photo by Mark Seliger
Beginning this Thursday through April 19th, Brooklyn Academy of Music will present Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Nearly Ninety, a new evening-length work that is appropriately named: Cunningham turns ninety on Thursday and the piece is almost ninety minutes long. Like most of Cunningham’s work throughout his prolific career, Nearly Ninety is a collaborative effort, featuring new music performed live by Led Zeppelin’s multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, the indie rock band Sonic Youth, and mixed-media sound composed by Takehisa Kosugi. World-renowned architect Benedetta Tagliabue has contributed the large-scale, multi-tiered décor on which the musicians will perform (some images are on her website), and Italian designer Romeo Gigli has created the costumes.
Tickets are still available for all performances. After Friday’s show, the dancers and Trevor Carlson, the company’s executive director, will discuss Cunningham’s unique approach to space, time, and technology. Alastair Macaulay’s recent NY Times article also touches on the choreographer’s methods for creating and assembling dances.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Nearly Ninety
April 16th through 19th
Brooklyn Academy of Music
30 Lafayette Avenue
Order tickets online or call 718.636.4100
Cunningham in rehearsal with dancers, photo by Mark Seliger
