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THE SONG CAVE/MERCE CUNNINGHAM TRUST
Merce Cunningham: Changes
Notes on Choreography
Edited by Frances Starr.
On the occasion of Merce Cunningham’s centennial comes this handsome new edition of his classic and long-out-of-print artist’s book Changes: Notes on Choreography, first published in 1968 by Dick Higgins’ Something Else Press. The book presents a revealing exposition of Cunningham’s compositional process by way of his working notebooks, containing in-progress notations of individual dances with extensive speculations about the choreographic and artistic problems he was facing.
Illustrated with over 170 photographs and printed in color and black and white, the book was described by its original publisher as “the most comprehensive book on choreography to emerge from the new dance … [which] will come to stand with Eisenstein’s and Stanislavsky’s classics on the artistic process.” By the time these notebooks were published, Cunningham had already led the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for 15 years, and had collaborated with Cage and others on milestones such as Variations V (1966) and RainForest (1968), the latter with Andy Warhol, David Tudor and Jasper Johns.
Along with his essay collection Dancing in Space and Time (1978), Changes is one of the most significant publications on Cunningham’s enduring contributions to dance, which developed through collaboration with John Cage to incorporate formal innovation with regard to chance, silence and stillness.
Featured spread is reproduced from 'Merce Cunningham: Changes.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Hyperallergic
Abbey Bender
More of an art- or archival collection than a typical book, Cunnigham’s recently reissued Changes gathers sketches, notes, photographs, programs, and all other manner of ephemera in a creative package.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Perwana Nazif
[The] book itself moves — or, rather, incites movement on behalf of the reader in terms of orienting the book and rotating it to make legible the writing that appears upside down, clockwise, or counterclockwise to various sides, and traces the outlines of images.
New York Post
Melissa Malamut
Before Instagram, before phone cameras and before clout was king, the Club Kids were New York’s original influencers, setting beauty and fashion trends.
FORMAT: Pbk, 6 x 9.25 in. / 188 pgs / 16 color / 160 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $25.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $34.95 GBP £22.00 ISBN: 9780998829074 PUBLISHER: The Song Cave/Merce Cunningham Trust AVAILABLE: 6/18/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by The Song Cave/Merce Cunningham Trust. Edited by Frances Starr.
On the occasion of Merce Cunningham’s centennial comes this handsome new edition of his classic and long-out-of-print artist’s book Changes: Notes on Choreography, first published in 1968 by Dick Higgins’ Something Else Press. The book presents a revealing exposition of Cunningham’s compositional process by way of his working notebooks, containing in-progress notations of individual dances with extensive speculations about the choreographic and artistic problems he was facing.
Illustrated with over 170 photographs and printed in color and black and white, the book was described by its original publisher as “the most comprehensive book on choreography to emerge from the new dance … [which] will come to stand with Eisenstein’s and Stanislavsky’s classics on the artistic process.” By the time these notebooks were published, Cunningham had already led the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for 15 years, and had collaborated with Cage and others on milestones such as Variations V (1966) and RainForest (1968), the latter with Andy Warhol, David Tudor and Jasper Johns.
Along with his essay collection Dancing in Space and Time (1978), Changes is one of the most significant publications on Cunningham’s enduring contributions to dance, which developed through collaboration with John Cage to incorporate formal innovation with regard to chance, silence and stillness.
