April 16: Today in Dance

Born Today: Merce Cunningham

Postmodern dance pioneer Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) was one of the first men to perform with Martha Graham (1894–1991). He formed his own company in 1953 and broke from her narrative style, instead making dances through “chance procedures” in order to remove his own movement preferences from the work. He collaborated with postmodern visual artists Andy Warhol, whose memorable helium-filled…