Merce Cunningham was born in Centralia in the state of Washington. He began his career as a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company where he performed as a soloist from 1939 to 1945. He created his first choreographic pieces in 1942 and, in 1953, he established the highly experimental Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He created over 150 pieces and 800 “events”. In the 1970s, his curiosity for new technologies led him to explore the relationship between dance, film, virtual composition and the capturing of a dancer’s movements. John Cage, his life partner from 1937 to 1992, exerted a profound influence on his work. A pioneer of the American avant-garde, Cunningham stood out throughout his entire career for his endless appetite for innovation, expanding the horizons, not just of dance, but also the visual and performing arts. Merce Cunningham created Un jour ou deux (1973) for the Paris Opera Ballet. He also passed on Points in Space (1990) and Walkaround time (2017) to the Company.