Merce Cunningham, John Cage and the I Ching

American Choreographer and Composer Collaborated Using the I Ching

Aug 28, 2009

How casting the coins of the I Ching helped choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage in their creative process in dance and music

On July 17th, 2009, the world of contemporary dance lost one of its pioneers. American choreographer Merce Cunningham died at the age of 90 in New York City, leaving a legacy of dance in its purest and most distilled form. Trained in ballet at the Cornish school, he was soloist for the great choreographer Martha Graham for six years before becoming independent, but not before internalizing her angular technique, out which his own inimitable and graceful signature style would be forged.

Merce Cunningham’s creative output would largely be influenced, both deliberately and indirectly, by two forces: 44 years of collaboration with composer John Cage, and their mutual casting of the I Ching coins, the ancient Chinese book of changes, with which they often determined the course of their creative process through its chance operations.

The Philosophy Behind Cage and Cunningham's Creative Process

In 1944, the first collaborations between Merce Cunningham and John Cage ushered in one of the great artistic and innovative partnerships of the 20th century. Cage made a splash in post WWII avant garde with his piece 4’33, premiered in 1952, in which no instrument was played for 4 minutes and 33 seconds – only the ambient sounds of the surrounding environment were heard. In 1953, Cunningham formed his owned dance company, setting in motion his own revolution of modern dance.

Also life partners, Cage and Cunningham created an independently conceived yet coexisting works of music and dance. Cunningham himself spoke of their collaborations as separate entities that were then brought together in shared time. Neither Cage nor Cunningham wanted to tell stories or communicate a particular message. In describing the role of his dancers, Cunningham noted that “They are not pretending to be other than themselves…They are, rather than being someone—doing something.”

John Cage himself held much the same views. He saw his compositions as a “purposeless play” and an “affirmation of life”, nothing more. A trip to Europe as a young man led him through various other artistic disciplines before finally discovering the music of Bach and Webern. Determined to be a composer, his first efforts, soon abandoned, were formulated on unsatisfactory mathematical formulas.

Cage returned to the U.S. and studied under composer Arnold Schoenberg, but left after two years to create new music independent of harmonic rules. He taught at the Cornish school, and explored composition by working with dancers and choreographers, including Cunningham himself. Unable to successfully infuse meaning in his work as he had hoped, it seemed only natural that the chance operations of the I Ching woud fascinate him, freeing him to explore sound, and silence for their own sakes.

The I Ching Becomes the Source of Their Creative Process

In 1953, composer Christian Wolff introduced John Cage to the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching, the Chinese book of divination rooted in Taoist philosophy where you could cast your future with three coins. Its aim is to provide answers to daily questions and to dispense wisdom. The I Ching contains eight trigrams representing the eight primal forces of the earth (heaven, earth, wind, water, mountain, thunder, fire, and lake) through which the feminine force (the yin), and the masculine force (yang) flow and change.

Cunningham closely followed Cage in using the I Ching, asking questions whose answers determined the interchangeable segments of his choreographies. Although he did not always use the I Ching in his creative practice, when he did, his dancers often did not know the sequences of each dance to be performed until the night before when the coins were cast. Cage, however, always used the I Ching in his creative process until his death on 12 August 1992.

Both Cage and Cunningham are the highest profiled artists to use the I Ching as a springboard for their creative process, which did not depend on narrative or even linear representation. However, the groundbreaking originality of their work, and their belief in constantly reshaping and discovering their art according to the casting of coins has left a startling legacy that has enriched 20th century creative endeavor.

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The copyright of the article Merce Cunningham, John Cage and the I Ching in Contemporary Dance is owned by Sylvie Nantais. Permission to republish Merce Cunningham, John Cage and the I Ching in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.