Star cast produces Merce Cunningham’s centenary ballet
Night of 100 solos is an intimate yet far-reaching performance event, with set design by the late Richard Hamilton, and music in part by Christian Marclay

Merce Cunningham shifted modern dance on its axis. Now, ten years after his death, and 100 years since his birth, London’s Barbican has celebrated the choreographers legacy with a fittingly groundbreaking performance: Night of 100 Solos. The challenging work played for just one night in April, and saw sister performances in New York and LA. A total of 100 solos graced stages, many in unison, with 25 performers per location.
The Barbican event showcased important dancers on the London circuit. Siobhan Davies continues her relationship with the institution, after her fascinating installation with Glithero at Barbican in 2017, alongside standout performances from Billy Trevitt and Michael Nunn (of BalletBoyz fame) and Beatriz Stix-Brunell. In Cunningham’s distinct style, dancers became insectile and angular, while possessing a kind of intangible grace. ‘If you're not trained in Merce Cunningham it just feels completely awkward, and you feel completely ugly for the first couple of rehearsals,’ says Nunn in an accompanying film promoting the performance. ‘And then it all slowly starts to make sense. I think that’s the beauty of it.’
Merce Cunningham Trust, Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event. Siobhan Davies and Harry Alexander. Photography: Stephen Wright
The Marcel Duchamp-inspired was as intriguing as the dancers. Swathing projections by late artist Richard Hamilton backlit the stage. They’re taken from Shadows Cast by Readymades – a black-and-white video collage that Hamilton made for a Cunningham performance at the Barbican in 2005, directly drawing on the works of Duchamp. Hamilton’s set design for the original performance (which took place on 14 June 2005) comprised a projected collage of film and photographs that reflected on Duchamp’s readymades; mixing images with text from his publication the Green Box. The projects reflect Duchamp’s interest in movement and gravity – an apposite theme to connect with Cunningham's performance.
An upturned watering can rotates obliquely, spilling nothing, as two dancers in pivot in uncoordinated isolation. A dancer clad in lurid pink lycra performs a simple routine of Battement frappé, under the shadow of an enormous black umbrella. All the while a corkscew descends ominously on the screen behind.
A star-cast production continues with the score, performed in part by artist and former Wallpaper* Guest Editor Christian Marclay, alongside Mira Benjamin, John Lely, and Anton Lukoszevieze, coordinated by Christian Wolff. John Cage-esque, filled with metallic riffs, tinny sequences, and the odd scream, one imagines its not the easiest score to dance to. Indeed, the performers are said to have heard it for the first when the curtain rose. Instead, they dance around the music – another Cunningham technique that’s been honoured, in order to spark a sense of organic connection between dancer, musician and audience.
Merce Cunningham Trust, Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event. Hannah Kidd, Siobhan Davies, and Billy Trevitt. Photography: Stephen Wright
Merce Cunningham Trust, Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event, ensemble. Photography: Stephen Wright
INFORMATION
Merce Cunningham: Night of 100 solos was performed on 16 April 2019. For more information, visit the Barbican website
ADDRESS
Barbican
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 shows
The Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to know
Designing the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spot
Heritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Watch dance, music and film collide at a unique event at Abbey Road Studios
In this exclusive film, watch Abbey Road’s first Artist in Residence, Jordan Rakei, collaborate with industry-leading creatives to produce a dance performance in the hallowed Studio One
-
The Barbican as muse: composer Shiva Feshareki on bringing the brutalist icon to life through music
For the last two years, British-Iranian experimental composer and turntablist Shiva Feshareki has been drawing on the Barbican’s hidden history as a gateway for her new piece. She talks to Wallpaper* about her Brutalist muse
-
Bringing the audience in: why artists are building their homes on stage
From Sabrina Carpenter to Rex Orange County, artists are reimagining their stage sets as extensions of their own homes. Lisa Wright meets set designers Stufish to find out why
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next Door
The Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
-
‘A gentleness in the hard truths’: behind the scenes at Slave Play
Slave Play, London is on at the Noël Coward theatre – Amah-Rose Abrams reports on a ‘hilarious, tender, confronting’ performance and its masterful mirrored set
-
Looking at people looking at art: inside the mind of a gallery attendant
Visitor experience workers at London’s Tate Modern, Serpentine, Barbican and V&A share what it’s like to watch people looking at art during a time of changing attention spans and rising vandalism
-
Ibrahim Mahama tells us why he has covered the Barbican in pink fabric
Ibrahim Mahama's 'Purple Hibiscus' has transformed the Barbican’s Lakeside Terrace
-
Wayne McGregor’s new work merges genetic code, AI and choreography
Company Wayne McGregor has collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a series of works, ‘Autobiography (v95 and v96)’, at Sadler’s Wells (12 – 13 March 2024)