Two (Very) Modern Dance Companies

"Second Hand" is being revived after its 1970 introduction. Cunningham's assistant, Robert Swinston, used old notes, fading memories of original dancers and two archival films -- one without audio -- to redo the piece that includes 10 dancers in costumes by painter Jasper Johns.

Finally, the program's most recent work uses one of today's most ubiquitous items: the iPod. In "eyeSpace," the performers dance to an original score that is programmed on iPods distributed at the event. (Or, download the score from iTunes or http://www.wpas.org on your own iPod before the performance and bring it with you.)

"I didn't quite know what the iPod was," Cunningham admitted last week, "so I asked Mikel [Rouse, the composer] for more information. It was explained that it was this quite small apparatus which the individual could use to hear things and could make their own arrangement with the sound. That interested me, so I said let's go ahead with it."

Rouse's electronic score, "International Cloud Atlas," includes sounds recorded on the streets from cities where the company tours.

Before the piece begins, the audience is instructed to put the iPod on shuffle so there's no telling when a spectator will hear bossa nova, electronic music, prepared piano music, rock-and-roll or another selection from Rouse's genre-spanning score. Rouse estimates a potential of three million permutations. "Each person listens to a different section of music while they're watching the same dance," Rouse said.

Rouse was intrigued by the idea that people are used to closing themselves off while listening to the iPod, while they are used to attending theater in a very public way. But rarely -- if ever -- have they been asked to do both at the same time.

He notes that the concept of experiencing sound in a very personal way, while also having a very public experience, "at first doesn't sound like a big deal, but for some people it's incredibly revelatory and for others it's deeply disturbing because you're in this room with a thousand people and yet you're sealed off."

Cunningham, though still not an adapter of the iPod technology outside the realm of "eyeSpace," foresees a time when dance, too, will advance in technologically similar ways. "We had a work in repertoire that was made up of individual movements, which the individual dancers rearranged so it could be different each time," he said. "As the technology advances, I should think that there could be a way to make the dance interchangeable," similar to an iPod shuffle.

He laughs. "I don't quite know how, but I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be some way to do that."

Shen Wei Dance Arts Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. www.kennedy-center.org. Friday and Saturday. $19-$48. Merce Cunningham Dance Company Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. 202-785-9727. www.wpas.org. Thursday-March 29. $25-$70. Shen Wei Dance Arts Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. www.kennedy-center.org. Friday and Saturday. $19-$48.