XOVER (2007) represents the final reunion of Cunningham’s original collaborators: composer John Cage and visual artist Robert Rauschenberg. The piece is danced with two works by Cage, Aria and Fontana Mix (both 1958), and Rauschenberg’s painted and silk-screened backdrop lends bright color to the stage, offsetting the dancers’ white leotards.

“Cunningham’s white-dressed dancers move in a world of alert, self-contained beauty.”
– Judith Mackrell, The Guardian (London)

“…following Cunningham dance theater is, for any onlooker, a constant process of mystery and enlightenment: an education for the senses and for the mind that connects them.”
– The New York Times, 2007

Merce Cunningham Dance Company has had a profound impact on American art and the avant-garde since its founding in 1953. Following Cunningham’s death in 2009, the Cunningham Dance Foundation set in motion a plan to ensure the preservation of the choreographer’s artistic legacy. The company’s appearance at Fall for Dance marks the first New York stop on its two-year Legacy Tour, which offers audiences a final opportunity to see the company Cunningham personally trained before it disbands at the end of 2011.