Dance in Film · 2019
Cunningham (2019)
Fifteen Cunningham choreographies—from Totem Ancestor’s crouched diagonal to RainForest’s drifting Warhol pillows—are rebuilt for stereoscopic cinema, preserving the technique’s exacting torso, legs, timing, and space.
Cunningham is a 2019 dance documentary centred on Contemporary Dance. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
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Dance styles featured
Where to watch: JustWatch's U.S. listing showed Philo, Dox Amazon Channel, and Magnolia Selects Amazon Channel streaming, plus Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango at Home rental or purchase, checked 2026-08-10; availability may change.
Trailer
Official trailer.
The dance sequences in Cunningham
15 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Antic Meet (1958)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
A dancer traversing with a chair strapped to his back amid parachute dresses and crossed signals.
Overlapping vaudeville-like numbers turn technical dislocation into comedy; the central outsider keeps trying to decode a society whose movement rules keep changing. Props and off-kilter traffic sharpen the joke without sacrificing line.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Canfield (1969)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
A gray beam sliding across the stage as bodies flash between fast and slow states.
Card-derived chance procedures map red and black suits to fast and slow action, producing abrupt shifts without narrative cueing. The moving beam and backlight make speed choices legible as dancers cross the field.
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Crises (1960)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Bodies repeatedly pulled into and released from a maze-like enclosure.
Elastic proximity makes togetherness physical: bodies draw close, separate, and redirect through confined space. The film’s enclosure turns Cunningham’s “adventure in togetherness” into palpable spatial pressure.
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Idyllic Song (1944)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
A solitary figure holding musical phrasing and bodily timing in delicate tension.
The solo’s restrained phrasing lets Satie’s line and the body coexist without illustration, clarifying Cunningham’s early formal economy. As the film’s first named choreography, it gives the viewer a baseline for the radical spatial independence that follows.
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RainForest (1968)
Cunningham TechniqueDanced by Jennifer Goggans · Choreography Merce Cunningham
Jennifer Goggans suspended upside down as silver pillows drift and ricochet across the black mirror.
Six roles cut through a field of drifting Mylar pillows that continually redraw pathways and timing. The mirrored black floor multiplies bodies and balloons, making chance collisions visible without turning them into spectacle alone.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Rune (1959)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Dancers flickering through layered pine trees as several spatial stories happen at once.
Independent events unfold across foreground, middle, and rear, so the eye must choose among simultaneous possibilities. Filming in layered space amplifies the work’s chance-built, unfixed order instead of flattening it.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Second Hand (1970)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
The ensemble bow arranging bright costumes into a deliberate succession of colors.
Solo, duet, and group sections expand one earlier idea across a larger social field while Cage’s restructured score preserves phrase without imitation. The linked costume colors make the final bow read as a visual chain.
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Septet (1953)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
A somber duet giving way to the desperate-clown humor of a later movement.
Seven movements shift from grave lyricism to play, letting contrasting emotional temperatures occupy one spare stage world. The refusal of décor keeps attention on weight, timing, and the coupled weave.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Suite for Five (1956)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Five bodies seeming to orbit an invisible, unmoving center.
Chance-built solos, duet, trio, and quintet revolve around a quiet center rather than a conventional climax. The restraint makes small transfers of weight and direction feel momentous.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Suite for Two (1950s)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Two dancers sharing a charged space while keeping their phrases independent.
Three solos and a duet alternate stillness with encounter, showing how a pair can share space without collapsing into mirrored phrasing. The camera’s proximity makes balance and timing read as conversation.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Summerspace (1958)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Painted bodies appearing and disappearing inside a field of floating color.
Sudden bursts, suspensions, and zigzags scatter across Rauschenberg’s pointillist field while Feldman’s score remains independent. The film makes dancing, décor, and sound feel like separate weather systems briefly sharing one space.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Totem Ancestor (1942)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
A crouched body springing into leaps along one uncompromising diagonal.
A diagonal path concentrates the solo into crouches, kneels, and sudden traveling leaps. The compressed two-minute architecture makes each change of level feel structural rather than decorative.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Tread (1970)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Ten industrial fans facing the audience while dancers tumble through quick catches and exits.
Complicated catches, lifts, entrances, and exits build from calm into near-farcical entanglement before returning to stillness. The row of industrial fans inserts moving air as another unpredictable partner.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
TV Rerun (1972)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Shared steps breaking into different spontaneous paths without losing technical precision.
Every dancer draws from the same material but chooses its order in performance, so shared vocabulary never hardens into unison. The sequence makes spontaneity readable as disciplined choice rather than looseness.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
Winterbranch (1964)
Cunningham TechniqueChoreography Merce Cunningham
Controlled bodies dropping against a rooftop skyline, then rising to fall again.
Falls and recoveries are treated as facts, not drama; slow and fast descents accumulate into group cohesion. The rooftop setting and abrasive sound make gravity and risk feel immediate while the technique stays exact.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
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