Word: aeon
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...repertory ranged from far-in to farthest out. In a 50-min. work aptly titled Aeon, a blinding flash of magnesium flares stirred Cunningham's ten-member troupe into an otherworldly, slow-motion ballet. In the orchestra pit, Conductor Cage slowly raised and lowered his arms like a railroad signal, while his two-man orchestra conjured a percussive nightmare with such ear-splitting accents as a nail file rasped across a metal music stand. When the sound system shorted and buzzed harshly for several minutes, the audience accepted it as part of the show...
Cunningham nearly lost his audience at intermission, though, by running a piece like Aeon first on the program. Aeon was long: over a half-hour of posturing that looked more like a technique class than a dance, with each dancer exercising in his own private sphere, hardly seeing, not caring, what his partners were doing. Cunningham's technique of "choreography by chance" picked the wrong random combination of numbers this time and came up with a series of stiff, unrelated movements that took rather more muscle than grace...
...audience responded to Aeon with scarcely more than polite applause. The combination of Cunningham and Cage was clearly too much for those who found themselves outside the dancers' world: they could share neither in the dehumanized music nor the mechanical dance. To the extent that Cunningham and Cage left their audience feeling like an out-group, they failed to communicate their...
...leotards against a light blue back-drop were eye-catching: and the sight of dancers pulling each other along the floor by elastic bands around the waist or thigh drew laughter and put the audience on the performer's side, for the first time. Abandoning the slow death of Aeon, the dancers came alive, though they maintained regulation disjunctively by counterpoising two groups on separate parts of the stage...
...flirtation. The choreography really took off, exploiting the imagination and freedom of Cunningham's style: kicking splits swooping from the air to the floor, some acrobatics, and a St. Vitus Dance frenzy. In a spirit of whimsy and joy, the dancers switched from the deadpan love-making of Aeon to an enthusiastic dance that came very close to pantomime. Like pantomime, it told a story, and told it clearly. Finally let in on what Cunningham and Cage were up to, the audience loved every minute...