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r C)rcreography and Dance,7997,Yol aQ),p.17-28 A 1997 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association)

{ Repr int sav ailabledir e c t l vf r o m t h e p u b ) i s h e r Amsterdam B.V Published in The Netherlands
Phot oc opy ing per m it t e db v ) i c e n s eo n l y by Harwood Academic Publishers
I Printed in India
I

I
i Merce Cunningham and Meaning:

{
i
I
The Zen Connection

i
?'
Marilyn Vaughan Drown

t Over the years, Merce Cunningham has confounded the eilorts of dance historians and theoreticians
who attempt to classi{y and define his work. Because of the innovative nature of his choreography,
some wrongly assume the dances have no meaning beyond fleeting impressions derived from the
collage-like effect of visual and aural stimuli. This paper takes the position that the dances do, in fact,
have profound meaning, based on a comparison between Cunningham's aesthetic and the attitude
toward meaning found in the Zen Arts.
{
Cunningham's use of chance procedures in his choreographic process, and his independent collabo-
rations with other artists in the design and musical accompaniment, are essentiai eiements of his
work which emphasize ihe spiritual as opposed to the personal in his art. By showing the many
similarities between the Zen aesthetic and Cunningham's, this paper demonstrates the metaphysical
meaning of his work - meaning resplendent with significance and profundity.

KEY WORDS Cunningham, Meaning, Zen

The mountain air sparklesqs the sLtnsets,

Birds in flocks return together.
In thesethings there is t'undamentaltruth,
But when I start to explain it, I lose the utords.

T'ao Ch'ien (326-397)l

,{ Merce Cunningham has a body of work which consists of over one hundred pieces
of choreography and he continues to create new works for stage and video. His
Ii tremendous contribution to contemporary art involves not only his ongoing in-

,l fluence in the world of dance, but in the other arts as well - as innovator and
coilaborator. The innovative nature of Cunningham's work, however, confouncls
l the efforts of dance historians and theoreticians who try to classify and define
such things as genre, style, interpretation of meaning, and philosophic import.
{ Described variousiy as modernist, post-modernist, and neo-classicist,Cunningham
tt has employed divergent styles that range from the virtuosity of ballet technique
'. i to the minimalism of pedestrian movement. By continually experimenting with
,l
f1
artistic possibilities, which free his dances from predictability, he eliminates many
of the familiar references used to decipher meaning and intention in choreographic
I
t art. Consequentiy, some viewers wrongly assume the dances have no meaning
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