How did Merce Cunningham use chance methods in choreography?

In the context of Western dance, Merce Cunningham utilized "choreography by chance" as a revolutionary method to determine the structure and organization of his works. Influenced by the potential of random phenomena, he sought to create pure movement that was as free as possible from emotional implications.12

Cunningham implemented these chance methods in several ways:

• Sequence Assignment: He would select isolated movements and assign their sequence using random methods, such as tossing a coin.1
• Structural Organization: In works like Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three (1951), the sequential arrangement of component dances was determined by chance.1
• Movement Construction: In his 1953 work Suite by Chance, the actual movement patterns themselves were constructed using these random methods.1

By employing chance, Cunningham moved away from traditional collaborative or supportive relationships between dance, music, and decor, treating them instead as coincidental elements. This approach allowed him to impose order on dance while distancing his choreography from the psychological and emotional narratives common in the work of his contemporaries.213