Three women enter the “Summerspace” stage in sweeping arcs, like birds on the wing, each in a different meter. Now they stop, making a group, as if perching on a branch. When a man enters, he’s of a different feather, advancing on a straight diagonal path in a different rhythm; and he pauses, only to reverse direction and pause again.

This is the start of Merce Cunningham’s “Summerspace” (1958), a dance that, when new, seemed such a nonevent that it was ignored outside the Cunningham company. Yet its quiet idyll cast a spell. “Summerspace” became one of Cunningham’s most celebrated, even classic, dances. This year in New York, it has been danced by Ballet West in April at the Joyce and will be revived by New York City Ballet in October. (These excerpts come from a 2008 film, directed by Charles Atlas.)

Nothing’s happening here, is it? Nothing but the world outside the human one. Four women, taking different routes, arrive one after another in a single diagonal line, all facing the same way.