Compagnie CNDC-Angers/Robert Swinston

This performance took place July 3-7, 2019. Scroll for bonus content!

Compagnie CNDC-Angers/Robert Swinston made its Pillow debut with work by one of the greatest artistic innovators of the 20th century as part of the worldwide Merce Cunningham Centennial celebration. The company is led by current director of the National Center for Contemporary Dance in Angers, France, Robert Swinston, a longtime dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, later assistant to the choreographer and finally director of choreography. A revered holder of Cunningham’s body of work and revelatory technique, Time Out lauds, “If we can trust anyone to uphold Merce Cunningham’s choreographic legacy, it’s Robert Swinston.”

Commemorating a special Pillow history—the last time Cunningham saw his company perform was through a live stream of the company’s closing performance on the Ted Shawn Theatre stage—the program opens with archival film of Merce Cunningham at Jacob’s Pillow followed by Suite for Five (1953-1958), Inlets 2 (1983), and the frolic How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run (1965), which Swinston was awarded a Bessie Award for his role as a dancer and for his participation with Cunningham and Carolyn Brown in the reconstruction of the 2003 revival. Swinston is an original trustee on the Merce Cunningham Trust, whose mission is to carry Merce Cunningham’s legacy into the future. Read more in the program and PillowNotes.

Explore Compagnie CNDC-Angers/Robert Swinston

Watch the Post-Show Talk

Compagnie CNDC-Angers artistic director Robert Swinston, dancer Anna Chirescu, and musician Laura Kuhn with Scholar-in-Residence Maura Keefe.

In the Press

“The dancers are terrific, the setting ideal, the timing glorious: this great American master (as Pillow director Pamela Tatge said in her curtain speech) presented in this great American house of dance this particular week.”  Read more from Janine Parker in The Boston Globe.

“In the 10 years since Cunningham’s erstwhile company visited the Pillow — and since this American master passed away — I find myself craving his vision. Interesting how, sometimes, the thought of losing something makes it all the more delicious.” Read more from Janine Parker in The Berkshire Eagle.

Dive into the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive

This ever-growing collection includes dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today and new illustrated essays. Explore more from Compagnie CNDC-Angers/Robert Swinston on JPDI:

• Robert Swinston with Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Sounddance from 2009 
• The Day Merce Died written and curated by Sydney Skybetter for Men in Dance
• Ghost Notation written and curated by Sydney Skybetter for Men in Dance

Read the connection between Merce Cunningham and Robert Swinston in Continuing the legacy of Merce Cunningham.