When the always forward-thinking Merce Cunningham passed away in July 2009 at the age of 90, he left behind a plan for the dissolution of his dance company and the preservation of his works: a two-year legacy tour that would end on December 31, 2011 with a performance in New York City. Cunningham was undeniably a leader of the American avant-garde throughout his 70-year career and is considered one of the most important choreographers of our time. Through much of his life, he was also one of the greatest American dancers, performing with the Martha Dance Company for six years. With an artistic career distinguished by constant innovation, Cunningham expanded the frontiers of dance, but also of contemporary visual and performing arts. His collaborations with artistic innovators from every creative discipline have yielded an unparalleled body of American dance, music, and visual art. The program will be drawn from the more than 150 dances that Cunningham created over more than six decades of choreographic innovation. In Merce's own words: “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.” Fleeting for the dancer, perhaps, but creating lasting impressions for the audiences that experience it.

Program:

Squaregame, 1976 First Performed: Adelaide, Australia; 24 Mar 1976 Music: Takehisa Kosugi (2) Squaregame Video, videodance directed by Charles Atlas and Merce Cunningham, New York, NY; May 1976 Design: Mark Lancaster Dancers: Merce Cunningham Dance Company

INTERMISSION

Split Sides, 2003 First Performed: BAM, Brooklyn, NY 14 October 2003 Music: Radiohead & Sigur Ros Décor: Catherine Yass, Robert Heishman Costumes: James Hall Lighting: James F. Ingalls Dancers: Merce Cunningham Dance Company