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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration

Name: Sarah Marie Bugeja


I.D: 301194M
Course B.A (Hons.) Music Studies



University of Malta
Music Studies Department




Discuss Cage and Cunninghams longterm
collaboration involving chance operations.




Study Unit : Composing for Dance
Code: MSP2120
Lecturer: Dr.Veronique Vella


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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration
Di scuss Cage and Cunni nghams l ongt erm
collaboration involving chance operations.

Throughout the development of the history of relationships between music and
dance the collaboration between John Cage and Merce Cunningham is certainly one of
the most interesting and innovative. Both artists were unique and together they created a
new art form which had not yet been established. A similarity between the two is that
they both deviate from what is considered traditional and both pursue what they feel is
right for them without being effected by criticism. This strong sense of individuality
creates a common ground for the two to express themselves freely and work together in
a balanced state without depending on each other. Throughout their joined careers the
two men also made use of chance operations to create different compositions and
explore, mix and create new artistic ideas and, as Cage himself once said, to use art
not as a self expression but as a self alteration.

Composer John Cage, one of the most influential creative figures of the 20th
century, musician, philosopher, visual artist and writer, Cage has been and continues to
be at the very centre of the avant-garde. He is innovative, experimental and
controversial. He began multimedia happenings, pioneered electronic music and leaded
indeterminacy in music through chance operations which were also used by
choreographer Merce Cunningham as previously stated. As he himself admits, he never
had any feeling for harmony and when Schoinberg, his teacher, told him that this would
make it impossible for him to write music and that it would eventually bring him to a wall
through which he could never pass, he simply replied with Ill beat my head against that
wall and although he might not have feeling for harmony he can certainly use rhythm
and a multitude of methods, which he established and innovated, to make composing for
dance more interesting than ever before. John Cage has challenged the way we
perceive and experience music and our surroundings and has also inspired many other
artists. For him any sound could be part of a piece of music and silence was a very
important concept since it also contained musical sounds and, although his compositions
might mislead people into thinking he is trying to be superior, he is actually trying to
show them something that they never heard before.
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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration

Merce Cunningham, choreographer and collaborator with John Cage, is also one
of the top influential figures in the dance art form. He is innovative in his own way
because he did not only shock the public and classically trained dancers but also others
specialising in modern dance with his new, vastly different, technique which was never
seen before. For Cunningham dance does not need to have a narrative but rather it is a
personal act of being where the dancer develops a character in piece yet remains
himself throughout. In his choreographies Cunningham uses the body in many different
ways ranging from very slow to extremely fast movements, using poses and moves
which push the body to its limits yet looks flawlessly natural for the dancers. His dances
were purely made as choreographic activities and had no link or attribution to a specific
meaning or interpretation of something. The dance itself would not be made to
accompany music but it would last as long as the music, at times without ever meeting in
rhythm. He choreographed solos for himself and later on for dancers but when working
with multiple dancers they were not usually treated as a group or one moving entity but
rather each individual had his or her own personal choreography, personal space and
personal solo. These solos would be juxtaposed together creating a multitude of
happenings on stage.
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With Cage being the music director for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
had to compromise with Cunningham regarding their performances and from the
beginning of their association together the two have agreed to allow music and dance to
proceed independently of one another,
each at its own pace and on its own
unfolding patterns. The music didnt have
to support the dance and nor did the
dance have to support the music and two
things could be going on at the same time
n o t n e c e s s a r i l y c o n n e c t e d o r
disconnected but two separate individual
things at the same moment which is
characteristic of life, as Cunningham
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Don. McDonagh. The rise and fall and rise of modern dance Chicago Review Press, 1990, 33
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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration
once said in an interview. This created a new art-form since melodic line and harmonic
content did not interest Cage any more than narrative development interested
Cunningham. Chance operations therefore left the two completely free to create
whatever was possible and as Cage was very much interested in Buddhism, oriental
lifestyle and particularly the I Ching, which is the book of changes, chance operations
could be used to predetermine parameters for music and or dance or even the actual
content.

In everything the two collaborators did there was a rigid structure and although
Cage knew that what he did could be misinterpreted he wanted to be free without being
foolish. Both were very conscious for the need of structure and in 1951 chance
operations were used in the choreography for the first time in Sixteen Dances for Soloist
and Company of Three to achieve structure. When using chance operations one usually
tosses three coins six times to get a number from one to sixty four which determines
certain parameters, be it section placement or movements for dancers in the case of
choreographic purposes. The piece was about a set of emotions in Indian classical
aesthetics with four light, tranquility and four dark emotions. Each section in the dance
was attributed one emotion and all had interludes between one section and the other.
Merce knew that the sections before and after an interlude had to alternate between light
and dark but it didnt matter which light or dark emotion would really be performed first
so that was where chance operations first took part in his work. Apart from this for the
interlude after fear he also used chance operations in a different manner. He created
charts for choreographic moves for four dancers and tossed the coins to determine the
choreography itself.
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From this point on the work of the two kept on exploring new results through
chance operations which would not be possible if they were to create something with
what they were most comfortable with or with what they thought would fit best. At this
point one begins to truly understand why they considered art as more of a self alteration
experience rather than solely used for self expression. For example as a result of
chance operations a dancer could have an impossible choreography made possible
where at a particular moment he would need to be down on the ground and up in mid air
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Merce Cunningham, Dancing in space and time, Da Capo Press, 1998, 136
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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration
in the next second. This led Merce do develop particular focus on how to move from
point A to point B in a dance in the most efficient and effective ways. Chance operations
forced them to explore untouched territories and to be independently creative while
working together at the same time and freeing themselves from their likes and dislikes.

