Nearly 90²
A visionary choreographer, Merce Cunningham tirelessly reinvented the vocabulary of contemporary dance for over half a century. His importance in dance is comparable to that of Samuel Beckett in theatre, James Joyce in literature or Marcel Duchamp in the visual arts. Over time, his choreographies became a sort of new classicism, with the clarity and precision of the corporal architecture (conveyed by his masterful yet modest dancers) imposing a compelling beauty. Three months before his death last July, he created his last dance piece at age 90. A legacy piece that is the culmination of a long creative life, Nearly 90² is performed by thirteen exceptional dancers experienced in meeting his demanding standards and his insistence on clarity and refinement. Solos, duos, trios and quartets burst forth like a constant kaleidoscopic rearrangement, a swarming of lives open to the imagination. The Festival opens with this piece, one last chance for Montreal audiences to be dazzled by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. A Canadian exclusive!
“Throughout its history, the Cunningham company has showcased a number of the world’s greatest dancers; certainly it does so today. Mr. Cunningham gives each one extraordinary, individual moments (...). Mr. Cunningham’s dance imagination actually appears more fertile than ever before. Onward!”
The New York Times, 2009
“Merce Cunningham, the man knows as America’s Nijinsky. (...) His moves are awkward and sublime, full of imagination and possibility. The body in space is his laboratory, always riped for experimentation. (…) it succeeded in being touthful, fresh and weird all at once.”
The Economist, 2009
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Music: a re-envisioned composition by John Paul Jones, Takehisa Kosugi
Costume design: Anna Finke
Lighting design: Christine Shallenberg
Live musicians: Takehisa Kosugi, John King
Dancers: Brandon Collwes, Dylan Crossman, Julie Cunningham, Emma Desjardins, Jennifer Goggans, John Hinrichs, Daniel Madoff, Rashaun Mitchell, Marcie Munnerlyn, Silas Riener, Jamie Scott, Melissa Toogood, Andrea Weber
Production: Merce Cunningham Dance Company (New York)
Coproduction: Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York), barbicanbite10 (London), Comunidad de Madrid Teatros Canal and Festival Internacional Madrid en Danza, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Festival d’Automne à Paris
In association with Place des Arts
Text: Michèl Febvre
English Translation: Neil Kroetsch
Photos: Anna Finke