Friday, July 31, 2009

Grab Bag Friday: Shooting Stars & Merce Cunningham

First off, the class song from Songwriting for Kids, Vol 2, "Shooting Stars" is now up and available to download. The kids did a great job making the melody of their bridge go someplace completely different!

And speaking of shooting stars...the legendary choreographer, Merce Cunningham, died this week at the age of ninety. I first learned about Merce Cunningham in college, when I was studying the experimental music of John Cage. I loved the way he brought elements of nature and moments of stillness into his movement, like in this clip from "Beach Birds for Camera" (I love toward the end of this clip where the feet are fluttering...):



Merce Cunningham was (and will continue to be) such a huge influence in the modern dance world. Even in this (my favorite from this week), there are moments of stillness, angles, and lines that seem to have his imprint:

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