Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon
Cunningham Forever
Beach Birds
costume design Marsha Skinne
music by John Cage
lighting design Marsha Skinne
Biped
set design and holograms Shelley Eshkar e Paul Kaiser
costume design Suzanne Gallo
lighting design Aaron Copp
live music by Gavin Bryars Ensemble
Gavin Bryars contrabbasso, tastiera elettronica, pianoforte
Morgan Goff viola
Audrey Riley violoncello
James Woodrow chitarra elettrica
con il supporto di Dance Reflections di Van Cleef & Arpels
Musica BIPED
Gavin Bryars © Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG
esclusiva italiana
A genius is forever, and a diptych is enough to prove it—which is what the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon intend to do with their homage to Merce Cunningham. From the extensive repertoire of the father of contemporary dance, they selected the dazzling Biped (1999), a masterpiece in which the 80-year-old choreographer interacted with technology to reinvent himself after the passing of his lifelong partner and collaborator, John Cage, in 1992. Biped is a dialogue between the dancers and their own holograms, re-proposed in Ravenna with live original music by Gavin Bryars. A different example of Merce’s creativity, Beach Birds (1991), set to music by Cage, was inspired by the flight of seagulls (evoked by the costumes), and is one of the few works by the historic pair whose echoes are not entirely abstract. The emphasis still lies on the phrasing of the dance, granting performers the freedom to find their own spaces and rhythms.
