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Beyond the Visible: The Legacies of Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch

Beyond the Visible: The Legacies of Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch BEYOND THE VISIBLE The Legacies of Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch Emily Coates I learned about Pina Bausch’s death through an e-mail from a woman I hadn’t heard from in years, an American filmmaker who had moved to Sweden to live in the home country of Ingmar Bergman, her greatest influence. It’s a blow to the field, she empathized, adding that she mourned for months after Bergman died. Not much later, I was on tour with Yvonne Rainer in Brazil, where we learned via friends in New York that Merce Cunningham was on his deathbed. Days after we returned, Yvonne sent out an email, subject heading “Merce.” The body of the message read simply, “died today.” Losing these two pioneers in one summer took its toll upon the global dance community on many levels. I am inclined to see the loss in human terms, in its impact on dancers and viewers. I feel most acutely for the former, and I feel the philosophical implications of the latter. Last May, I attended one of the final performances of the Cunningham Company’s two-year series of installations at DIA Beacon. Near the entry to the gallery, Merce Cunningham presided over the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art MIT Press

Beyond the Visible: The Legacies of Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch

PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art , Volume 32 (2) – May 1, 2010

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References (1)

Publisher
MIT Press
Copyright
© 2010 Emily Coates
Subject
Features
ISSN
1520-281X
eISSN
1537-9477
DOI
10.1162/pajj.2010.32.2.1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

BEYOND THE VISIBLE The Legacies of Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch Emily Coates I learned about Pina Bausch’s death through an e-mail from a woman I hadn’t heard from in years, an American filmmaker who had moved to Sweden to live in the home country of Ingmar Bergman, her greatest influence. It’s a blow to the field, she empathized, adding that she mourned for months after Bergman died. Not much later, I was on tour with Yvonne Rainer in Brazil, where we learned via friends in New York that Merce Cunningham was on his deathbed. Days after we returned, Yvonne sent out an email, subject heading “Merce.” The body of the message read simply, “died today.” Losing these two pioneers in one summer took its toll upon the global dance community on many levels. I am inclined to see the loss in human terms, in its impact on dancers and viewers. I feel most acutely for the former, and I feel the philosophical implications of the latter. Last May, I attended one of the final performances of the Cunningham Company’s two-year series of installations at DIA Beacon. Near the entry to the gallery, Merce Cunningham presided over the

Journal

PAJ: A Journal of Performance and ArtMIT Press

Published: May 1, 2010

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