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sam mu rekao kako bi to trebalo da bude. Tako se desilo«. Mada Cunningham-ova upotreba slučaja i prirodnlh pokreta sugerlra pored en je sa invencljama dadaista, njegovi slučajni aranžmam mogu biti izvanredno ikompllkovani a njegovi prirodni pokreti oblčno imaju praktičnu osnovu. Cunningham je veoma svestan značaja metoda rada. iNezadovoljan tehnlčklm stavom i konvencionalnim načinom vežbi Marthe Graham, on je odluöio da sam podučava igrače. »Počeo sam da podučavam druge da bih mogao da realizujem svoje sopstvene koreografije«. Na Cunnlngham-ove studente primenjuje se jedinstven metod, koji se sastoji u tome da se centralna tačka ravnoteže nalazi u donjim regionima kičme. On izlaže svoja lična otkrića u anatomici sa uverenjem pravog naudnika. »Kada Ijudska struktura odbaci sve udove onda iskrsava problem ravnoteže. Kreta su morala da održavaju ravnotežu. Jednom kada sam imao problema sa leđima, postalo mi je jasno da jedna tačka u leđima (krstima) dozvoljava teki da bude što pokretljivlje«. Njegove vežbe ističu slobodnu upotrebu ce loga tela, ali on ne forslra korak kod ig rada. »Dozvoljavam da svaki igrač ožlvi svojim sopstvenim pokretima. Pokret Ima isto onollko varijanti koliko I razllčltih Ij udì koji se kreću«. U Cunningham-ovoj igri, medijum je poruka. Njegova koreografija izbegava konvencionalne psihološke i govorne načine opštenja sa tradioionalnlm vremensko-prostornim odnoslma, jer igra slavi svoje sopstvene forme. Po njegovim redima, -njena snaga oseóanja lezi u psihičkom liku, prolaznom Ili statičnom«. Stoga njegove igre bude iraziiöite vrste reagovanja kod pojedinih posmatraoa i mogu se menjati od predstave do predstave. Doživljaj Cunningham-ove igre ije neposredan i direktan. Kao Pinterove drame ili Pollookovo slikarstvo, one na znače već jesu. Kada se Cunningham vine u vazduh, izgleda da njegovo telo negira vreme I prostor. Neko je potsetio na Jeatsovu metaforu kosmičke harmonlje izraženu u pitanju; »kako možemo razHkovati igrača od igre?« Cunningham je rekao da je igra božanskog porekla. »Ali, njen naglasak nije na onome otkuda pokret, već na onome Sta je ona stvarno kada igrač Igra«. Duboki doživljaj Cunningham-ove igre sličan je njegovom opisu »najsvetlijlh i najpunijih životnih trenutaka, onih koji nemaju proSlosti ni buduónosti; koji se dogode, kako bi se rekio, tek tako; dok su radnja, glumac i gledalac neldentlfikovani, kada je il um uhvaćen na pola puta«. (Suzanne Fields)

the cmningham aesthetic You have to love dancing to stick with it. it gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive, it Is not for unsteady souls. (Merce Cunningham) EIGHT DANCERS clad in ragged costumes meet across a stage in changing patterns of startling movement. Twenty-five helium-filled pillows of glittering aluminum foil float above and around the dancers with a buoyancy which seems to express a lyrical counterpoint of chance movement. Strange sounds suggestive of bird calls and waterfalls resound from an electronic music score. The work is called Rainforest, with decor by Andy Warhol and sound score by David Tudor. It is one of six dances Merce Cunningham and Company will be performing at Lisner Auditorium Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Cunningham returns to this city after a 10-year absence, in which he has gained an international reputation. Whereas his former fame was confused with controversy associated with problems of the avant-garde, he now is generally recognized as one of the most important influential talents in the contemporary dance world. Despite professional acclaim, luxury is still not one of the Cunningham company’s hallmarks. Presently their studio is housed In an inauspicious building on Third Avenue in New York. A red door opens onto steps in a dingy hallway, but the reception room is cheerfully decorated with artistic posters celebrating the world tours of Cunningham & Co. in French, Spanish, German and Japanese. The space is adequate, but the ceilings are treacherous and the dancers are warned to beware of falling plaster. The future bodes well, however, as the company plans to move into larger quarters in the new Westbeth Artists' housing complex downtown. As Cunningham nears 50, his strong, sensitive face, handsomely framed with grayish curls, suggests a mixture of Eastern serenity and Western energy, a penetrating wisdom coupled with an alert, vlg-

orous spirit. His manner is one of gentleness and generosity. His elegant bodyhe stands 6 feet 1 and is long in the torso still expresses an animal animation in dance. He moves with incredible speed which punctuates his precision stillness. He once wrote that “the nature of dancing is stillness in movement and movement in stillness, as a plant waits to grow, or as the flash of lightning hangs in the air.” His dancers are dedicated to the Cunningham aesthetic and have worked for little more than expenses, supplementing their incomes with teaching. Even now as audiences grow, there is not enough money to pay dancers for all of their rehearsal time. There is the well-known tale of the State Department’s refusal to provide funds for the company in 1966 when It was invited to represent this country in the highly regarded Paris International Dance Festival. Instead, Spanish painter Joan Miro donated a painting to be sold to cover their travel costs. When Cunningham was awarded the gold star for choreography, the major prize of the festival, a U.S. Embassy official received it in his absence, and rather than giving the award to the dancer's business administrator, sent it on to Washington. Finally Cunningham received the prize by mail. Forty cents postage was due. But finances are looking up. Recently the Cunningham Dance Company became one of the resident companies at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It also received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Cunningham rejects words like “abstract" to describe his work. “How can anything dealing Iwith the human body be abstract?" he queries. And instead of “avant-garde," he prefers to consider his work with regard to “ideas which are pertinent to what is going on." "1 am concerned with things which open horizons, make minds jump those moments when the mind can make a leap," he says. “Such times are revelations." ' He reminisces about hearing architect Buckminster Fuller speak at Black Mountain College. “His talking, what I called Bucky Fuller's magic show, was filled with affirmation about life. I think of dancing like that. It Is a marvelous art, forever fascinating. I like to watch someone move. Anybody moving can provide a revelatory experience, like watching a wild animal. Only I am concerned with movement contained within the skin of a human, which gives an experience you cannot in any other way." Cunningham's choreographic ideas are

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