Turning Toward Trisha Brown: Valiance and Fragility in Beth Gill's

Turning toward Trisha Brown Valiance and Fragility in Beth Gill’s New Work for the Desert Danielle Goldman

In January 2013 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Trisha Brown Dance Company performed the final two works of Trisha Brown’s career. Well-known as an experimentalist who participated in the Judson Dance Theater during the early 1960s, Brown founded her own company in 1970 and created more than 100 dances over the following four decades, ranging from solos to lavish operas. Her retirement meant a significant loss for the world of contemporary dance. But Brown’s departure from her company and from New York City remained relatively hushed. The reasons were understandable. Brown, aged 76, had undergone a number of mini- strokes, and had been suffering from vascular dementia, a decline in thinking skills that results when blood is unable to flow properly to the brain (Cooper 2014). As a result, shortly after the BAM season, Brown moved to Texas to be near relatives. Her company, now directed by long- time dancers and collaborators Diane Madden and Carolyn Lucas, began a three-year inter- national farewell tour in February 2013. The company now conducts workshops and master

Figure 1. Heather Lang and Stuart Singer in New Work for the Desert by Beth Gill at New York Live Arts, 2014. (Photo by Alex Escalante)

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18 Danielle Goldman

of loss. She alsoofferedadeeplyfeltandpersonalhomagetoBrown, craftedamidstaquickeningsense Brown’s Europe. was itareturntotheJudsonera, whichhasbeenalltherageinbothUnitedStatesand miered atNew York Live Arts in2014. ment withBrown’sworkcomesintheformofBethGill’sNew Work fortheDesert, whichpre- purview ofthe Trisha BrownDanceCompany. Inmyview, aparticularly interestingengage- pelling tothinkabouthowBrown’sworkhasbeensurfacinginotherways, beyondthedirect any dancecompanyoutlastingitsfoundingchoreographermustface, perhapsitismorecom- know orseeMs. Brownherself?” (Macaulay2013). Although theseareimportantquestionsthat become morewidelyknownandloved?Howwellcantheybepassedontodancerswhodidnot emerge: “Which Brownworkscanandshouldsurviveinperformance? Which worksdeserveto screenings, exhibitions, andperformancesinmuseumssite-specificlocations. to betterunderstandherwork” (TBDCn.d.). In2016, theywillofferarangeofdocumentary classes andischargedwithtreating Trisha Brown’sarchiveasa “living organismtobeused & Performance andBethGill. inthework. She ofDDDorvillier hasperformed in Dance Research,published articles Dance ResearchTDR: The Journal,Drama Review, and to Be Ready: Improvised Dance asaPractice ofFreedom (University ofMichigan Press, 2010),shehas Danielle Goldman Professor isAssistant ofCritical Dance Studies atThe New School. Author of dancing with Gillstarted in in 2007, and was a performer return toMary Wigman’s workfrom1929, ElliotMercer’s2010returntoSimoneForti’swork numerous reenactmentsinbothEuropeandtheUnitedStates, includingFabianBarba’s2008 seems tobeadefiningmarkofcontemporaryperformance. Lepeckinotesthattherehavebeen Body as Archive: Will toRe-Enactandthe Afterlives ofDances,” areturntohistoricaldances Gill isnotaloneinbeingcompelledbyaworkfromthepast. As André Lepeckiarguesin “The Revealing theBonesofChoreography 2. 1.

