Word: cunningham
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Merce Cunningham and John Cage, exponents of the outre in dance and music, have joined forces to produce a bizarre performance that has (they claim) only projective meaning: it isn't what they say, it's what the audience thinks they're saying that counts. Last Saturday's concert of three pieces met with uneven success in its attempt to give some clue as to what it was all about, but it was still...
...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...
...point in Antic Meet, the finale, Cunningham offered his partner a big red rose; when snubbed, he hurried off (face buried in flower) pouting like a little boy. Antic Meet was a study in absurdity. It told something of a story, a bit of a romance, with all the humor and the farce of a 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...
...Pringle took an early lead and held on for first place, sophomore Joe Stetz edged out Yale's Allan Cunningham for fourth place in the medley event. Cunningham, second to Pringle in the Harvard-Yale meet two weeks ago, was expected to finish ahead of Stetz...