Comments on: Merce Cunningham http://www.vencldance.org/2009/07/31/merce-cunningham/ the new dance Sun, 05 Dec 2010 20:50:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Susan Vencl http://www.vencldance.org/2009/07/31/merce-cunningham/comment-page-1/#comment-312 Susan Vencl Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:07:13 +0000 http://www.vencldance.org/?p=683#comment-312 The space is a work space. Creation goes on there daily. People learn how to dance and perform there. Out of each of its 10 huge windows is a panoramic, 11th floor view of New York City. The space perfectly equipped for making and performing dances in this City. What I as a choreographer must have abosolutely, is enough room to articulate momentums, gusts of energy, to explore how they emerge, surge, subside and transform. Merce did influence my choreography. He helped me release my imagination because I knew that in the end there would be room enough for the consequences. Phrases would fit. If I wanted a leap I could have it. Merce made available to other City choreographers the tools he himself needed to make his own work and show it informally. Renting out this space he loved to other unknown choreographers cost, it did not earn money. Inevitably there was wear and tear on equipment; also arranging and overseeing productions and audiences required dedicated and skilled staff. The Cunningham Dance Studio has been a priceless gift to the New York City dance community and perhaps it will continue to be. Funding for next year has been cut. The space is a work space. Creation goes on there daily. People learn how to dance and perform there. Out of each of its 10 huge windows is a panoramic, 11th floor view of New York City. The space perfectly equipped for making and performing dances in this City. What I as a choreographer must have abosolutely, is enough room to articulate momentums, gusts of energy, to explore how they emerge, surge, subside and transform. Merce did influence my choreography. He helped me release my imagination because I knew that in the end there would be room enough for the consequences. Phrases would fit. If I wanted a leap I could have it. Merce made available to other City choreographers the tools he himself needed to make his own work and show it informally. Renting out this space he loved to other unknown choreographers cost, it did not earn money. Inevitably there was wear and tear on equipment; also arranging and overseeing productions and audiences required dedicated and skilled staff.

The Cunningham Dance Studio has been a priceless gift to the New York City dance community and perhaps it will continue to be. Funding for next year has been cut.

]]> By: Margaret Gosden http://www.vencldance.org/2009/07/31/merce-cunningham/comment-page-1/#comment-245 Margaret Gosden Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:46:58 +0000 http://www.vencldance.org/?p=683#comment-245 It was really interesting to read your tribute to, and reminders of Merce Cunningham's career. That you performed CHANGING PLACES at his studio recently was a treat.... in that the piece seemed to reflect something of his influence upon your work, enhanced by the ambience of the space so much created by him. I very much enjoyed the performance. It was really interesting to read your tribute to, and reminders of Merce Cunningham’s career. That you performed CHANGING PLACES at his studio recently was a treat…. in that the piece seemed to reflect something of his influence upon your work, enhanced by the ambience of the space so much created by him. I very much enjoyed the performance.

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