Photo, Betty Jennerjahn and Merce Cunningham, 1948

Choreographer and dancer, Merce Cunningham had a career spanning 70 years, often collaborating with composer John Cage. Cunningham formed his dance company at Black Mountain College in 1953.

Courtesy of Western Regional Archives, a branch of the North Carolina State Archives

Photo, Katharine Litz, ca. early 1950s

Litz, an accomplished modern dancer, first came to Black Mountain in 1950 to teach at the summer institute. She returned the following summer and created a dance based on Olson’s interest in Mayan glyphs.

Courtesy of Western Regional Archives, a branch of the North Carolina State Archives

Photo, Composer John Cage at St. Andrews College, ca. mid 1970s

John Cage and Merce Cunningham visited Black Mountain for the first time in the spring of 1948. The pair returned to teach through the early 1950s.

F. Whitney Jones Collection, Appalachian State University