Seattle plays host to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s Legacy Tour, a two-year celebratory tour which offers audiences an opportunity to see the company perform before it disbands at the end of 2011. Founded in 1953 by the legendary choreographer and Cornish alum, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company embarked on its final tour after Merce Cunningham’s passing in 2009. The Tour is a celebration of his lifetime of artistic achievement, and a way to ensure the preservation of his artistic legacy.
Coinciding with the Legacy Tour in Seattle, Cornish is thrilled to commemorate and honor the life and work of Merce Cunningham by welcoming a new artwork to the campus. Merce, a seven-foot bronze sculpture by Cornish alum Steve Jensen was made possible by a generous gift from the Cunningham family, and is located at the apex of Denny, Boren Avenue and Lenora Street, near the Main Campus Center in Seattle. A formal dedication of the sculpture will take place October 25 at 4:30 pm.
The Legacy Tour in Seattle is presented collaboratively by the Seattle Theatre Group, Cornish College of the Arts, Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theater, Seattle Art Museum, On the Boards, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Performances are October 27 and 29 at the Paramount Theater. Tickets are available here.
Merce Cunningham, a Centralia, Washington native, is considered one of the most important dancers and choreographers of our time. His artistic career was distinguished by constant innovation, and distinctive collaborations with musicians and visual artists to create an unparalleled body of American dance, music, and visual art. Under his leadership, The Merce Cunningham Dance Company has had a profound impact on American art and the avant-garde since it’s founding. Cunningham’s radical approach to space, time, and technology helped forge the company’s distinctive style, reflecting his technique and bringing to light the near limitless possibility for human movement.
The Merce Cunningham Dance Company embarked on its final, two-year world tour beginning in February 2010 at the Wexner Center in Columbus Ohio. Celebrating Cunningham’s lifetime of artistic achievement, the Legacy Tour showcases 18 seminal works from throughout his career, including the revival of seven historic dances, and offers audiences around the world one last chance to see Cunningham’s choreography performed by the company he trained. The Tour currently encompasses more than 50 cities and will stop in Seattle before the final performance in New York City, the company’s home since it was founded in 1953.
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Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Merce in Seattle
