Sunday, 2 August 2009

Merce Cunningham 1919-2009

High American Modernism is drawing to a close; it's hard to imagine anyone keeping that flame alive into the 22nd century.  I love all of its masters, regardless of genre:  Elliot Carter, Jackson Pollock, Ornette Coleman, Thomas Pynchon, etc.

But I think dance, with its corresponding advantages of kineticism and athleticism,  might have been the most comfortable place for that temperature, even more so than with music, painting, or fiction. I only saw the Merce Cunningham company a half dozen times.  Now that he's gone I wonder why I didn't see even more.  Every time I left the theater electrified and inspired.