Seven Eras of Merce Cunningham at BAM

Photo: James Klosty

By Susan Yung

On April 16, in performances staged concurrently at BAM, the Barbican in London, and UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, we will celebrate what would’ve been Merce Cunningham’s 100th birthday. Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event will feature 100 solos—performed by 25 dancers on each stage—drawn from more than seven decades of Cunningham’s work. Cunningham has performed at BAM since 1952 and before that, he danced here with Martha Graham Dance Company. He forged his inventive modern style alongside his creative/life partner, composer John Cage, another radical innovator; they spent time at Black Mountain College, which fomented experimentation. The company struggled early on, yet one constant was performing at BAM with some regularity while gaining acknowledgment. With help from the Merce Cunningham Trust and our archivists, we remember the legendary choreographer by looking back at seven eras of Merce’s brilliant work at BAM.

In Context: Night of 100 Solos

Over the span of his 70-year career, choreographer Merce Cunningham developed a repertoire of nuanced movement and effortless precision. Known for his experimentalism and dexterous use of both chance and control, he left behind a substantial oeuvre when he died in 2009. The Merce Cunningham Centennial commemorates what would be the 100th birthday of the esteemed choreographer in this one-night Event, staged concurrently at BAM, the Barbican in London, and UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. With live music and special set design, 25 dancers on each stage perform 100 solos drawn from more than seven decades of Cunningham’s work. The selections range in length from 30 seconds to four minutes, and include more than a dozen of his own solos.

Reflecting Cunningham’s embrace of technology and the Merce Cunningham Trust’s commitment to accessibility, Night of 100 Solos will be streamed live online and available for the next few months at mercecunningham.org.

BAM 1968: Merce Cunningham’s First Major New York Season

This summer, in the Natman Room off of BAM's main lobby, a moment in BAM's history is celebrated—the first major New York run of Merce Cunningham Dance Company in May 1968. Stop by and check out the photos and artifacts that document the first run of many to follow by this renowned company.

In May 1968, as the Vietnam War raged on and the civil rights movement gained momentum, the cultural scene was undergoing a revolution of its own in Brooklyn. That month, choreographer Merce Cunningham and his company performed 12 dances in eight performances at BAM in his troupe’s first major New York season. It was part of the first full season of programming curated by Harvey Lichtenstein, the impresario who would go on to lead BAM for 32 years. That inaugural season emphasized dance and included runs by the companies of Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, and José Limón, as well as poetry and symphonic and jazz music programs. (The following year, BAM presented the Festival of Dance, comprising Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Erick Hawkins, Twyla Tharp, Meredith Monk, and Yvonne Rainer, as well as the above.)

Unseen Warhol

by Sarah Gentile

One of the joys as an archivist at an arts organization with a 150-plus-year history is seeing what has remained unseen for a long time. While working on the Leon Levy Digital Archives grant, we are processing photographs, video, audio, programs and ephemera that in some cases has been hidden for decades. Andy Warhol himself had a fascination with archives, going so far as to create his own version called Time Capsule 21, an art project consisting of more than 600 cardboard boxes full of ephemera from his daily life.

This fall, BAM will present Exposed: Songs for Unseen Warhol Films, a set of films never publicly shown, with accompanying music from rock icons Dean Wareham, Tom Verlaine, and Martin Rev, among others. It's not the first time Warhol's ties to rock were seen at BAM. In 1968, The Velvet Underground, the in-house band at Warhol's Factory, came to BAM for Merce Cunningham's opening night benefit. Warhol's helium-filled, mirrored, floating rectangles—what he called Silver Clouds—were also part of the New York premiere of Cunningham's RainForest, one of a set of eight performances featuring the work of composer John Cage and visual artists Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella. Then in 1989, Lou Reed and John Cale paid tribute to Warhol in the BAM-commissioned Songs for Drella, for which Warhol-inspired Campbell's soup cans and packets were created to give to the opening night audience. With the launch of the BAM archives website in 2016, expect to see more of these finds from BAM's history soon.

Excerpt from a 1968 Merce Cunningham BAM promotional mailing highlighting A Rock 
Dance; the Velvet Underground performed.

Merce Cunningham Dance Company's Legacy Tour Vlog

Merce Cunningham Dance Company made its final appearances at BAM in December in The Legacy Tour. The depth and variety of the three programs showed why he is revered as one of the all-time greats, and the impending finality made the incomparable company's performances all the more precious.

Here, we share some highlights from the run. May they tide you over for the week if you're lucky enough to have tickets to one of the very final Events at the Park Avenue Armory Dec 29—31, and if not, take a few moments to revel in these sublime performances and rerun them ad infinitum.