Chance operations, although have the same basic
concept, can be used in different ways. Although
throughout thei r col l aborati ve career Cage and
Cunningham have both used chance they each have their
own method. In the case of Cage chance operations were
quite consistent throughout his life and he also relates
chance to fresh air or clear water, liberating him from his
own influences. Cunningham on the other hand uses
chance and the I Ching depending on certain factors. Some choreographies might be
solely devised by the I Ching while others might not. Apart from the I Ching Cunningham
also tosses coins to decide aspects like wether to use male or female dancers, the
amount of dancers or the length of a phrase. The use of chance in their pieces also
depends on the type of work they are doing. For Cunningham, for example, it might
depend on how much time is available to go into a certain amount of detail using chance
to determine minute aspects of the choreography. In his case it is also interesting to note
that using chance would entail communicating and spending time with the dancers,
which might not be always available, while in Cages case he could use chance
operations on his own and therefore they could determine more parts of his
compositions. When it comes to setting parameters to the chance operations Cage
primarily aims at the possibilities available for the music to take place first of all and uses
chance for the roots of his work rather than the more superficial aspects (example: a
door opening or not would not be considered as a root aspect in a composition but rather
as part of the external structure.)

Chance operations were used in a multitude of performances by Cage and
Cunningham. In Variations V chance actually composed the music through dance. In
this choreography the dancers themselves acted as co-composers. The piece was first
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Don. McDonagh. The rise and fall and rise of modern dance Chicago Review Press, 1990, 33
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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration
performed in 1965 and by this time Cage and Cunningham had already worked a lot
together. For this particular piece electricity sensitive metal poles were placed in different
areas of the performance space. These created a magnetic field which when interrupted
by motion, which in this case were the dancers moving around, created audiovisual
changes which altered the environment for the performers and the spectators. The
dance itself in this case although very structured is also very random, which is a
characteristic of Cunninghams work with no interest in narrative and movements
becoming a purely choreographic exercise. In the dance itself he uses potted plants and
by placing them in certain parts of the performing space. Dancers coexist together but
each dancer is treated as an individual, for example one dancer would be repeating a
move and constantly standing on her head,
curling in a ball, jumping up and turning in
mid air and repeating the phrase multiple
times while another dancer would be
watching or doing something completely
different. This individuality in all the dancers
is seamed together through the music they
create themselves by interrupting the
magnetic field onstage.

Another 1965 work which is certainly interesting to note is How to Pass Kick Fall
and Run. This choreographic work consists of the elements mentioned in the title
instead of using objects the dancers use each other's bodies and transfer themselves
from one place to another. The music on the other hand is a totally different story -
literally. Cage recites stories he wrote himself at the rate of one story per minute. They
all vary in length and require various reading speeds with some being read at really fast
speed to fit in that one minute while other short stories can be read comfortably.
Throughout the performance Cage sips at a glass of champagne while sitting out of the
way of the dancers. Sometimes the actor David Voughan would accompany Cage in the
reading of the stories, sometimes taking turns and at other times both would be reading
different stories at different paces simultaneously creating a humorous effect.
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Don. McDonagh. The rise and fall and rise of modern dance Chicago Review Press, 1990, 33
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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration
Both men have worked tougher using chance operations and they have also
collaborated with other artists incorporating visual arts and painting as part of the
performance which the dancers would use to move with. This juxtaposition of elements
established the art-form of collage which gave the spectator several elements at the
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same time for them to choose which ones needed the most attention. Apart from
collaborating with other artists both have explored a variety of possibilities in their work.
It is also important to mention Cages use of prepared piano for his chance operation
compositions with Merce. The first piece which the two worked together was in fact a
piece for prepared piano called In the Name of the Holocaust which was first performed
in 1942 and apart from having screws between the piano strings it also made use of
different piano playing technique for example literally punching the keys on the
keyboard. As we have already seen the two men both worked very hard to achieve
something which wasnt intended to shock or to impress but purely for the sake of art. In
this sense both were extremely innovative and remain as two very influential figures for
modern composition and choreography to this day.


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Roger Copeland, Merce Cunningham, Routledge New York and London, 2004, 165
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Saran Marie Bugeja 301194M Composing for dance : Cage Cunningham collaboration

Bibliography

Chance Conversations: An Interview with Merce Cunningham and John Cage, uploaded
on 27 July 2009, URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNGpjXZovgk

Copeland, Roger, Merce Cunningham, Routledge New York and London, 2004,

Cornelius Cardew, Cage and Cunningham, The Musical Times, Vol. 105, No. 1459
(Sep., 1964) , pp. 659-660 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd., Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/950245

Cunningham, Merce, Dancing in space and time, Da Capo Press, 1998,

Leta E. Miller Cage, Cunningham, and Collaborators: The Odyssey of "Variations V,
The Musical Quarterly Vol. 85, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001) , pp. 545-567, Published by:
Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3600996

McDonagh, Don. The rise and fall and rise of modern dance Chicago Review Press,
1990

Perloff, M. (2012). Difference and Discipline: The Cage/Cunningham Aesthetic Revisited.
Contemporary Music Review, 31(1), 19-35.
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