(born Centralia, Washington, 1919) American choreographer and the vanguard figure in modern dance since he founded the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953. He met John Cage at the Cornish Institute in Seattle, Washington, and collaborated with him until Cage's death in 1994. As founder and director of the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York City, he continues to work with experimental composers in the application of chance procedures and open form to choreography.