Reimagining Of Merce Cunningham Premieres in October

Zephyr Dance, an experimental dance company that pushes the art form's boundaries, presents an unprecedented collaborative choreography project that combines Suite for Five by seminal 20th century American choreographer Merce Cunningham and new choreography that springs from that work created by a diverse group of choreographers. S45 has its world premiere October 19–22, 2023 at Zephyr's space SITE/less, 1250 West Augusta Boulevard, Chicago.

S45 is curated by Michelle Kranicke, Zephyr artistic director and SITE/less co-director; David Sundry, architect and SITE/less co-director; and Paige Cunningham-Caldarella, a former Cunningham company dancer and independent choreographer. The Merce Cunningham Trust has granted permission for Cunningham-Caldarella to restage the iconic 1956 work and, for the first time, for she and other choreographers to respond to that work and create new choreography that draws inspiration from the original. 

Suite for Five has been performed mostly in traditional proscenium theaters for at least the past 40 years. SITE/less, which aims to rethink the connection between movement and architecture and deepen the relationship between the viewer and the venue beyond the typical model, invites viewers within inches of the dancers—“literally inside the dance,” Kranicke noted. “The experience will be more intimate than a typical performance of this work.”
 
Cunningham's notes about his work suggest that Suite for Five could be presented in a non-proscenium staging: “…the dances, despite the interval of years between the compositions, were all designed to be presented with the audience on four sides and can so be done if circumstances allow it.”

Sundry, in keeping with the architectural mission of SITE/less, will reconfigure and add to an existing architecture installation of platforms in the SITE/less space. He explained, “The current stacked platform construction allows the audience to change their proximity and views of the work at will throughout the evening. The immersive, radial nature of the SITE/less space expands upon Cunningham's idea of there being many points that could be considered the 'front' of the dance.”
 
The curators have recruited choreographers with a range of backgrounds and artistic focus. In addition to Kranicke and Cunningham-Caldarella, they include Darrell Jones, Roxane D'Orléans Juste and Kota Yamazaki. “Each choreographer is a seasoned veteran in the dance world representing a breadth of different movement disciplines— Butoh, improvisation, voguing and various modern dance vocabularies.” said Kranicke. Jones, Juste and Yamazaki each perform their own solos, while Cunningham-Caldarella responds to the duet and Kranicke choreographs the trio. All five choreographers perform in the final section, interacting with choreography each has created individually.

The choreographers shared a few thoughts about the section each is interpreting:

Michelle Kranicke: I wanted to reexamine Cunningham's choreography, particularly Suite, which manifests a purity, austerity and tightly resolved aspect in its construction. In the past, Cunningham, John Cage and their collaborators applied a variety of processes and techniques to the works of a previous generation in order to critique, but more importantly, open up working room for themselves within their moment. I thought, rather than pursue a subjective approach, I would employ methods for the trio that Cunningham and his collaborators applied to a previous generation onto Cunningham's actual work to see what kind of space(s) could develop in this different historical period. Through a complex interplay of the techniques of Cunningham's collaborators, including, but not limited to, mirroring, repetition, unfolding, fragmented reference, juxtaposition and counter gesture, I hope to create a space within Merce's tightly constructed work where new types of vision and movement could act upon one another to pursue, as Cunningham's collaborator Marcel Duchamp noted, a “new thought for that object.”    

Paige Cunningham-Caldarella: The duet, originally for Merce Cunningham and Carolyn Brown, was called "Extended Moment" and existed as part of Suite for Two before being incorporated into Suite for Five. As stated in the program note for Suite for Five, "The events and sounds of this ballet revolve around a quiet center, which though silent and unmoving, is the source from which they happen." Watching the duet often in rehearsals, I was mesmerized by the "extended moments" of physical control and stability required of the dancers alongside the physical explosions and disruptions of stillness. I am choosing to emphasize these explosions of movement and create many "extended moments" that might depart from the silent and quiet nature of the original duet. Inspired by the techniques of Merce and his collaborators, I will create two separate solos that will then be reconfigured into a duet, drawing insight from Merce's reliance on imperfections found in paper and chance operations to determine spacing, sequencing and length.  
 
Darrell Jones: While watching Suite for Five, I am struck by the rich movement language developed over many years and events. I will be reconstructing an improvised movement vocabulary, entitled Low, that has a similar arc of practice. Thematically Low is based on what emerges from the human body pushed to its limits of endurance. It will be in conversation with excerpts from taped audio lectures of Dr. William R. Jones, philosopher, theologian and educator with 35 years of teaching materials around mechanisms of oppression and the intersectionality of race, gender and class.

Roxane D'Orléans Juste: Breath and gravity both sustain and affect movement. In nature, their mysterious presence colors how one sees or perceives. In my investigation and deconstruction of this beautifully intricate dance, I am attempting to share the process of discovering how movement comes to existence without it being prescribed or planned. I wish to engage in a dynamic conversation with the form, the time and the spatial designs that will challenge what will unexpectedly appear as the dance takes flight. As the dance draws its source from a movement that already exists, my hopes are that my approach to breath and gravity will inevitably warp duration of time, bringing to life a new experience of movement born from an uninterrupted impulse, that will then unpredictably reinvent itself.

Kota Yamazaki: I was so inspired by the vivid transformation and shifts of body landscapes in space and time in the work. It seemed almost schizophrenic and fragmental like a quietly moving kaleidoscope, yet at the same time, the flow of the time was highly designed and structured, which I would like to work on as a new challenge.

S45 premieres with Merce Cunningham's Suite for Five
Thursday–Saturday, October 19–22 at 7:30 p.m.
at SITE/less, 1250 West Augusta Boulevard, Chicago.
Tickets will be available in September at zephyrdance.com.
All programming is subject to change.
Zephyr and SITE/less

Zephyr is an experimental dance company that has had a strong artistic presence in Chicago for more than 20 years. Zephyr pushes to the edge of the discipline to question current trends in dance making and the reduction of the art form to its most quantifiable, easily recognized patterns. In April 2018, Zephyr Director Michelle Kranicke and architect David Sundry opened SITE/less, an experimental architecture, movement and research center that seeks to rethink the relationship between the typical model of most performance venues and how the organization of those venues inevitably limits and conditions the curatorial practice. SITE/less does not exist in a traditional “finished” state, but rather continues to evolve and grow with time, functioning as an incubator, a laboratory, a physical structure, a dance and a place where distinct art forms can speak directly to each other. In addition, SITE/less aims to facilitate connection with the public and promote social interaction by creating an atypical arena hosting non-art events, such as community meetings and pop-up dinners.
 
Zephyr Dance is supported, in part, by, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Bucktown Art Fest, Friends of Holstein Park, The Bucktown Community Organization and numerous individuals.
 
For more information, visit zephyrdance.com or siteless.org.

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