The world lost a creative luminary when Merce Cunningham passed away in July of this year. Cunningham’s approach to choreography—divorced from music, rejecting exterior symbolism, as a pure, self-contained form in its own right—reshaped the way we think about dance. Few artists since have so wholeheartedly resisted signification and embraced all styles of movement with equal sincerity and success. This weekend, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will stage two dance “Events” (though shifting variables of music and visual design will make each performance unique) over the course of three days at the Dance Center. With musical contribution by Robert Woodbury, the Dance Center’s music director, and visual art by Columbia College professor Anna Kunz, each Event is a choreographic collage of excerpts from the company’s repertory, performed alongside other media that stand apart, yet speak to one another in spontaneous and unexpected ways. Cunningham created his events to be site-specific and immediate. I can think of few venues in Chicago more intimate to experience this work. (Sharon Hoyer)
At the Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan, (312)369-8330. Thursday, Oct 1 at 8pm, Friday, Oct 2 at 8pm, Saturday, Oct 3 at 3 and 8pm. $38
