Game of contrasts
Giannandrea Poesio
There are dance styles that age and dance styles that remain vibrantly fresh. Merce Cunningham's choreography belongs to the latter category, as last week's world premiere of Fluid Canvas demonstrated. The 83-year-old choreographer, arguably the sole surviving great master of American modern dance, has created a visually engaging and thought-provoking 25-minute-long work that stands out for its breathtaking immediacy. Although recognisable and one is tempted to say 'traditional' Cunningham choreographic features punctuate the piece, Fluid Canvas is anything but a repetition of formulae seen before.
The work, commissioned by the Barbican to mark the 50th anniversary of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and dedicated to Dance Umbrella's founder, Val Bourne, is the result of the choreographer's latest thorough investigation of dance and performance-making. As such, it combines a number of different elements, which range from the use of computer-generated images — now a familiar component of Cunningham's creative process — to the creation of a geometrical but not necessarily symmetrical use of the space that contrasts with and counterpoints the percussive score of John King.
As usual with Cunningham, dance, rhythm and images remain totally independent of each other, only coming together on the opening night in line with a unique creative process that has inspired generations of modern and post-modern dancemakers. The intentional lack of fine-tuning between one component of the dance and another is never unpleasantly apparent. King's percussive outbursts blend perfectly with the refined modern neo-classicism of the dancers' movements, and so do the images projected on the back screen, where one can catch glimpses of a 'motion-capture' sequence displaying the choreographer's hands in what looks like a virtual reality game.
But it is the movement that captivates the viewers and monopolises their attention. The luxuriously rich and inventive choreography relies on a complex yet ultra-refined game of contrasts in which sharp, angular solutions combine with lyri
cal motifs, The overall effect is both gripping and dazzling, and the whole danced action appears to become more and more incandescent as it progresses. There is no final explosion, though, for the work ends unexpectedly in total darkness, thus remaining perfectly in line with the artistic creed of a choreographer who rejected long ago the standard mode of a dance performance to explore movement for movement's sake.
I am not sure why such a superb example of Cunningham's art has been coupled with Interscape, for, in my view, the pairing did not work at all. Boasting designs by Robert Rauschenberg and music by John Cage, the composer with whom Cunningham has had a long, fruitful collaboration, this 2000 dance creation does not have the same exhilarating and mesmerising effect which Fluid Canvas achieves. Unlike the first item on the programme, Interseape focuses on what appears to be, from the viewer's perspective, a not-so-challenging series of choreographic solutions that generates far too often a rather annoying, and eventually tiresome, light-hearted and playful atmosphere. The diverse content and nature of the two pieces could have created a splendid chiaroscuro. Still, for some odd reason it did not, and I wonder whether the programme would have had a greater impact had the tvvo works swapped places — but then no dancer could have embarked on Fluid Canvas after the 45-minute-long Interscape.
Luckily, not all the audience seemed to share my final reservations. A good number of enthusiastic and well-deserved ovations greeted each of the superb dancers of the company as well as the choreographer himself, who appeared at the end with that mysteriously engaging, mystic-like smile everyone in the dance world knows well and loves so much. I cannot think of a better way to inaugurate this year's Dance Umbrella season, which, at least on paper, looks temptingly rich and varied. Go and grab some tickets now, if you do not want to miss any of the super events in store.
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