I spend a great deal of time thinking about the natural environment. Recently I had occasion to reflect on the human environment and, in particular, on the effect of chance and alternatives on our experience.

I spent a Friday evening in late April with a friend at UNC (not an oxymoron) attending a Merce Cunningham performance. For the uninitiated, Cunningham is considered by many to be the greatest living choreographer. The show consisted of two performances. The first, Split Sides, is an exercise in probability. There are two acts; each act is twenty minutes. The performance begins with five audience members and an announcer on stage. At the front of the stage is a small square table and a die. The tabletop is projected onto a large onstage screen with a digital video camera. The audience members take turns tossing the die to determine the sequencing of five elements of the performance: choreography, costumes, music, lighting, and set. Each element has two possibilities: two dance choreographies, costumes in either black and white or color, music by either Radiohead or Sigur Ross, two distinct lighting arrangements, and two set arrangements. The announcer narrates the results. Because of the live decision-making process, the dancers find out the sequencing at the same time as the audience. An even number on the die means that the first option will be carried out in part one with the other option in part two, and an odd number means the opposite. The statisticians among you have probably already calculated that there are 32 possible combinations (or is that permutations?) of the overall performance.

The performance itself was beautiful. But what was most interesting to me was my heightened consciousness of the dance environment. I found myself imagining what the performance would have looked like under all other possible scenarios… how would that dance sequence have appeared in the other costume, if set to Sigur Ross instead of Radiohead, in a different lighting arrangement?

If the piece had begun with the music instead of the die-throwing, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it. But I would not have been thinking as actively as I was about all the other ways I could have experienced the dance. I was reminded of the “choose your own adventure” books I used to read as a child. You come across a cave in the side of the mountain… do you choose to go in and explore? Or continue walking on the trail? I was one of those kids who, at the end of my story, would go back and read all the alternatives to find out where the other forks in the road would have taken me. Of course there’s no way to know in real life how things would have turned out if I had gone to a different college, taken a different job, or opted for the 8:30 flight rather than the 10:20 flight. All we can know is that the choices we’ve made have shaped our present-day selves. Perhaps that kind of self-justification is the best we can do…

The second performance was called eyeSpace. Before the performance, each audience member picks up an iPod  from the lobby to use during the performance. The score, by Mikel Rouse, is divided into short segments. When the piece is about to begin, an announcer instructs the audience to set the iPods to the “shuffle” setting and press play. An “environmental soundscape” plays softly in the background of the auditorium so that the dancers to have an acoustic rhythm base to guide their dance. As a result of the shuffle setting, each member of the audience hears a different arrangement. The music was modern and unusual. One track in particular stood out because the repetition of the phrase “almost lost my fork… but I didn’t lose my fork” caused the people around me to giggle at various stages of the piece.

As I left the performance, I was thinking that we each approach new situations with our own soundtrack of experience, prejudice, and expectations. Our impression of an event is shaped by a combination of these factors, and the result is a unique and distinctive compilation. And for me, at least, it is only when the choice is made explicit that I fully consider the range of alternative outcomes.

[photos from Merce Cunningham Dance Company: http://merce.org]