Art Ravels is a superb blog discovery, written and ‘produced’ by Linnea West, a self-described paper shuffler living in New York. I don’t quite buy her self-description, based on her digital presentation and YouTube channel.

I came backwards — more or less — to Art Ravels from the Wall Street Journal’s review of choreographer Merce Cunningham’s ‘Nearly Ninety’, an almost 90-minute dance created to celebrate the choreographer’s upcoming 90th birthday. ‘Nearly Ninety’ made is world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Cunningham’s birthday, April 16.

WSJ’s A Legacy Defined by Moments of Chance describes Cunningham’s unique style, which reflects the lack of control that we have in our own lives. Reality is far more than what we make of it as individuals.

Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Nearly Ninety, photo by Stephanie BergerCunningham uses what he calls ‘chance procedures, meaning that the music and design of an individual work are created independently of the dance making.

Furthermore, in the creation of the choreography itself, Mr. Cunningham depends not on his own personal taste, but on outside determinants. For example, the throwing of dice consistently decides what will come next in the unfolding of his dances.