Author Description

Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) pioneered the contemporary conception of dance as a moving image of life. His innovations in the field date back to the 1940s, when, after meeting composer John Cage, he proposed the separation of music and dance and applied chance procedures to the structure of his dances; later, he used technology to further extend and blur the medium's boundaries. Collecting testimonies from Cunningham's friends and collaborators, this volume surveys the milestones in Cunningham's career, from 1944 to 1999. Composers such as Gordon Mumma, Earle Brown and John Cage, artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Nam June Paik and dancers such as Yvonne Rainer, Douglas Dunn and Carolyn Brown describe their collaborations with Cunningham over the past half-century, in interviews, essays and memoirs, alongside Cunningham's own writings and a wealth of illustrations.