Unlike some choreographers who leave life's stage with their legacy unplanned, Merce Cunningham set out very precisely what should happen when he'd gone.
He decided that his company should make a final world tour and then be wound up, with a trust remaining to oversee the rights to his choreography. Which all means this London visit is your last chance to see Cunningham's choreography on his own dancers - others may interpret it but not ones hand-picked by the hugely influential veteran innovator who died in 2009.
There's no avoiding the elegiac mood to the evening - not because the dancers or the work is gloomy. Indeed, the first of three programmes reminds you of his impish humour and sense of fun.
The early Antic Meet (1958) is a nod to his experience in vaudeville and, you suspect, a gentle spoof of Martha Graham, the other legendary American dance maker he worked with in his youth (he appeared in her Appalachian Spring).
The long male solo in Second Hand (1970) also reminds you that Cunningham was not averse to star dancers, himself included, while the more recent Pond Way (1998) is an example of what you could call high contemporary classicism, if such a phrase is possible. It's Cunningham as pure form - long, elegant phrases of dance that evoke the flow and stretch of a river.
The visit features two more programmes - which include the wonderful Roaratorio and Rain Forest. This really is your last chance, so don't miss.
Until October 8 (0207 638 8891 barbican.org.uk)
Dance Umbrella: Merce Cunningham
Barbican
EC2
