Cargo X was the first of three dances co-commissioned by the University of Texas at Austin. It was a work for seven dancers, with two alternating casts. When asked about the title, Cunningham told an interviewer, “It’s made up. It can mean anything. Cargo means something going around and moving around, although it doesn’t have anything to do with the dance. And I thought that if I added an X that would confuse it all even further.” The main decorative element was a ladder, which Cunningham had acquired from a theater in Toulon a few months prior to the premiere. The ladder was moved about by the dancers during the piece.