The Playful Legacy of Merce Cunningham

Joan Acocella, for The New Yorker:

In addition, the concert recalled a time that many of us have probably forgotten, or never knew, when dance was not yet almost by definition a political action—before questions of gender, race, and the like became so central to the contemporary arts scene. When Cunningham and his partner, John Cage, were starting out, in the nineteen-forties and fifties, they, too, were operating in a realm of political strife: not just the Second World War but then the Cold War, and the Red-baiting (aimed especially at people like Cage and Cunningham).

Photo: Paola Kudacki

Nov 19, 2018 Dance