Choreography / 1954

Minutiae

This dance initiated the collaboration between Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg, which was to continue through the 1964 world tour of the company. Rauschenberg had no title: the program simply stated that he designed the costumes and lighting (though the costumes for "Minutiae" were by company member Remy Charlip). For "Minutiae" Rauschenberg designed and made a free-standing object (later called the first of his “Combines”). The dancers moved through it, around it, and under it. The choreography, made by a complex and detailed chance process, consisted of “small, short, abrupt movements [derived] from an observation…of people walking in the streets,” or so a program note stated, though Cunningham later admitted it was not entirely true. The music was from an existing work by Cage, "Music for Piano 1" through 20 (the music for Cunningham's "Suite for Five" is from the same source.)

Details

Premiere Date

Dec 08, 1954

Premiere Venue

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Premiere Location

Brooklyn, NY

Music

John Cage, Music for Piano 1-20

Set

Robert Rauschenberg

Costumes

Remy Charlip

Duration

16 minutes

Original Cast

Carolyn Brown

Remy Charlip

Merce Cunningham

Anita Dencks

Viola Farber

Jo Anne Melsher

Marianne Preger-Simon

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