Mondays with Merce: A Mercist Project of Space, Time, and Screen. Issue 3 (2nd September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kennedy, Fen
• Is Part Of: Dance chronicle. Volume 44:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 223
• Page End: 245
• Publication Date: 2021-09-02
• Subjects: Merce Cunningham -- Mondays with Merce -- archive -- democratization; Dance -- Periodicals; Dancing; 792.805
• DOI: 10.1080/01472526.2021.1978827
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0147-2526

Abstract

Abstract: In the Mondays with Merce video series, Nancy Dalva curates interviews with Merce Cunningham and his community filmed in the two years before his death. In editing the interviews for presentation, Dalva creates a "Mercist" archive—a collection of materials that mirrors Cunningham's own artistic priorities of process, multi-vocality, and audience agency. Exploring how the series creates this Mercist perspective, I show that Dalva's choices, and Cunningham's, create a legacy that remains radically human, even as it draws new audiences to Cunningham's life and work.