UCLA Live Presents the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s 50th-Anniversary Celebration, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, Royce Hall


Date: December 3, 2002
Contact: Krista Fleischner ( [email protected] )
Phone: 310-794-4044

UCLA Live presents the 50th-anniversary celebration of one of America's most influential dance institutions, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Showcasing a cross-section of the last five decades, the event includes set designs by artist Robert Rauschenberg and the world premiere of "MinEvent" with UCLA Live's artists-in-residence, Kronos Quartet, performing a piece written by John Cage for the quartet.

This three-day event features a different program each night and takes place at 8 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Dancers include Cedric Andrieux, Jonah Bokaer, Lisa Boudreau, Ashley Chen, Paige Cunningham, Holley Farmer, Jean Freebury, Jennifer Goggans, Mandy Kirschner, Koji Mizuta, Daniel Roberts, Daniel Squire, Jeannie Steele, Derry Swan, Robert Swinston and Cheryl Therrien.

For more than half a century, Merce Cunningham has been a visionary, a pioneer and an artist whose work has shocked, rocked and influenced the dance world more than any other. With a career that includes more than 150 works, his collaborations with John Cage and other musicians, as well as with visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, have also profoundly influenced the music and art worlds.

Cunningham was the first choreographer to separate the music from the dancing, creating a lifelike experience in which movement unfolds almost spontaneously and randomly. "Cunningham uses chance much as he might use a magnet, to draw possibilities to him from beyond his reach, and to arrange materials, like iron filings, into relationships he might not otherwise have seen," writes James Klosty in his 1975 book, "Merce Cunningham."

Born in Centralia, Wash., Cunningham began creating dances in 1944, first collaborating with Cage before forming the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953. The group included Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, Remy Charlip and Paul Taylor. Cage was music director and David Tudor, the company musician.

In June 1964, as the company began its second decade, it set off on a world tour that was to last six months, with performances in Western and Eastern Europe, India, Thailand and Japan. The recognition by audiences and critics alike of the importance of the work of Cunningham and Cage and their associates made this tour a turning point in the company's history. Extended domestic tours and New York seasons were soon part of the annual schedule, as well as further trips abroad.

Cage's association with the company continued until his death in August 1992, when Tudor succeeded him as music director. Tudor died in August 1996. In 1995 Takehisa Kosugi was appointed music director.

From 1954 to 1964, Robert Rauschenberg was the company's resident designer. The following decade saw a number of celebrated collaborations with visual artists such as Jasper Johns (who was appointed artistic advisor in 1967), Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and Robert Morris. Mark Lancaster succeeded Johns as artistic advisor in 1980, and was in turn succeeded by William Anastasi and Dove Bradshaw in 1984.

Since the 1970s, Cunningham has choreographed a number of video- and filmdances in collaboration with Charles Atlas and with Elliot Caplan. The collaboration with Atlas resumed with the production of the documentary "Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance," shown on PBS' "American Masters" in December 2001. In Mulhouse, France, in November 2001, three dances from the company's repertory were filmed under Atlas' direction.

The 50th-anniversary celebration began at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in July 2002 with programs including revivals of important works from the company's past. During the late summer and fall, the company performed at European festivals in Kalamata, Palermo, Paris, Berlin, London, Reykjavik, Oslo, Munich and Weimar. The first performances of Cunningham's latest work, "Fluid Canvas," were given at the Barbican Centre in London in September. After the current series of performances in California, the company will travel to Kansas City, Mo., for a residency. European touring resumes in late February, when the company will perform at the Biennale Val de Marne in Creteil, France.

Cunningham describes the world premiere of "MinEvent" as consisting of "complete dances, excerpts of dances from the repertory and, often, new sequences arranged for the particular performance and place."

Kronos Quartet includes David Harrington, violin; John Sherba, violin; Hank Dutt, viola; and Jennifer Culp, cello.

Synonymous with musical innovation, the Kronos Quartet is known for its unique artistic vision and fearless dedication to experimentation. Since its inception in 1973, Kronos has assembled a body of work unparalleled in its range and scope of expression, and in the process, has captured the attention of audiences worldwide. The group has been commissioning new work since its earliest days, and more than 450 pieces have been written or arranged for them.

PROGRAM:

Thursday, Jan. 30. Running time: 86 minutes, one intermission.

"Suite for Five" (1956–58)

Music: John Cage, from "Music for Piano." Costumes: Robert Rauschenberg. Lighting: Beverly Emmons. Musician: Christian Wolff.

"MinEvent" with Kronos Quartet

Music: John Cage, "Thirty Pieces for String Quartet" (1983). Decor: Robert Rauschenberg, "Immerse" (1994). Lighting: Josh Johnson. Musicians: Kronos Quartet. Audio Engineer: Scott Fraser.

"Loose Time" (2002)

Music: Christian Wolff, "Moving Spaces" (2002). Decor and Costumes: Terry Winters, "Vortex Street" (2002). Lighting: Aaron Copp. Musicians: Krys Bobrowski, Takehisa Kosugi and Christian Wolff.

Friday, Jan. 31. Running time: 82 minutes, one intermission.

"Way Station" (2001)

Music: Takehisa Kosugi, "Trilogy." Decor: Charles Long, "Tripods." Costumes: James Hall. Lighting: Aaron Copp. Musician: Takehisa Kosugi.

"Fabrications" (1987)

Music: Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta, "Short Waves." Decor and Costumes: Dove Bradshaw. Lighting: Josh Johnson (Revival 2002). Musician: Takehisa Kosugi.

"How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run" (1965)

Music: John Cage, stories from "Silence, A Year From Monday" and elsewhere. Lighting: Beverly Emmons. Readers: Merce Cunningham and David Vaughan.

Saturday, Feb. 1. Running time: 72 minutes, one intermission.

"Pictures" (1984)

Music: David Berhman, "Interspecies Small Talk." Decor, Lights, Costumes: Mark Lancaster. Lighting: Josh Johnson (Revival 2002). Musicians: Takehisa Kosugi and Andy Russ.

"Interscape" (2000)

Music: John Cage, "108" (1991) and/or "One⁸ " (1991). Decor and Costumes: Robert Rauschenberg, "Interscape Mirage." Lighting: Aaron Copp.

Tickets to each performance are available for $50, $40, $35 and $15 (UCLA students with valid I.D.) at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center, online at www.uclalive.edu/ and at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information or to charge by phone, call (310) 825-2101.

An internationally acclaimed producer and presenter of music, dance and theater, UCLA Performing Arts' dynamic program UCLA Live brings hundreds of outstanding and provocative artists to Los Angeles each year. Committed to supporting the development of new work, UCLA Performing Arts has commissioned pieces by major artists including Pina Bausch, Bill T. Jones, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. Lectures, residencies and extensive outreach programs expand the impact of its unparalleled performances, which include a lively mix of distinguished masters and innovators from around the world.

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