In 2012, the Trust will launch the Cunningham Fellowship, a new program designed to further its mission of teaching, reviving and restaging Cunningham’s works, and making them available to the public for performance and study. In the pilot year, the Trust will award up to five Fellows a stipend of $6,000 to plan and lead a four-week workshop to restage a work from the Cunningham repertory. The initial group of Fellows will be limited to current and former MCDC dancers, as part of an ongoing effort to assist with career transition for the Company members and offer them opportunities to further engage with and teach Cunningham choreography. The Cunningham Fellowship workshops will be taught within professional studios, private studios, and universities in New York City, throughout the U.S., and abroad.

Supervised by Robert Swinston in close collaboration with former MCDC dancer Patricia Lent, who is currently the Foundation’s Director of Repertory Licensing, the Fellows will select a piece or two from Cunningham’s repertory, and design and lead a four-week intensive workshop to set it on students. The Fellows will also have the opportunity to engage in scholarship related to Merce Cunningham and Merce Cunningham Dance Company history, body mechanics, teaching for beginners and non-dance professionals, and the fundamental structures and vocabulary of Cunningham Technique.

2012 Cunningham Fellowship Recipients TBA