100 Years of Merce Cunningham
AVAILABLE NOW UNTIL MAY 21
65 MINUTES
Be transported back to our 2019 AGO Live presentation, 100 Years of Merce Cunningham, set in the Art Gallery of Ontario's atrium, Walker Court. Featuring accompaniment by pianist Adam Tendler (NYC), in the style of John Cage.
ACT ONE
Cunningham Centennial Solos: Toronto by Merce Cunningham
On April 16, 2019, to celebrate what would have been Merce Cunningham's 100th birthday, 100 solos choreographed by the modernist icon were presented live in New York, Los Angeles and London, as well as livestreamed online to the globe in "Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event". Cunningham Centennial Solos: Toronto presented a selection of these same solos to Toronto, in celebration of Merce's centenary year, as part of one of the first performances of Cunningham in Canada since 2010.
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ACT TWO
A newly recorded conversation between Ilter Ibrahimof, Fall for Dance North Artistic Director, Bojana Stancic, AGO Assistant Curator of Live Projects and Performance, and Dylan Crossman, of The Merce Cunningham Trust.
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ACT THREE
Changing Steps by Merce Cunningham
To be performed in any order, in any space and in any combination, Changing Steps consists of ten solos, five duets, three trios, two quartets, and two quintets. Eight dance artists from Ryerson School of Performance oscillate between performing these movements either in sequential fashion, one after another, or overlapped, with many of the individual dances taking place simultaneously.
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Photo: Christian Allen in Cunningham Centennial Solos: Toronto by Merce Cunningham, arranged by Dylan Crossman, as part of "100 Years of Merce Cunningham" at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo by Marlowe Porter.
Summerspace
PAST EVENT
A Canadian Exclusive Presentation
20 MINUTES
Performed by Ballet West (Salt Lake City, USA)
Summerspace is indicative of Cunningham’s unique collaborative method, in which the score, the set design, and the choreography were created independently from each other. Together, the movement, music and décor give the effect of a balmy, summer day. Dressed in painted leotards, the dancers move about the stage in sudden bursts of speed and suspensions, zigzagging every which way, like flying creatures. The delicate music, at times sounds like bubbles of water rising to the surface, and at others, with a muffled rumble in the bass, like distant thunder.
Ballet West is one of a very few companies world wide to produce this fascinating exploration into movement, music, and art.
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Photo: Ballet West Demi Soloist Josh Whitehead in Summerspace by Merce Cunningham. Photo by Beau Pearson.