Microcinema DVDs - Split Sides - Merce Cunningham Dance Company

2010-02-03 Educational Media Reviews Online
By Laura Jenemann

The 2 DVD Split Sides can be described as a straightforward recording of Merce Cunningham’s 2003 choreographic work of the same name. Or, it could be described as an opportunity for you, the DVD viewer, to allow chance to decide your viewing. Either way, this DVD will be entrancing for those with the patience to watch filmed stage performances.

The premise for the DVD version of Split Sides is based on the premise of the live performance. In the live performance, an onstage roll of dice determines which elements will be chosen for that night’s show. The elements of options are two different costume designs, set designs, lighting designs, choreographies, and sound designs. Thirty-two combinations are possible.

There are fewer options to choose from on the DVD. Here, the viewer chooses between the disc with Choreography A followed by Choreography B (Split Sides 45), or vice-versa (Split Sides 46), and three different sound options. Each Choreography is only 20 minutes, so viewers can experiment by watching an entire 40 minute set, then trying it with different music, trying a different DVD, or watching just portions.

While this DVD is a “straightforward” recorded performance, it is a recording of a work that is elegantly, hypnotically, simple. This is a result of the sum of the ingredients. First of these ingredients is the unobtrusive cinematography from director and frequent Cunningham collaborator Charles Atlas, which shows the performance from the theater audience’s perspective: full stage or full body, but never angled or extremely close up. Ambient electronic music by Radiohead or Sigur Ro´s, or natural sound only provides the next ingredient. The music tracks accompanying each 20 minute Choreography section transition smoothly into each other, as do the dancers’ unitards of grey and black brushstrokes to colorful paint splatters, accompanied by similarly styled backdrops.

Of course, the dance too contributes to the blissful elegance. The transitions from individual movement to movement or from phrase to phrase are often fluid. There is no denying that the vocabulary of the technique here is rooted in the Western ballet family of languages, where men lead and women lean. Yet it is a technique that combines a buoyant sense resulting from little jumps, and elegant lines of adagio leg extensions with subtle curves in the spine.

There only a few concerns to be mentioned about this DVD. It contains no chapters, perhaps because it was meant to be viewed as one performance. Also I was unable to discern where and when Split Sides 45 and Split Sides 46 where performed.

This DVD is highly recommended for those curious about modern dance – even if some viewers can only stand this style of dance for five minutes. Split Sides can be used as an example of the evolution of plot-less art from the mid-20th century United States to the 21st century. Merce Cunningham’s choreography here would be a wonderful companion to works from visual and performing artists with similar histories.

2010-01-26 ateaseweb.com
By Adriaan Pels

The Merce Cunningham ballet scored by Radiohead is set to come to the UK. Earlier this year the band and Sigur Rós put together the improvised soundtrack for ‘Split Sides’, and performed it live at the show’s premiere in New York in October. The ballet is now set to come to the London Barbican in October 2004, although a spokesperson for Radiohead told nme.com the group probably won’t be playing live. Instead, the show will use a remixed soundtrack of the material recorded in New York.
The Sun reported that “The show is very moving and the band are chuffed to be involved. They say they would love to perform live in London if their diary permits. Merce loves their music and is one of the most renowned guys in his field. This show should be very big.”
Barbican head of theatre, Louise Jefferys, said if Radiohead did play live she would expect them to bring in a big new audience of dance and rock fans. She said: “We are all really excited to be presenting this work which brings together the dance icon Merce Cunningham with pop icons Radiohead. “It is a unique collaboration which will attract a diverse audience. It is a wonderful and intriguing work we are proud to have co-commissioned.” [from nme.com & the sun]

2010-01-26 cyclicdefrost.com
By Ewan Burke

seemed as if an unofficial John Cage mini-festival took place within the larger Festival. The electronic ticker-tape on the side of Fed Square was broadcasting quotes and epigrams from Cage for the duration of the Festival, and there were numerous events and exhibitions taking place with Cage themes. So it seemed entirely fitting that the first half of this performance of works choreographed by the World’s Greatest Living Choreographer, Views on Stage, featured two typically abstract John Cage scores – ‘ASLSP’ and ‘Music for Two’.

This kind of music does not have recognisable rhythms – indeed there was no discernible underlying pulse either. So how did the dancers move? What prompted the change from one step to another? The answer is beyond my ken, but it was fascinating to watch the musicians playing and the dancers moving, and trying to work out the connection between the two. It quickly became clear that the way to enjoy this performance was not to worry about such details, but to just try and understand the piece as a gestalt. And the first half was enjoyable enough, albeit in a rather dry and academic fashion. But at the interval it became clear from the general chatter and hubbub in the State Theatre that a large part of the audience were here for Split Sides, the second half ballet featuring music from Radiohead and Sigur Ros.

