MERCE CUNNINGHAM Dance Co. @ Walt Disney Concert Hall June 4-6

Internationally recognized as one of ,the greatest choreographers to have ever lived, Merce Cunningham was a visionary force for over seven decades. He continued to create groundbreaking work in collaboration with noted visual artists and acclaimed contemporary musicians until his recent passing in 2009, at the age of 90. Experience the world premiere of the reconstructed piece ROARATORIO*, featuring music by John Cage. An unforgettable pairing of the iconic venue and Merce's indelible creativity. As the company embarks on its final two-year Legacy Tour, this is a once in a lifetime experience not to be missed.

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The Legacy of Merce @ MOCA Thursday 6.3.

The Legacy of Merce: A Conversation with Bonnie Brooks and Trevor Carlson. Bonnie Brooks, noted dance writer, producer, and chair of Columbia College Chicago's dance program, and Trevor Carlson, executive director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, will share colorful memories about the legendary Merce Cunningham, from his innovative approach to choreography to his incomparable collaborations with artists such as John Cage, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg.

FREE; no reservations required

@MOCA Grand Avenue, 250 South Grand Avenue - 90012

MERCE CUNNINGHAM - April 16, 1919 - July 26, 2009

Merce Cunningham, the American choreographer who was among a handful of 20th-century figures to make dance a major art and a major form of theater, died Sunday night. He was 90 and lived in Manhattan.

Mr. Cunningham ranks with Isadora Duncan, Serge Diaghilev, Martha Graham and George Balanchine in making people rethink the essence of dance and choreography, posing a series of “But” and “What if?” questions over a career of nearly seven decades.

He went on doing so almost to the last. Until 1989, when he reached the age of 70, he appeared in every single performance given by his company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company; in 1999, at 80, though frail and holding onto a barre, he danced a duet with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the New York State Theater. And in 2009, even after observing his 90th birthday with the world premiere of the 90-minute “Nearly Ninety,” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music he went on choreographing for his dancers, telling people as they went to say farewell to him that he was still creating dances in his head.

In his final years he became almost routinely hailed as the world’s greatest choreographer. For many, he had simply been the greatest living artist since Samuel Beckett.

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