Sounddance was first performed in Detroit, Michigan, in March 1975. (The choreography had been included earlier as a work in progress in Events.) Merce Cunningham led the cast of ten dancers. It remained in the repertory until 1980. Staged by Chris Komar and Meg Harper, it was revived in March 1994 at the City Center Theater in New York, with Robert Swinston in Cunningham’s role. The most recent revival, in 2004, was reconstructed by Meg Harper, again with Robert Swinston in Cunningham’s original role. It was filmed, under the direction of Charles Atlas, in June 2006.

“…Sounddance is an explosion, a cosmic circus.” – Deborah Jowitt for The Village Voice

“Here is a choreographer whose genius...is internationally recognized and honored. Even if one knows nothing about the underlying principles of his works, those works testify—through their purity, originality and complexity—to the integrity of a seminal giant in the field.” – The New York Times

Merce Cunningham Dance Company was created in 1952 at Black Mountain College. The original group included Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, Paul Taylor and Remy Charlip. John Cage was music director and David Tudor was company musician. The company celebrated its 50 th Anniversary in 2002 with an 18-month season culminating in the world premiere of Split Sides at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In September 2008, as a kick-off to Cunningham’s 90th birthday season, the company and the Walker Art Center will present a monumental restaging of Ocean, 100 feet below the surface of the earth in the dramatic Rainbow Granite Quarry, in Waite Park, MN.