Before the second half began, Merce Cunningham himself, accompanied by the Festival Director and a few others, came out to the front of the stage and explained that they were going to roll a die to determine the order of certain key factors in Split Sides – such as the order of the music, the set design, lighting, costumes etc. After the die had been cast the requisite number of times, it was determined that the Radiohead music would be heard first. Needless to say, this music was pre-recorded – and that was fine, given that this was Radiohead in their most electronic form – think ‘Meeting in the Aisle’.

The dancers moved in time to the music (hey – I can understand this bit!) and the Radiohead sounds at times ricocheted around the hall, making full use of the venue’s multi-channel sound system. The combination of dance moves, backdrops and electronic sounds hinted at themes of depersonalisation and dehumanisation in the modern world.

And finally – the part everyone had been waiting for. The second half of Split Sides began. But where were Sigur Ros? Certainly not on stage (where I had expected to see them.) But then, some figures in shadow were visible standing down at the front of the stalls. They held instruments of various types (in the darkness it was difficult to see what exactly), and watched the stage as they played. This was Sigur Ros, in a firmly abstract mode. One band member appeared to be holding a tray, filled with sand and stones, which was miked up, and used as a percussion instrument. The combination of Sigur Ros’ eldritch music, the dancers, the set, the lighting, made for a beautiful and unforgettable experience. It all seemed to end to soon. Needless to say, there was a standing ovation at the finish.

2009-08-25 Video Librarian
By J. Reed

Merce Cunningham, who died July 26, 2009, was a major force in the world of dance. An avant-garde choreographer concentrating on pure form in body movement, Cunningham pioneered the use of computers in choreography and, together with composer and life partner John Cage, explored the concept of chance in developing patterns of movement. Split Sides, a commissioned piece that premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003, takes chance to the extreme: each dance consists of two 20-minute episodes in which the creative elements of set design, costumes, lighting, music, and choreography are combined in an order determined by the role of dice onstage prior to the performance. “Split Sides 45” combines choreography “A” with music by Icelandic experimentalist group Sigur Rós, followed by choreography “B,” featuring music by British alt-rock band Radiohead, while “Split Sides 46” reverses the order of presentation (taken together, the pieces here represent four of the 32 possible combinations). Disc options allow the viewer to choose the order of the music or select ambient sound only. An intriguing idea, albeit one best appreciated by those seriously interested in the technicalities of dance performance, Split Sides is definitely recommended for dance collections, but is optional elsewhere.

2009-08-25 Digigods

Split Sides: Merce Cunningham Dance Company is absolutely not for people who think that "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing with the Stars" represent the pinnacle of the choreographic arts. But for fans of radical, aggressively experimental dance and choreography, this is a rare treat. The two-DVD set features two short films (directed by Charles Atlas) which represent only a small fraction of what the so-called "Split Sides" production can offer. It's almost impossible to explain the ways in which this flexible, organic performance can be bent and twisted, but the opportunity to view these films with two possible soundtracks -- one of which was provided by Radiohead -- ought to give you some idea of what's in store.

2009-07-02 blogcritics.org
By Jordan Richardson

With over 65 years of work in modern dance, Merce Cunningham has largely been shaped by four discoveries: video/film, DanceForms computer software, the separation of music and the dance, and the use of chance operations. It is the latter that formulates the basis for Split Sides.

Capturing the modernist choreographer’s most sweeping application of chance operations to date, Split Sides gives the viewer the opportunity to get in on the action and “roll the dice” in terms of what performance he or she will partake in.

The dance piece is divided into two parts, hence the title, and each of those parts is brought to life with a host of options in set design, costumes, lighting, music, and the choreography itself. Interestingly, the order of these options is determined by an onstage dice roll prior to the performance in full view of the live audience. This presents 32 combinations of any performance of Split Sides.

While the DVD is quite inadequate in presenting the whole scale of Cunningham’s work, there still is a sense of unpredictability that makes it fun.

With two choreographic segments from Cunningham, added into the mix of options are two set designs by Robert Heishman and Catherine Yass, two lighting plots by James F. Ingalls, two sets of costumes by James Hall, and two original scores by Sigur Rós and Radiohead.

The music is hauntingly poignant, flawlessly suited to the movement of the dancers with clicks of electronic noise and spare sonic landscapes.

The two-disc set offers viewers a chance to experience alternate soundtracks, providing a total of four variations out of the 32 possibilities. Split Sides 45 is available for viewing with music by Sigur Rós followed by Radiohead or the other way around. Split Sides 46, the second performance of this collaboration, works the same way. There are also silent options available that add a new dynamic to the performance.

The dancers are extraordinary and their facility to correspond through movement is powerful. The uncertainty of the production must be difficult to deal with night after night, but each performer is extremely passionate and accomplished. There is a certain humanness to their movements that I appreciated, too, and the dancing was gripping with or without the musical accompaniments.

Split Sides, featuring the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, is an incredibly distinctive DVD set. Viewers certainly don’t need to know the ins and outs of modern dance in order to enjoy this imaginative, audacious, unique piece of art.