Here, KCAI sophomore Robert Heishman describes the process of creating one of the two decors for Merce Cunningham's Split Sides using a pinhole camera and how he brought a bit of Kansas City into it. By Laura Spencer
Kansas City, Missouri – In 2003, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was on tour and stopped at the Carlsen Center in Overland Park. Robert Heishman, now a 20 year old sophomore at the Kansas City Art Institute, was a student taking photography classes at Blue Valley High School. After submitting some of his photographs to the company, Heishman was asked to create d?cor for a new dance called Split Sides - set to the music of Sigur Ros and Radiohead.
Split Sides premiered in October 2003 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and will be performed again tonight by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Lied Center in Lawrence. Here, Robert Heishman describes the process of creating one of two decors, a black and white image on a 49 by 60 foot backdrop using a pinhole camera, and how he brought a bit of Kansas City into it.