(born 1919) Dancer and choreographer who worked with Martha Graham. He presented his first solo concert in 1944, with music by John Cage, with whom he would maintain a lifelong relationship. He formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in the Pacific Northwest in 1953, and choreographed over 200 works thereafter for them and for ballet and dance companies worldwide. Cunningham has consistently focused on dance as an abstract art, where movement—even if determined by chance—is more important than narrative. In addition to collaboration with artists and composers, he has also experimented with film and video dance. His prodigious and creative work has earned him global accolades.