Merce Cunningham Workshop: Beach Birds

About The Workshop

In August 2023, a special arrangement of Merce Cunningham’s iconic 1991 dance Beach Birds was performed on New York’s Rockaway Beach as part of Beach Sessions Dance Series. Beach Birds: A New Arrangement, a film by Alex Munro documenting this performance, will be screened as part of Miami Light Project's ScreenDance Miami Festival on January 24th at Soundscape Park.

In conjunction with this screening, Patricia Lent will conduct this movement workshop designed to invite participants to experience Beach Birds themselves. The session will begin with a short warm-up, followed by learning selected phrases from the dance. Lent, who taught the dance for the Rockaway performance, will also share ways in which the choreography was adapted for the shoreline.

The workshop is designed for intermediate-level dancers, but movers of all levels are welcome to participate.

About Patricia Lent

Patricia Lent was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1984-1993) and White Oak Dance Project (1994-1996). She later taught elementary school at P.S. 234 in Lower Manhattan (1998-2007). In 2009, Lent was named a trustee of the Merce Cunningham Trust, and currently serves as the Trust’s Co-Director. Lent began teaching technique and repertory workshops at the Merce Cunningham Studio in the late 1980s. In recent years, she has staged Cunningham’s work for numerous companies, conservatories, schools, and museums worldwide. Lent was the principal stager for Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event, presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in April 2019 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Merce Cunningham’s birth. In the summer of 2023, she collaborated on an arrangement of Beach Birds performed on the shoreline at Rockaway Beach.

Host or Publisher Miami Light Project