Dublin Dance Festival notes with sadness the death of Merce Cunningham on July 26 2009.  The Merce Cunningham Dance Company opened the very first International Dance Festival Ireland (now DDF) with performances at the Abbey Theatre in 2002.  A genius and a legend, Merce (and everyone calls him just that) was also a warm and generous human being with a twinkle in his eye.  His personal as well as artistic presence in the world of dance will be sorely missed.  Many of his fans joined him in celebrating his 90th birthday on April 16 2009 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music where his last work, Nearly Ninety, premiered.  For additional information on his life and work, see www.merce.org.