Walker exhibition shines spotlight on Merce Cunningham

A huge new exhibit opening Wednesday at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis celebrates the legacy of choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham and highlights his influence on more than half a century of art.

"Merce Cunningham: Common Time" fills seven Walker galleries with artwork, moving images and live performance. Cunningham himself seems to be everywhere: from black and white photos and films of his early solo work, through the formation of his company, to the experimental films of his later career.

In them we see Cunningham's stern, foxlike face, topped by a cloud of curls, as his twisting and turning body creates shape and movement. There are dozens of colorful costumes alongside stage sets, show posters and choreography charts. And everywhere there is sound, experimental music that can attract and repel — sometimes simultaneously.

The items on show are just some of the more than 4,000 in the Cunningham Dance archive, now housed at the Walker.

Philip Bither, the Walker's performing arts curator, said Cunningham changed the nature of American dance. He moved away from the idea that dances told stories, or were a metaphor for something else: dance stood alone.

"As an abstract, beautiful experience of what it was, itself," Bither said. "Merce often said, 'Dance is what I do, and it is what it is.'"

Cunningham spent his career seeking new ways of doing things. He became infamous for using what he called chance operations, rolling dice or flipping a coin to form his choreography. It seems like a recipe for chaos, but Cunningham said during an appearance at the Walker in 2008 that it helped free his imagination.

"It makes you see and think differently, for one thing," he said. "But you do see possibilities you otherwise might have missed."

Cunningham was known for his rigor and discipline when it came to movement. He also believed in collaboration with musicians and composers, including his life partner John Cage, as well as painters such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Both were stage managers for the Cunningham Company, creating sets for the productions. However, it was a collaboration where the dance, the music and the decor were created entirely independently. Bither said usually dancers didn't hear the music or see the set until they stepped on stage opening night.

"There's a certain kind of synergy and almost Zen-like philosophy that, when you bring these elements together, they will make their own magic, and the audience will bring part of themselves to making and finding those connections," said Bither.

Fans loved it. Others were mystified. Cunningham pressed on, regardless, right up until his death in 2009. He was 90.

Just walking through the Walker galleries, with the sound and images from many shows swirling around, becomes a Cunningham performance in itself. For the first few weeks, visitors are likely to encounter live dancers performing slowly in the galleries. Other major dance and music events are planned in conjunction with the show.

Cunningham had a long relationship with the Walker, starting with a performance in 1963. Bither says he can only imagine the scene when Cunningham and crew rolled into town.

"Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, all in a Volkswagen minibus, with Rauschenberg's famous 'Minutia' set-piece strapped to the top of the van. This piece is of course now worth millions and millions of dollars."

It's in the show. Bither says he hopes "Merce Cunningham: Common Time" will give people a new understanding of Cunningham's significance. He also hopes it will highlight how Cunningham's collaborations reshaped the dozens of major artists in other art forms with whom he worked.

"The way they thought about their own work, and the way they made sculptures or installations or paintings, changed after working with Cunningham," he said.

Bither said that influence is still rippling through the arts world, making Merce Cunningham still remarkably relevant today.