From New York city, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company has embarked on an impressive tour of the United Kingdom this fall, gracing the stage of the Oxford Playhouse on 22 and 23 October.

Merce Cunningham embodies a unique dance style as well as an unusual history of contemporary dance. Only the second male dancer in Martha Graham’s company from 1939 to 1945 (the first male being Eric Hawkins), Cunningham soon left to embark on his own works, and question the creation of dance as we know it. Friday night’s programme displayed that he and his company are still capable of presenting the unknown.

Unlike a typical evening of dance, with a clearly defined programme of choreographed and designed pieces, the audience was at the Playhouse to witness an ‘Event.’ The first Event was performed by the company in Vienna in 1964, when they were invited to perform in a museum that did not have conventional performance space. Cunningham has extended this practise, holding Events in gymnasiums, train stations, galleries, and other unusual settings, eventually also holding Events in conventional theatres as well.

Each Event is arranged for the particular arena, is presented without intermission, and incorporates varying costumes, scenery, and music. The first Oxford Event began with the entire company in blue and white striped costumes undergoing a seemingly random series of movements, almost independent of each other. As the performance progressed, the dancers began to interact – leaning, lifting, and supporting one another. This portion of the performance highlighted the strength and agility of the Cunningham dancers, with lots of ballet-inspired small, quick jumps.

This piece melted into another short dance with the dancers in black, moving slowly along the floor. The last section had all of the dancers in blue and white dresses, and returned to highlighting the dancers’ strength and agility, particularly with supporting each other in asymmetrical shapes.

However, what is truly remarkable about the Cunningham dancers is that they can pull off a different performance every night. After the performance, we were treated to a post-performance talk by David Vaughan, the archivist of the Cunningham Dance Foundation. He explained how Cunningham works with chance techniques, often using a computer programme to develop sections of the choreography and then rolling dice to determine the sequence of the separate sections. The dancers learn the choreography and rehearse in silence; the music changes with every performance, according to a set of rules (for example; each musician will stay quiet for a period of ten minutes at least once during the performance). The set may change, as well as the costumes.

While Cunningham’s techniques in composing dance may seem alien, and may at times result in performances that are seemingly parts of an unseen whole, I would guess that this is precisely his point! As a result, parts of the Event which I saw were exquisitely connected between the music, dance, lighting, and costumes. Other parts seemed oddly disconnected. His method of choreography, at times, lacks the seamless transitions, dynamics, and musical relationship that we have come to expect from dance – with the issue being that you never know what a Cunningham performance will lead to!

Although their visit to Oxford is over, you may yet find yourself able to attend the Event in Brighton on 26 October (www.brighton-dom-e.org.uk), and the more ‘typical’ programmes of BIPED and Views on Stage at the Edinburgh Festival (www.eft.co.uk) on 29 and 30 October. It may well be worth the journey.

Ami Shah