Issues of control and agency in contemplating Cunningham’s legacy

Abstract

A discussion of Merce Cunningham’s 1967 work Scramble within the context of it being learned and performed by Laban students in London 2010. Cunningham’s significance to a new generation of dancers is considered drawing on discussions with the students and the Cunningham dancer and teacher, Patricia Lent, who set Scramble and is a trustee of the Cunningham legacy. In particular Cunningham’s approaches to dance, both in terms of his technique and choroegraphic methods, are examined in relation to how dance can embody both the potential and limits of human agency