Del 4: Merce Cunningham. A Legacy of Dance

Abstract

Miniseminar organized by The Department of Dance, Oslo National Academy of Dance, in cooperation with Merce Cunningham Trust (USA). Participants: Andrea Weber, a former dancer for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company - and - BA students from 1st, 2nd og 3rd year comtemporary dance. Andrea Weber led a discussion of Merce Cunningham’s life and work. She started with a brief history of Merce’s early years as a dancer, followed by his extensive career as a choreographer and modern dance pioneer. She shared what it was like to work with Merce and to perform his dances around the world. The lecture culminated with a showing danced by the students of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. They showed excerpts of classwork, a technique created to support the rigor of Merce’s repertory, and lastly a MinEvent, created specifically for this occasion: "Presented without intermission, Events consist of complete dances, excerpts of dances from the repertory, and often new sequences arranged for particular performance and place, with the possibility of several separate activities happening at the same time—to allow not so much [for] an evening of dances as the experience of dance.” (Merce Cunningham). The seminar is linked to internal theme weeks at the Department of Dance, which includes technique classes, workshop, repertoire, creative work and talks.

Organized by Øyvind Jørgensen and staff at the Deapartment of Dance, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, in coperation with Merce Cunningham Trust (USA).

Time: February 8, 2020. Place: Oslo National Academy of the Arts