Paul Parish responds

no time to post MUCH right now, but all I meant is that from my observation, the only choreography that’s POPULAR is based in rhythm…. I think that rhythm is a primitive interest, one of the basic things that sets human beings apart from other animals is the love of moving together in time — rhythm interests everybody, and very deeply, and is perhaps the most important shared thing between those onstage and those in the audience.
Apollinaire adds: aha! here we get into an enormous question, which I think Annie-B is alluding to, which is: to what extent art should stay in our comfort zone. (And of course your mentioning the criterion of popularity makes clear you’re talking about that, too.) I think the issue, always, is if a dance stands too far outside, then we can’t reach it at all. But one person’s “too far” is another person’s “just right.” (oh, how trite of me.)
Paul, did you see Cunningham’s 2002 “Loose Time,” with that incredibly impossible solo by Holley Farmer at its apex? It seems to me that it was made EXACTLY according to the principle of legato for one leg, allegro for the other, and it was so exciting that the audience CHEERED: a cunningham audience cheering smack in the middle of a dance. never witnessed that before.
I would love to see a whole dance spelled out according to principles like that, and whatever associations/analogies they raise for the whole ensemble.