#11: Palimpsest

In the early 1950’s, renowned dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham produced a series of solo dances, one of which was called “Changeling.” Merce never taught it to any one else, and when the performances stopped less than ten years later, the dance disappeared. With the discovery of a video of the dance in 2014 by director Alla Kovgan, we explore, through the legacy of Merce Cunningham, how dance is particularly susceptible to decay, how it is remembered, and how to bring back work that wasn’t necessarily meant to be recreated.