Merce Cunningham Dance Company Australian tours (1976 - )

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The company led by American modern dance pioneer Merce Cunningham first toured Australia in March 1976 under the name Merce Cunningham and Dance Company. The tour began in Sydney, continued on to Adelaide, where the company performed as part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts, and concluded in Canberra. The repertoire for each city was drawn from the following works: Rebus, Rune, Signals, Solo, Sounddance, Squaregame, which received its world premiere in Adelaide, Summerspace, Torse, T.V Rerun and Winterbranch.

The company came to Australia again in 2001 under its current name, Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC). On this occasion MCDC performed only in Perth as part of the Perth International Arts Festival. The program for each evening was drawn from the following works: BIPED, Event, Interscape, Pond Way, RainForest and Summerspace. In addition the company performed at a special outdoor event at North Cottesloe beach. During this tour Merce Cunningham received an honorary degree from Edith Cowan University for outstanding international achievements in dance.

In 2007, the Melbourne International Arts Festival featured a Merce Cunningham Residency. MCDC performed in two programs during the Festival, Program A consisting of Suite for Five, eyeSpace and BIPED, and Program B of Views on Stage and Split Sides. The Festival also featured a new site specific MCDC Event created at Federation Square on October 21, two Music Committee concerts, films and visual arts installations. Lee Christofis, Curator of Dance at the National Libary of Australia and David Vaughan, MCDC archivist, conducted an onstage interview with Cunningham, discussing his life, influences and work.

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• Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection