Pianist Orlando Bass performs John Cage's famous sheet music, CN D  commissioned choreographers Lenio Kaklea and Jean-Christophe Paré to compose a dance for these scores.

Jean-Christophe Paré has devided three studies on the consequences of  the founding artistic gesture shared between the composer John Cage and the choreographer Merce Cunningham: the independance relationship  between music and dance.

Source: program of the CND

It was with the Ballet of the Opéra National de Paris that  Jean-Christophe Paré started his career as a dancer-performer. Named  Principal Dancer in 1984, he had as early as 1981 decided to stand up  for the possibility to open new pathways of exploration in the work of  interpretation at the Groupe de Recherche Chorégraphique of the Opéra de  Paris. He has collaborated with many choreographers from currents as  varied as modern dance (Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharps), American postmodern  dance (Alwin Nikolaïs, Merce Cunningham, Andy de Groat, Lucinda Childs),  young French dance (Dominique Bagouet, Régine Chopinot, Philippe  Découflé, François Verret, Daniel Larrieu), German expressionist dance  and, more recently, renaissance and baroque dances. These are references  for him in the conception of educational projects which he conducts  while directing the dance depart- ments of the École Nationale  Supérieure de Danse in Marseille (2007-2011), then the Conservatoire  National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris (2014-2018).

Source: program of the CND

Working during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, John Cage honed his skills in the midst of the growing American avant  garde. Neither a painter or a sculptor, Cage is best known for revolutionizing modern music through his incorporation of unconventional instrumentation and the idea of environmental music dictated by chance. His approach to composition was deeply influenced by Asian philosophies, focusing on the harmony that exists in nature, as well as elements of chance. Cage is famous not only for his radical works, like 4'33"  (1952), in which the ambient noise of the recital hall created the  music, but also for his innovative collaborations with artists like Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg. These partnerships helped break down the divisions between the various  realms of art production, such as music, performance, painting, and dance, allowing for new interdisciplinary work to be produced. Cage's influence ushered in groundbreaking stylistic developments key to contemporary art and paved the way for the postmodern artistic inquiries, which began in the late 1960s and further challenged the established definition of fine art.

Source: theartstory.org

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).