dancer. Denby’s first review of Cunningham helped launch his career forward. Denby ended his review of Cunningham’s first solo performance by saying “I have never seen a first solo recital that combined such taste, such technical finish, such originality of dance material, and so sure a manner of presentation.”Before the 1940’s, expressionist was the leading form of modern dance. Cunningham on the other hand, was opposed to this type of dance and started to develop his own unique form of dance. While Graham had usually structured her dances around a certain narrative, Cunningham “developed ‘choreography by chance,’ a technique in which isolated movements are assigned sequence by such random methods as tossing a coin”(Britannica Online). Cunningham rejected “the literary and psychological themes of Graham”(Encarta). In 1953, Cunningham began the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at Black Mountain College. Cage became instrumental in the success and future of Cunningham’s newly started Dance Company. Cage would help out in all facets of the dance company ranging from program designer to fund raiser. Cunningham and Cage shared the same belief that dance and music can survive independently of one another. This type of thought was completely different from what Cunningham had experienced with Graham. However, in some sense all of their dancing somehow revolved around music in one way or the other. The music Cunningham used in his productions would sometimes be impossible to dance to in the conventional way. John Cage was once quoted as saying:Merce Cunningham developed his own school of dancing and choreography, the continuity of which no longer relies on linear elements, be they narrative or psychological, nor does it rely on a movement towards and away from climax. As in abstract painting, it is assumed that an element (a movement, a sound, a change of ligh...
