Following in the footsteps of another great dance documentary, Wim Wenders’ 2011 “Pina,” Alla Kovgan’s first feature-length film uses 3-D to thrilling effect. In keeping with the spirit of its subject, “Cunningham” is an experience. “We don’t interpret* something,” Merce Cunningham said of his hardworking troupe. “We do something.”

There are no talking heads offering analysis; the only voices heard in “Cunningham” are those of the choreographer* himself, several of the founding members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and fellow artists who collaborated* in his life’s work (he hadn’t retired when he died at 90 in 2009). They include composer John Cage, Cunningham’s life partner; the painter Robert Rauschenberg; and Andy Warhol. The photographs, audio recordings and footage of interviews and rehearsals that director-editor Kovgan has selected become 2-D elements in a rich, intricate collage*.

Concentrating on the first 30 years of a career that would be monumentally influential, she crafts an organic chronology* as opposed to a literal timeline. The director interweaves the archival material — some of it never seen publicly until now — with inspired reimagining of pieces that debuted between 1942 and 1972.

The use of 3-D lends an immediacy* to the dances and highlights the dancers’ physicality. The dozen-plus settings are striking for their variety as well as their visual impact: a New York rooftop, an empty auditorium, a park bursting with sunlight and birdsong. Cinematographer Mko Malkhasyan uses occasional overhead shots that emphasize the geometry* of group dances, and the sound design ensures that the thump of bare feet on wooden planks makes no less of an impact than street noises.

With Cage and Rauschenberg, Cunningham was in the forefront of a postwar cultural renaissance, something the film effortlessly makes clear through letters and conversations.

Before his abrupt but not unpredicted departure to follow his own rising star, Rauschenberg created costumes and sets for Cunningham’s dances, notably his pointillist* backdrop for the 1958 piece “Summerspace,” a work that puzzled its first audience, according to one observer.

Kovgan also gives us an over-the-moon* Warhol enthusing over the silver Mylar pillows he designed to float and bounce through 1968’s “RainForest” (whose costumes were created by another art-world giant, Jasper Johns, still working today at 89). (SD-Agencies)