{{Short description|American dancer and choreographer}} '''Merle Marsicano''' ({{Nee}} Petersen, 1903{{En dash}}1983)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Merle Marsicano papers|url=http://archives.nypl.org/dan/18557|website=New York Public Library}}</ref> was an American dancer and choreographer who worked with a wide range of avant-garde composers and artists. ==Life== Marsicano was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She studied ballet with Ethel Phillips and Michael Mordkin, tap dance with Edna Wroe, and modern dance with Martha Graham and Ruth St. Denis.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Manchester|first=P. W.|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100136617|title=The International Encyclopedia of Dance|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> She was married to painter Nicholas Marsicano.<ref>{{Cite news|last=McLaughlin|first=Lillian|date=1963-06-14|title=VIsiting artist at center shows bold, vigorous style|pages=15|work=Des Moines Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60983960/visiting-artist-at-center-shows-bold/|access-date=2020-10-12}}</ref> ==Career== In 1962, Marsicano formed the Merle Marsicano Dance Company<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pavlakis |first1=Christopher |title=The American Music Handbook |date=1974 |publisher=Free Press}}</ref> and was frequently associated with the Tenth Street group of abstract expressionists. Franz Kline painted a backdrop for her work ''Queen of Hearts'' (1960),<ref>{{cite news |last1=Raynor |first1=Vivien |title=ART; ART AND DANCE IN COLLABORATION |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/17/nyregion/art-art-and-dance-in-collaboration.html |access-date=12 October 2020 |work=New York Times |date=1983-07-17}}</ref> the largest painting in Kline's oeuvre .<ref>{{cite book |title=Franz Kline: The Color Abstractions | last1=Gaugh |first1=Harry F. |date=1979 |publisher=Phillips Collection}}</ref>
She collaborated with John Cage, Morton Feldman, Stefan Wolpe and many other composers. Feldman composed several pieces including ''Figure of Memory''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dohoney |first1=Ryan |title=Élan vital … and how to fake it: Morton Feldman and Merle Marsicano's Vernacular Metaphysics. |journal=Contemporary Music Review |date=1029 |volume=38 |issue=3 |doi=10.17613/phv6-zw66 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/phv6-zw66}}</ref> and ''Dance Suite'' for Marsicano. ''Figure of Memory'' was first performed at the Henry Street Playhouse in New York on April 3,1954, by Marsicano.<ref name="CGMD">{{cite book |last1=McDonagh |first1=Don |title=The Complete Guide to Modern Dance |date=1976 |publisher=Doubleday}}</ref>
In 1970, ''New York Times'' critic Don McDonagh wrote that Marsicano's choreography had a "languorous sensuousness," with the "weight and feel of a satisfying stretch."<ref>{{Cite news|last=McDonagh|first=Don|date=1970-03-31|title=Merle Marsicano offers new dances|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/31/archives/merle-marsicano-offers-new-dances.html|access-date=2020-10-12|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In a 1977 review, he wrote that, "Almost always, one has the impression that the works are somehow independent of the rhythmic and spatial laws that ordinarily govern dancing."<ref>{{cite news|last=McDonagh|first=Don|date=1977-06-14|title=Dance:Unhurried Sense of Time|work=The New York Times|location=New York, NY|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/14/archives/dance-unhurried-sense-of-time.html|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>
In ''The International Encyclopedia of Dance'', P. W. Manchester described her dancing style:<blockquote>Marsicano made no use of floor movements; she neither jumped nor turned. Instead, she made time stand still as she wove patterns with her feet, a subtly flexible torso, and eloquent arms. She seemed to will the air to become heavy or weightless as she passed through it.<ref name=":1" /> </blockquote>Richard Kostelanetz wrote, "Merle Marsicano has long had a reputation among the cognoscenti as one of the most imaginative choreographers."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kostelanetz|first1=Richard|title=On Innovative Performance(s): Three Decades of Recollections on Alternative Theater|date=1994|publisher=McFarland & Company}}</ref>
Marsicano taught at Smith College <ref name="CGMD">{{cite book |last1=McDonagh |first1=Don |title=The Complete Guide to Modern Dance |date=1976 |publisher=Doubleday}}</ref><ref>Dimension, College of Architecture and Design, University of Michigan, 1955.</ref> and Yale University, where she also presented a recital in collaboration with John Cage.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=1953-09-11|title=Dancer Joins Art School|work=The New York Times|location=New York, NY}}</ref> Her papers are housed in the collection of the New York Public Library.<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsicano, Merle}} Category:1903 births Category:1983 deaths Category:20th-century American dancers Category:American contemporary dancers