John Scott and Mel Mercier showcase Cunningham-inspired performance at Dance Limerick.
A decade-long conversation between choreographer John Scott and composer Mel Mercier has culminated in Begin Anywhere, a new performance exploring movement, sound, and artistic legacy. Taking place at Dance Limerick on Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9, the piece pays homage to the legendary partnership of choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage.
A Tribute to Cunningham and Cage
Scott, a leading figure in Irish contemporary dance, has long engaged with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, working with many of its dancers. His latest work, Begin Anywhere, reflects that connection while integrating his own distinct choreographic style. Mercier, a Tony-nominated composer and sound designer, brings his deep-rooted connection to Cage’s work, having performed in Roaratorio, a collaboration between Cage and Cunningham based on Finnegans Wake.
While Begin Anywhere is deeply influenced by the artistic philosophies of Cunningham and Cage, it is ultimately a new and independent work. “Mel and I have been talking about this project for over 10 years,” Scott shares. Both of them were inspired by Cunningham’s work, “There’s a clarity in the work. There’s precision and difficulty in virtuosity, but there’s also clarity.”And in this piece, Mel and I are invoking, we’re responding to, particularly to a major work called Roaratorio.”
Music and Dance as Independent Forces
A key element of Begin Anywhere is the interplay between movement and sound. Cunningham and Cage famously worked independently, with dancers often hearing the music for the first time at the premiere. While Scott and Mercier have collaborated more closely, they have retained an element of that structured unpredictability.
“The Cunningham dancers didn’t like it, particularly when the music forced them or cajoled them into a particular rhythm. They liked that independence from the music.” Scott explains.
This philosophy is evident in Begin Anywhere, where dancers rehearse in silence, relying on internal rhythms. When the live musicians join, the piece shifts into a new dimension. “The choreography is strong and rigorous on its own,” Scott says. “Then the music comes in, and it’s almost as if a new piece emerges.”
Honouring the Legacy While Creating Something New
The performance includes Four Solos by Merce Cunningham, a selection of his works that sets the context for the evening. These will be followed by Begin Anywhere, a work shaped by Scott’s choreography and Mercier’s soundscore. The music features live improvisation and recordings of former Cunningham dancers reflecting on their experiences, weaving past and present together.
In the performance that inspired the two artists, Cunningham and Cage created separately and performed together for the first time on stage. “They had a contract between each other, which was they were going to make a piece of a particular duration that would be performed in the same place at the same time, and that was it,” Mercier says. He and Scott did not go to such an extreme: “I hadn’t quite done it that way because I did come and see some of John’s work, as he was making it, and also played some of the musical ideas. So we’re somewhere in between.”
Scott describes the choreography as a structured machine that remains slightly off-kilter, constantly shifting. “We have two couples and a solo, and the dancers are continually moving from couple to couple. And there is one person who is out. It’s like this mathematical thing of two and two and then one goes. And another one comes in and one goes and another one comes in … It makes the choreography almost like some sort of a machine that is missing something that is trying to find it.”
An Invitation to the Audience
For Scott and Mercier, the audience is the final element of the piece. “The piece doesn’t exist without them,” Scott says. “The audience is another dancer in the room, part of the exchange between movement, music, and space.”
Mercier agrees, adding that Begin Anywhere offers a space for openness and reflection, hoping that audiences arrive “with some expectation, but an open mind.”
In times of global uncertainty, Scott and Mercier see their work as a space of beauty and connection. Scott says: “It is valuable and also beautiful and it is a relief to the horrible tensions of the world right now.”
Mel Mercier, an award-winning composer, is Professor of Performing Arts at UL. He has collaborated with John Cage and Merce Cunningham, creating acclaimed theatre scores and leading innovative ensembles like the Irish Gamelan Orchestra and PULSUS.
John Scott, a Dublin-born choreographer, founded Irish Modern Dance Theatre in 1991. He has performed with Meredith Monk and created internationally acclaimed works, integrating diverse influences and pioneering collaborations in contemporary dance.