Dance by Chance and Study Times

Dear Simone–

Let me sum up my whole weekend for you in advance of its passing: study times. I have four midterms and a paper due on Monday (the paper is the second part of my French midterm, and yeah, it will be written in that same language). I also need to do some reading/rereading so that I will be ready to tackle the more sizable paper that I will be turning in on Thursday for my Islam and Modernity class (the class as a whole convinced my professor to assign it over spring break–why? I don't know– but I will be going on that dig with my paleontology class, and I either won't be able to or won't want to work on a long paper during that time, so I requested an earlier set of dates, which my professor agreed to). As a speedy alternative, may I offer you some links, as promised?

BUT FIRST, SOMETHING FROM THE ARTISTIC WORLD:: DANCE:
Merce Cunningham's company will no longer be touring after one final two-year turn about the world. This is devastating news (for me at least) since the Cunningham company was a long-standing favorite of mine and since the part of their tour that brought them to my neck of the woods has already passed without giving me a chance to catch them. Apart from his early success as a performer under Martha Graham, Cunningham also:
1) Created a school of dance thought about movement that initiates from the spine.
2) Engaged in the intellectual conversation about the relationship of music and dance. His stance on the matter was developed with his artistic partner and lover, the avant garde musician John Cage, and was basically an idea that dance and music should exist independently of one another, although put side by side. Cunningham often rehearsed without music, and the first time his performers would hear what they were moving to would be the moment that they were on stage performing it in front of their opening night audience. Just because he used one song on a particular night did not mean that he would use that same song for the next night's performance, or indeed any music at all.
3) Developed the most sophisticated dance software available to date (DanceForms, which he developed by attaching sensors to the bodies of dancers as they moved).
4) Came out with a sophisticated idea of randomization in dance, famously called "Dance by Chance". He used the I Ching, phone numbers, letters in names and more to create individual movements/determine the order of segments of choreography, sometimes in the minutes before his dancers were to go on stage. No two productions of certain pieces were the same. Put this with the music situation, and it rapidly becomes apparent that dancers in his company had to have a certain level of fluidity in their performing abilities.
5) Really made it possible to see dance as a philosophical (not just an artistic) pursuit. The list of his contributions to the art form continue, but I will cease while I'm ahead. I loved this man.
Some of his pieces included:
–Biped (I apologize for this version of the dance but there aren't many available online–bear with it though and you can see the animated silhouette projections that helped to make this dance so cutting edge. This is probably Cunningham's most famous piece.)
–Ocean (Again, apologies. He's too intellectual of a choreographer for people to resist making commentary over his works. This piece had many possible segments that could or could not be performed. The full work, if performed one segment after the other, runs around 90 minutes.)
–Sounddance (Another classic Cunningham.)
–Pod (As they enter the theater, audience members are handed an iPod shuffle with earbuds. As the piece is performed, there are several songs on the shuffle which the audience member can switch between, so every audience member's viewing experience would be different, because even if you listen to the same song, different movements will be happening at different times in the music. This also frees the dancers to talk to each other on stage as they perform.)
–Nearly Ninety (The last piece of choreography that Merce himself prepared for the stage.)
So there you have it. The skeleton of the passage of a really great artist, a technological mind, and a philosopher at heart through this world and into the next. His company is slowly shutting down their repertory (the page listing it doesn't even have half the pieces on it that were there two years prior) and work is being done to digitally preserve the legacy of Merce Cunningham. Cunningham died in the summer of 2009, around when I was at Governor's School.

LINKS OF THE DAY:
A pie I made last night with some friends. It takes very little time to make. Uneaten, for now.

John Cage (Merce Cunningham's romantic and artistic partner) wrote the famous musical piece 4'33". I'll tell you more about him sometime. He's also an interesting bird, but in the field of music.

Oh yes. After you read this, hit the random button for hours of possible entertainment.

This song is stuck in my head today. Bon Iver is good stuff. Dark Was the Night was an album compiled by a whole host of talented indie artists as an effort to raise money and awareness about HIV and AIDS.

Scant as that is for links, I am afraid that I must offski to do studious things. I will try to post again soon. À bientôt, cherie!

Swingingly yours,
moi