# Merle Marsicano
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{{Short description|American dancer and choreographer}}
'''Merle Marsicano''' ({{Nee}} Petersen, 1903{{En dash}}1983)[{{Cite web|title=Merle Marsicano papers|url=http://archives.nypl.org/dan/18557|website=New York Public Library}}] was an American dancer and choreographer who worked with a wide range of avant-garde composers and artists.
==Life==
Marsicano was born in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia), Pennsylvania. She studied ballet with Ethel Phillips and Michael Mordkin, [tap dance](/source/tap_dance) with Edna Wroe, and [modern dance](/source/modern_dance) with [Martha Graham](/source/Martha_Graham) and [Ruth St. Denis](/source/Ruth_St._Denis).[{{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}}] She was married to painter [Nicholas Marsicano](/source/Nicholas_Marsicano).[{{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}}]
==Career==
In 1962, Marsicano formed the Merle Marsicano Dance Company[{{cite book |last1=Pavlakis |first1=Christopher |title=The American Music Handbook |date=1974 |publisher=Free Press}}] and was frequently associated with the Tenth Street group of abstract expressionists. [Franz Kline](/source/Franz_Kline) painted a backdrop for her work ''Queen of Hearts'' (1960),[{{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}}] the largest painting in Kline's oeuvre .[{{cite book |title=Franz Kline: The Color Abstractions | last1=Gaugh |first1=Harry F. |date=1979 |publisher=Phillips Collection}}]
She collaborated with [John Cage](/source/John_Cage), [Morton Feldman](/source/Morton_Feldman), [Stefan Wolpe](/source/Stefan_Wolpe) and many other composers. Feldman composed several pieces including ''Figure of Memory''[{{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}}] 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.[{{cite book |last1=McDonagh |first1=Don |title=The Complete Guide to Modern Dance |date=1976 |publisher=Doubleday}}]
In 1970, ''[New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'' critic Don McDonagh wrote that Marsicano's choreography had a "languorous sensuousness," with the "weight and feel of a satisfying stretch."[{{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}}] 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."[{{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}}]
In ''The International Encyclopedia of Dance'', P. W. Manchester described her dancing style: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.
[Richard Kostelanetz](/source/Richard_Kostelanetz) wrote, "Merle Marsicano has long had a reputation among the cognoscenti as one of the most imaginative choreographers."[{{cite book|last1=Kostelanetz|first1=Richard|title=On Innovative Performance(s): Three Decades of Recollections on Alternative Theater|date=1994|publisher=McFarland & Company}}]
Marsicano taught at Smith College [{{cite book |last1=McDonagh |first1=Don |title=The Complete Guide to Modern Dance |date=1976 |publisher=Doubleday}}][Dimension, College of Architecture and Design, University of Michigan, 1955.] and [Yale University](/source/Yale_University), where she also presented a recital in collaboration with [John Cage](/source/John_Cage).[{{cite news|author=|date=1953-09-11|title=Dancer Joins Art School|work=The New York Times|location=New York, NY}}] Her papers are housed in the collection of the [New York Public Library](/source/New_York_Public_Library).