I use the computer as a tool. Like chance or the camera or the other tools I've used, it can open my eye to other ways of seeing or of making dances. It's not simply to do a trick.
Merce CunninghamRead
The most essential thing in dance discipline is devotion, the steadfast and willing devotion to the labor that makes the classwork not a gymnastic hour and a half, or at the lowest level, a daily drudgery, but a devotion that allows the classroom discipline to become moments of dancing too.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Devotion in dance transforms hard work into enjoyable moments of creativity.
Merce Cunningham emphasizes that the key to mastering dance lies in a deep commitment to the practice. This devotion elevates the mere physical effort of training into an art form, turning routine classes into joyful expressions of dance rather than just exhausting labor.
Themes
DanceDevotionDisciplineArtCommitment
In practice
Example use cases
In a dance class, I often remind my students that true progress comes from devotion to their practice.
More from Merce Cunningham
All quotes →Movement is expressive. I've never denied that. I don't think there's such a thing as abstract dance.
Merce CunninghamRead
I think the thing that we agreed to so many years ago, actually, was that the music didn't have to support the dance nor the dance illustrate the music, but they could be two things going on at the same time.
Merce CunninghamRead
My dance classes were open to anybody, my only stipulation was that they had to come to the class every day.
Merce CunninghamRead
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