More Prose Than Poetry in Motion

Winner of best documentary at the Dance Screen 2000 festival in Monaco, the celebratory “Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance” comes to the PBS “American Masters” series on Sunday.

Directed by Charles Atlas, who worked with Cunningham on dance-film projects in the 1970s and ‘80s, the hourlong telecast attempts to chart the development of the career of one of the 20th century’s most innovative and influential choreographers.

Now 82, Cunningham is seen warming up at a barre, drawing animals and birds, teaching class, exploring computer animation and reminiscing about his early training as a tap dancer in Centralia, Wash. Friends, former company members and critics explain and enrich his story, with Mikhail Baryshnikov especially pertinent on the link between Cunningham’s modern dance technique and classical ballet.

Unfortunately, Atlas doesn’t illustrate Baryshnikov’s statement or most of the comments by his film’s talking heads--and that’s a mistake. For maximum clarity and credibility, Cunningham’s unique conceptual departures and effect on others need to be shown, not merely voiced, and that means borrowing clips from a host of other choreographers.

The most focused segments here include the informative look at Cunningham’s groundbreaking 1964 collaboration “Winterbranch” and his use of motion-capture technology in “Biped” (1999). Moreover, the emphasis on his brilliance as a dancer is an unexpected plus, and amply borne out by rare archival footage. For once, we can see exactly what all the fuss was about.

A minus (though hardly unexpected): the lack of information about the man’s personal life and relationships. Cunningham’s extreme reticence in this realm of experience makes it impossible to guess whether his approach to partnering and other gender-related dance issues comes from a psychological basis. So even after an hour of nonstop talk, there’s a major story left untold.

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“Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance” airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on KCET.