美国国家公共电台 NPR Exhibition Celebrates Merce Cunningham And His Choreography Of Chance

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

For decades, Merce Cunningham the dancer and choreographer¹ delighted his many fans and perplexed² and mystified some others. Merce Cunningham died in 2009 at the age of 90. Now a new exhibition at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis take stock of his career and legacy³. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr reports the show makes the case that Merce Cunningham not only shaped modern dance, but had a major influence on music and visual art.

EUAN KERR, BYLINE⁴: In an airy gallery at the Walker Art Center, four former members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform in bright primary colored unitards.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Vocalizing).

KERR: They twist, glide⁵ and strut⁶ through movements the choreographer created. In the Cunningham tradition, the performers hadn't heard it before stepping on stage. In fact, the vocalist and double bass⁷ player improvise⁸ much of the 30-minute score.

PHILIP BITHER: It's still considered radical⁹, the idea that people don't move to the music or on a beat or don't build their dance forms - the choreography around the music itself.

KERR: Walker performing arts curator Philip Bither says Cunningham was always seeking new ways of moving. That's why he used what he called chance operations in his choreography. He rolled dice¹⁰ or tossed coins to decide how to combine different movements and phrases. In an appearance at the Walker a year before he died, he explained it was a way of opening himself to possibility.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MERCE CUNNINGHAM: And offer you a chance to see, regardless of whether it's movement or something else, a different way to, oh, I never would've thought of that.

KERR: However, that chance element was combined with extreme rigor¹¹. Rashaun Mitchell danced with the Cunningham Company for more than a decade.

RASHUAN MITCHELL: You know, we would rehearse a piece for months in silence to the point where it would just be imprinted¹² into our muscle memory.

KERR: Mitchell says this was vital when faced with performing to an unknown score in an entirely¹³ new set.

MITCHELL: So I think that's the lesson that I learned the most from working with him - was sort of to be open to the unknown.

KERR: The choreographer didn't limit himself to stage work. His exploration of movement extended to collaborations with filmmaker Charles Atlas¹⁵ who has a number of pieces in the Walker show.

CHARLES ATLAS: He was certainly aware of presenting things to an audience, but that wasn't the main interest of the work. It wasn't audience-oriented. It was more working out something for himself.

KERR: Cunningham first performed at the Walker in 1963 beginning a decades-long relationship. When he died, his company shut down in accordance with his wishes. The Walker bought his archive of sets, costumes and choreography notes, some four and a half thousand items. The collection is so big that it fills eight galleries of the Walker and more at a simultaneous show with the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.

A number of the pieces are by some of the best-known artists of the 20th century. Cunningham and his life partner, composer John Cage, believed in collaboration¹⁴, so painter Robert Rauschenberg became the company's first stage manager. He was succeeded by Jasper Johns. Andy Warhol designed stage sets for the company.

Walker curator Philip Bither says Cunningham's collaborations had a real impact on the art world.

BITHER: Dozens of visual artists and dozens of composers - the way they thought about their own work and the way they made sculptures or installations or paintings changed after working with Cunningham.

KERR: And Bither argues that Cunningham remains¹⁶ relevant today as the artists he influenced continue working. Silas Riener danced with Cunningham for four years. He's now formed a company with fellow dancer Rashaun Mitchell. Riener says he'll never forget what he learned from the choreographer.

SILAS RIENER: I've never been so intimately familiar with another artist's work, and so he feels present to me constantly.

KERR: For the walker show, Reiner and Mitchell are collaborating¹⁷ with Charles Atlas who is creating his first 3-D film. For part of it, they'll dance as the film billows around them. It's pure Cunningham - try something new and see how it works out. For NPR News, I'm Euan Kerr in Minneapolis.

1 choreographer   

n.编舞者

参考例句：

• She is a leading professional belly dancer, choreographer, and teacher. 她既是杰出的专业肚皮舞演员，也是舞蹈设计者和老师。 来自辞典例句
• It'stands aside, my choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe. 它站在一旁，我优雅的舞蹈指导，并祝福每个指尖与脚尖。 来自互联网

2 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

6 strut   

v.肿胀，鼓起；大摇大摆地走；炫耀；支撑；撑开；n.高视阔步；支柱，撑杆

参考例句：

• The circulation economy development needs the green science and technology innovation as the strut.循环经济的发展需要绿色科技创新生态化作为支撑。
• Now we'll strut arm and arm.这会儿咱们可以手挽着手儿，高视阔步地走了。

7 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

8 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

11 rigor   

n.严酷，严格，严厉

参考例句：

• Their analysis lacks rigor.他们的分析缺乏严谨性。||The crime will be treated with the full rigor of the law.这一罪行会严格依法审理。

12 imprinted   

v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The terrible scenes were indelibly imprinted on his mind. 那些恐怖场面深深地铭刻在他的心中。
• The scene was imprinted on my mind. 那个场面铭刻在我的心中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

15 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

16 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

17 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。