I just heard today that Merce Cunningham passed away last night.
I am saddened by the news but honored to have had the rare opportunity to work with him. Here are some of my favorite memories from my residency with Merce and DIA:Beacon from past year.
It was so weird too. As I was getting my store blog ready to show I posted some photos of him in a slideshow that has photos of influences for this coming fall season. I put his picture in the slide show 4 times in a row, as a tribute to him, not knowing that he had passed away earlier in the evening.
Performing with Merce was one of the highlights of my sound career. I am proud to be a part of his musicians roster which consists of some of the best names in the sound field:
Maryanne Amacher, Robert Ashley, Larry Austin, David Behrman, Pierre Boulez, Paul Bowles, Earle Brown, Gavin Bryars, John Cage, Andrew Culver, Stuart Dempster, Baby Dodds, John Driscoll, Brian Eno, Morton Feldman, Serge Garrant, Jon Gibson, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Alexei Haieff, Josef Matthias Hauer, Pierre Henry, Lou Harrison, Alan Hovhaness, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Ben Johnston, Norman Lloyd, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, Martin Kalve, John King, Takehisa Kosugi, Gordon Mumma, Conlon Nancarrow, Bo Nilsson, Pauline Oliveros, Emanuel Dimas di Melo Pimenta, Maxwell Powers, Michael Pugliese, Radiohead, Pat Richter, Erik Satie, Pierre Schaffer, Sigur Ros, Mikel Rouse, Igor Stravinsky, Ivan Tcherpnin, Yasunao Tone, Gregory Tucker, David Tudor, Ben Weber, Chou Wen-Chung, Christian Wolff, La Monte Young, and Walter Zimmermann.
Team Richard Serra, Merce Cunningham, Maria Chavez, Newton Armstrong, David Linton and Stephan Moore.
With Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham. What a thrilling moment in time. They both loved that I was Peruvian. It was sweet.
A dancer in the studio working even after the practice period was finished.
My set up for "Experiments in the Studio" at Merce's studio in the West Village:
A large poster of Merce's partner John Cage hung in the main lobby. A sweet reminder of an amazing duo.
My favorite moment at the DIA:Beacon. Coming to the museum on the first day of our residency. As soon as I saw this Serra structure, I knew it had to be mine. Which goes against all of my practices about ownership, but I let this slide...how many times can one claim a Serra sculpture as theirs for a week?
Merce looking on as his dancers warm up. Merce simply clapped his hands and counted a rhythm. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4......It was beautiful to hear and watch.
Thanks to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for inviting me to be a part of such an amazing residency. It is truly something I will never forget. RIP.
