Merce Cunningham Dance Company - Programmes 1 and 2

Published Monday 6 October 2008 at 13:10 by Katie Colombus

I have to confess, I don’t always get Merce Cunningham. Perhaps it is the transition of context - from the era of artistic anarchy in sixties New York, when Cunningham first caught the attention of the dance world, to a contemporary London audience. Perhaps there are too many ideas to fit on a stage all at once, or perhaps it is the desire to read more into his work than is really necessary. Either way, the mental gymnastics of trying to work it all out is an enjoyable enough process.

Watching these lithe, toned and honed bodies zing around the stage like well-behaved bouncing balls is a riot. Whether unfurling like brightly coloured paper clips to an arbitrary piano score in Crises (1960), or as spangle-suited electrical impulses, whirring like cogs in a high-tech machine, enhanced and made futuristic by motion capture in Biped (1999), the control of their geometrical poses, shape contractions and teetering, off-kilter moments never fail to impress, whether you understand why they’re doing it or not.

While she might not be to everyone’s tastes, Joan La Barbara, who provides the musical accompaniment to Xover (2007) in both programmes, is certainly a talking point of both evenings. A perfect example of the kind of music Cunningham chooses to set his movement to, her wheezes, slow-mo vocals, quivering lyrics and breathy gibberish sit comfortably alongside duetting dancers in long white unitards, who move like ice skaters caught occasionally in montage.

In many of the works the sound is thrown from speakers on either side of the stage, the split sound echoing a sense of ordered chaos onstage. The importance of counts is highlighted in the dancers’ quick turns and definite pathways, as they move individually and in unison, facing different corners of the space, trios furled inwards and partners facing each other. These are dancers that must use their brains as much as their bodies to stick to the structure without the driving force of musical lyricism to work with. Their open angles, clear lines and creation of shape within space is often matched by the clear lines and blocked colour of the costumes - for example in CRWDSPCR (1993).

All of the pieces chosen for Bite’s 10th anniversary celebrations demonstrate Cunningham’s main principal - music and choreography co-existing as chance entities. However these both come together best in Split Sides (2003), set to Radiohead and Sigur Ros.

The infamous rolling of the dice before the work chargers the atmosphere, drawing the audience into the creation of the piece. The melted city backdrop of blue, pink, purple and grey is immediately more recognisable to a modern viewer and the sensual hip grinding and open movements make the piece sexy as opposed to just breaking dance down to its bare basics. It goes to show that, even at 89 years old, Merce Cunningham still knows how to roll with the changes.