Merce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modern Dance (Paperback)

by Roger Copeland (Author) "One would have thought the 1960s an ideal (perhaps the ideal) time for a first encounter with the primitive mysteries of Martha Graham..." (more)
Key Phrases: perceptual freedom, vernacular glance, contemporary classicism, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Copeland's book about the sixty-year career of Merce Cunningham is also a brilliant sixty-year history of theater, dance, art, music and intellectual movements in America. . . ..
–Sally Sommer, Professor of American Dance Studies at Florida State University.

Copeland's book will bring joy to Cunningham partisans.
–Allan Ulrich, Dance Magazine

Copelands book about the sixty-year career of Merce Cunningham is also a brilliant sixty-year history of theater, dance, art, music and intellectual movements in America. . . ..
–Sally Sommer, Professor of American Dance Studies at Florida State University.

Copelands book will bring joy to Cunningham partisans.
–Allan Ulrich, Dance Magazine

Examines the trajectory of Merce The Choreographer and places him just where I think he belongs--as a global artist of the twentieth century moving in all directions into the twenty-first..
–Valda Setterfield, Member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, 1964-1974

Product Description
Merce Cunningham and the Modernizing of Modern Dance is a complete study of the life and work of this seminal choreographer/dancer. More than just a biography, Copeland explores Cunningham's life story against a backdrop of an entire century of developments in American art. Copeland traces his own experience of Cunningham's dances-from the turbulent late '60s through the experimental works of the '80s and '90s-showing how Cunningham moved dance away from the highly emotional, subjective work of Martha Graham to a return to a new kind of classicism. This book places Cunningham in the forefront of an artistic revolution, a revolution that has its parallels in music (John Cage, and the minimalist composers who followed him), painting (Jaspar Johns, Robert Rauschenberg), theater (the "happenings" of the '60s), and dance itself (the Judson School of dancers). An iconclastic and highly readable analysis, this book will be enjoyed by all those interested in the development of the American arts in the 20th century.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415965756
• ISBN-13: 978-0415965750
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #737,584 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging but repetitive, April 18, 2004

By	Michael Richards (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a highly unschooled Cunningham fan -- this is the first dance book I've ever read -- I found Copeland's book engaging in its scope, contextualizing Cunningham's choreography in relation to the leading cultural and aesthetic movements of the last half century. Copeland has essentially one thesis, stated fairly cleanly in the introduction. I would highly recommend the introduction. Unfortunately the rest of the book can be tedious and dogmatic as Copeland attempts to bolster his arguments through a strategy of repetition and exhaustion. Every movement and idea of the late 20th century seems to be a nail for Copeland's rhetorical hammer, and while I found the tie-ins and tidbits of history interesting enough to finish the book, I found the tone and structure of the book to be artificially argumentative and quite lacking in the openness and nuance that Copland praises Cunningham for.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb tour through the 20th century -- and beyond, April 17, 2004

By A Customer

What an extraordinary book! Copeland does not just tell the story of one figure, even though Cunningham is a great figure central to just about every artistic movement of the last 70 years. Copeland also relates in lucid prose how each of those movements arose, what made it tick, and how its legacy affects us today. After the "culture wars" of the 1990s, there were very few individuals left standing who could both appreciate and criticize the twists and turns of modernism and post-modernism. Copeland is among this saving remnant. If you are looking for a strong-minded, witty, engaging, eloquent Virgil to guide you through the Inferno and Purgatory of art since the 1930s, look no further. Copeland's your man.