The Legacy Tour

Celebrating Cunningham’s lifetime of artistic achievement, the Legacy Tour showcased seminal works from throughout Cunningham’s career, and offered audiences around the world a final opportunity to see Cunningham’s choreography performed by the company he personally trained. Encompassing 60 engagements in nearly 50 cities, the Legacy Tour brought MCDC to new destinations around the world, and included performances at venues throughout Europe and the United States that were pivotal in showcasing the Company for 50 years.

A total of 18 works were presented during the Legacy Tour, including seven newly revived pieces, many of which had not been performed for decades. The tour repertory highlighted the artistic collaborations that characterized Cunningham’s creative life, including his work with visual artists Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Lancaster, and Andy Warhol, and musicians John Cage—Cunningham’s long-time collaborator and life partner—David Tudor, Takehisa Kosugi, and the MCDC Music Committee, Gavin Bryars, Brian Eno, Radiohead, and Sigur Rós, among others.

The Tour culminated with a New Year’s Eve performance in New York City—MCDC’s home since it was founded in 1953—on December 31, 2011. As outlined in the Legacy Plan, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company disbanded following this final performance.

Look Back at the Legacy Tour

Alabama Dance Council

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami

Akademie der Künste, Berlin

The Barbican Centre, London

Richard B. Fisher Performing Arts Center at Bard College, NY

Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYC

Brooklyn Academy of Music, NYC

Cal Performances, UC Berkeley

Chekhov International Theatre Festival, Moscow

Dance Center at Columbia College, Chicago

Dance Umbrella, London

La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, France

Debartolo Performing Arts Center, University of Notre Dame

Duke Performances, Duke University, NC

Festival d’Automne à Paris, France

Festival de Marseille, France

Festival Montpellier Danse, France

Festival TransAmeriques, Montreal

Fondazione Musica per Roma, Rome

Hancher Auditorium, University of Iowa

Harris Theater, Chicago

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Germany

Hong Kong Cultural Center

Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, NH

Israel Festival

Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Jerusalem Season of Culture

The Joyce Theater, NYC

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Kunstfest Weimar, Germany

Lincoln Center Festival, NYC

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance,
Los Angeles Music Center

L’Arsenal / Metz-en-Scene, France

Maison de la Culture, Amiens, France

Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond, VA

Monaco Dance Forum

New York City Center, Fall for Dance

Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City

Paramount Theater, Seattle

Park Avenue Armory, NYC

Center for the Performing Arts,

Pennsylvania State University

Le Centre Pompidou-Metz, France

REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts
Theater), Los Angeles

Scottsdale Center for the Performing
Arts, AZ

Stanford Lively Arts, CA

State Theater, New Brunswick, NJ

Seattle Theater Group, Seattle, WA

Stratford Circus, London

Performing Arts Center, SUNY Purchase College, NY

Tanz im August/Hebbel-Theater, Berlin

Théâtre de Nîmes, France

Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, France

UA Presents, University of Arizona, Tuscon

University Musical Society, University of Michigan

University of Texas at Austin

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

Wexner Center for the Arts, OH

Xacobeo Festival, Galicia, Spain