Concert goers were given 1000 Ipods when they arrived for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company show in Orange County this weekend. When dancers came on stage to perform the veteran choreogapher "eyeSpace," audience members plugged in their ear buds and listened to pieces of music in shuffle mode composed by Mikel Rouse.
The random - play Ipod concept updates a long-standing fascination with chance for Cunningham, who famously relied on the roll of a dice or the toss of an I Ching coin when choreographing pieces with frequent collaborator John Cage in the sixties.
Per usual, Cunningham did not design his dance specifically to the beats of the music but instead used Rouse's "International Cloud Atlas" score as a inspirational framework.
Rouse told the L.A. Times, "Each person has their own version of the score. It's the Cage and Cunningham aesthetic on steroids."
The troupe will travel over the summer to Europe, New York, New England, Chicago and Australia.
