Movement is expressive. I've never denied that. I don't think there's such a thing as abstract dance.
Interpretation
Movement in dance conveys emotions and ideas, and cannot be separated from its expressiveness.
Merce Cunningham emphasizes that movement, particularly in dance, is intrinsically expressive and is not just a series of abstract actions. He argues that every movement carries meaning and emotions, indicating that dance ultimately communicates with its audience in a profound way, blurring the lines between art and expression.
In practice
This quote can be used during a dance workshop to inspire participants about the expressive nature of movement.
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.
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.
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.
My dance classes were open to anybody, my only stipulation was that they had to come to the class every day.
Drawing includes three and a half quarters of the content of painting... Drawing contains everything, except the hue
If, when you wake up in the morning, you can think of nothing but writing . . . then you are a writer.
An artist is someone who can hold two opposing viewpoints and still remain fully functional.
Playing and listening to music gives you a sense of fulfilment because you have to put everything in you at its disposal.
Poetry takes courage because you have to face things and you try to articulate how you feel.
What is a poet? An unhappy man who hides deep anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music.... And people flock around the poet and say: 'Sing again soon' - that is, 'May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful.
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