Cunningham
'I never was interested in dancing that referred to a mood or a feeling, or in a sense expressed the music... the dancing does not refer, it is what it is. It's that whole visual experience.' Words uttered by American choreographer Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) to express his view on dance as an art form; a rather revolutionising view at a time โ the 1950s โwhen choreography was generally used as a vehicle for telling a story. For Cunningham, the choreography itself was the story. He introduced never-before-seen movements and used what he called "chance operations" in his choreography. Artists from other disciplines โ including composer John Cage, visual artists Robert Rauschenberg and Bruce Nauman โ enjoyed collaborating with Cunningham.
Filmmaker Alla Kovgan portrays Cunningham's life and work using archive footage, interviews and recordings of his main choreographies, beautifully combining all in a harmonious blending of poetry, music and dance, filmed in 3D.