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
-
Ronan Bouroullec book merges art, design and everyday life‘Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day’, from Phaidon, is a visual inventory of the French designer’s work, artistic output and daily inspiration
-
Inside the gleaming new Comme des Garçons store in Paris
Comme des Garçons reveals a four-storey new retail space in Paris, housing lines previously only available in Japan, as well as exclusive reissues of Rei Kawakubo’s collectible furniture
-
Eva Jospin and Ruinart put the fizz in Frieze London 2023
Champagne house Ruinart brings artist Eva Jospin’s vision of its terroir to Frieze London 2023, and celebrates with a limited edition Jeroboam of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs
-
How to conquer the Atomic City: the story behind U2 at the new Las Vegas Sphere
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere redefines the 21st-century rock concert. We spoke to the band and its team about the genesis of this expansive art and music experience that marks the opening of the high-tech venue
-
Ranjani Shettar’s site-specific sculptures unveiled in Barbican Conservatory
Ranjani Shettar’s ‘Cloud songs on the horizon’ suspends sculptures amid the Barbican Conservatory’s plant life
-
Stephen Galloway on turning movement into magic
Creative movement director Stephen Galloway, photographed here by Paul Mpagi Sepuya, on making the magic happen, from turning up Mick Jagger ‘150 per cent’ to creating the moves that sent Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ video viral
-
The world’s first AI ballet has arrived, and it's setting the bar high
The first-ever AI ballet is here, directed and composed by speech artist and musician Harry Yeff (AKA Reeps100), and performed by the Leipzig Ballet
-
‘Punk ballerina’ Karole Armitage debuts a genre-bending show in New York
Karole Armitage, the choreographer behind Madonna’s Vogue video and Marc Jacobs’ A/W 2021 show, debuts A Pandemic Notebook at New York Live Arts
-
Dance Reflections: progressive new festival blends art and movement
The inaugural edition of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival marks a bold new fixture on the performing arts calendar. In London from 9 – 23 March 2022, the initiative has been conceived in collaboration with Sadler’s Wells, the Royal Opera House and Tate Modern. Here’s what to expect
-
Forty years of the Barbican Centre: an art utopia made concrete
Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre, published to coincide with the institution’s 40th anniversary, explores the birth of the Barbican, its storied history and its unparalleled impact on contemporary arts and culture
-
New dance performance features costumes made of spider silk
Mist is the second collaboration between choreographer Damien Jalet and artist Kohei Nawa, with spider silk costumes designed by Sruli Recht
