fragile), and Jérôme Bel (The show must go on). info
R.B. Jerome Bel presents "Cederic Andrieux" at Seattle's On The Boards, November 14 - 17, 2013. The solo performance by by Cédric Andrieux (MCDC 1999 - 2007) includes with extracts of pieces by Trisha Brown (Newark), Merce Cunningham (Biped, Suite for 5), Philippe Tréhet (Nuit Fragile), and Jérôme Bel (The show must go on). info
Performance
March 28
Dusseldorf, DR
Scenario (1997)
Deutsche Oper am Rhein will premiere their second Merce Cunningham work in as many years. The premiere of " Scenario" (1997) will take place in March 2014. The choreography for “Scenario”, will be staged by former MCDC dancers Banu Ogan(1993 - 2000) and Daniel Squire (1998 - 2009) .Scenario was the creation of Cunningham and Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo. Kawakubo’s humorous costumes toy with the idea of physical distortions, such as humps and big rear ends. They are in mostly vertical blue stripes on white, or in pale green and white-checkered patterns. For much of the dance, five or six dancers twist and pose, each in his or her own space, with a rush of additional dancers to the stage toward the end of the performance. The bold electronic musical score is by Takehisa Kosugi. info
Deutsche Oper am Rhein will premiere their second Merce Cunningham work in as many years. The premiere of " Scenario" (1997) will take place in March 2014. The choreography for “Scenario”, will be staged by former MCDC dancers Banu Ogan(1993 - 2000) and Daniel Squire (1998 - 2009) .Scenario was the creation of Cunningham and Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo. Kawakubo’s humorous costumes toy with the idea of physical distortions, such as humps and big rear ends. They are in mostly vertical blue stripes on white, or in pale green and white-checkered patterns. For much of the dance, five or six dancers twist and pose, each in his or her own space, with a rush of additional dancers to the stage toward the end of the performance. The bold electronic musical score is by Takehisa Kosugi. info
Performance
March 15
Lorraine, FR
Sounddance (1975)
The Ballet de Lorraine will license Sounddance (1975) in March, 2014. The premiere will be March 15. Staging for the dance will performed by a team of Merce Cunningham Fellows Meg Harper ( 1968 - 1977) and Tom Caley (1993 - 2000). Cunningham created Sounddance upon his return from spending nine weeks at the Paris Opera. Cunningham wanted to choreograph a fast and vigorous piece. The foot and torso movements in Sounddance were so complex, that it was as if the dancers were performing under a microscope. The entrances and exits took place through a tent-like opening upstage, and as the finale concluded, the dancers were swept back into it, as though they were being sucked into a wind tunnel. David Tudor’s powerful score for Sounddance provided an energetic accompaniment to Cunningham’s fast pace choreography. Mark Lancaster designed the costumes, which were light yellow and gray, and the opening contraption at the back of the stage was sand colored. info
The Ballet de Lorraine will license Sounddance (1975) in March, 2014. The premiere will be March 15. Staging for the dance will performed by a team of Merce Cunningham Fellows Meg Harper ( 1968 - 1977) and Tom Caley (1993 - 2000). Cunningham created Sounddance upon his return from spending nine weeks at the Paris Opera. Cunningham wanted to choreograph a fast and vigorous piece. The foot and torso movements in Sounddance were so complex, that it was as if the dancers were performing under a microscope. The entrances and exits took place through a tent-like opening upstage, and as the finale concluded, the dancers were swept back into it, as though they were being sucked into a wind tunnel. David Tudor’s powerful score for Sounddance provided an energetic accompaniment to Cunningham’s fast pace choreography. Mark Lancaster designed the costumes, which were light yellow and gray, and the opening contraption at the back of the stage was sand colored. info
Performance