(Harrell 2013). room scene in Harlem had come downtown alongside the early postmoderns at Judson to perform Church?” the works in the Trajal Harrell’s series, Twenty seven-part Looks or Paris is Burning at the Judson(2009–2013). Together, Church Lover the Museum of Modern (MoMA) Art series performance who claim Judson artists as well as contemporary as a point of reference. Also in 2012, Ralph Lemon organized discussions, panels, and film screeningsperformances, by Judson-era artists reflecting on their current interests, Judson’s in 2012, Danspace Project 50th anniversary in New York City hosted Judson Now, a 10-week series of Flat (1964) as well commissioned dances by as newly Rainer and David Gordon. More recently, in honor of (1964); Carnation Trisha Brown’s Foundation produced PAST Forward, which included revivals of Simone Forti’s As premiere at New York in MarchLive Arts 2014, as well as in January 2015. the Desert presented a revival of the by Yvonne Rainer at festivals in Montreal, Avignon, and Stockholm in 1996. Also in 1996, Clarinda MacLow “re-readings”performed of in “new dance of the 1960s” (2006:186). As evidence, Burt notes that the French group Quatuor Albrecht Knust it feels like Gill’s projectwasnotanofficialattempttopreserveorpassdownBrown’srepertory. Nor As the Trisha BrownDanceCompanygrappleswithhowtomoveforward, severalquestions I Ramsay Burt notes in (1967) and 2 Rather, throughanunsanctionedyetmeticulousandaffectivelynuancedstudyof Newark (Niweweorce) (1987), Gillre-examinedmodernistunderstandingsofabstraction. several months in for family reasons, I remained in touch with Gill and saw the and her performers (2008), and Twenty Looks State (1968). One of the most influential re-examinations of Judson in recent years has been Electric Midwife Judson Dance Theater: Performative Traces has seen tremendous interest, the 21st century Judson Flag Show Satisfyin’ Lover (1967) series ask: “What would have happened in 1963 if someone from the series voguingask: “What ball- Homemade (1965); Yvonne Rainer’s (2011). Although I withdrew from the rehearsal process of version of 1

by Steve Paxton and Trio A (Burt 2006:186). In 2000, the Baryshnikov Dance Some sweet day, which included Steve Paxton’s Eleanor and Eleanor Trio A Pressured #3 (1966); Steve Paxton’s Continuous Process Altered Daily Huddle (1961); Lucinda Child’s (2007), What it looks like, what New Workfor (1970) Women Satisfyin’ I Want

Beth Gill 19 -

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because

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unison, and abstraction unison, while bypassing an author’s wishes as last words while bypassing an author’s wishes as last

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. (35) . something that is new and yet participates fully in the virtual cloud sur something that is new and yet participates

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, having this kind of commentary for myself about that... to put it bluntly, I would would I bluntly, it to put that... about for myself commentary kind of this having ,

(1990). After graduating, and as she began a successful and lauded career After graduating, (1990). Forêt Foray

Describing her early ventures as a dance maker, Gill explains: “I discovered for myself this Gill explains: Describing her early ventures as a dance maker, over a work’s destiny This is a risky venture when the original choreographer is not only still alive, but is also but choreographer is not only still alive, This is a risky venture when the original of returning rounding the originating work itself I am suggesting that the current will to archive in dance, as performed by re-enactments, performed by re-enactments, as the current will to archive in dance, I am suggesting that “nostalgic lens.” nor from a “failure in culture memory” from a derives neither exclusively in a past work still as referring to a capacity to identify archive” “will to I am proposing (to use an expression from “impalpable possibilities” fields of non-exhausted creative (31) 91]). Brian Massumi [2002, only to not re-enactments not only to reinvent, Thus the political-ethical imperative for to create but to invent, the past, point out that the present is different from simultaneously this is really fucked up that this is ‘wow, to myself: and I would be thinking be sitting there, kind of interesting, and curious, and also problematic thing about what I like to look at. There and also problematic thing about what I like to look at. and curious, kind of interesting, But the body can never be an is a real interest for me in looking at the body as an object.” Dances are performed by think- or paint on a canvas. or steel, object in the same way as clay, They and full of memories and desires. situated in history and cultures, sentient beings, ing, Gill con- to people in the audience. and to the choreographer, have relationships to each other, and also, erasing the individual inside of my work, “There is a real interest for me in tinues: discovered a masterful presentation of geometric precision, but which she wanted choreographic ideas that were already at the core of her work to date, to explore more deeply. in choreography, Gill continued to study Brown’s work, and she developed a deep and abid- and she developed a deep Brown’s work, Gill continued to study in choreography, sensibilities and her fastidious explorations of choreo- ing affinity for both Brown’s movement at the a recording of Brown’s 1987 piece Newark When Gill encountered graphic structure. move- she encountered stunning Arts in 2012, Public Library for the Performing York New Lance Irène Hultman, Axelrod, by Jeffrey ment invention and fearlessly virtuosic dancing Gill also , In Newark and Shelley Senter. Lisa Schmidt, Diane Madden, Carolyn Lucas, Gries, someone revered. How, then, might a young choreographer embrace this “will to archive,” “will to archive,” a young choreographer embrace this might then, How, someone revered. as well as love? while doing so out of respect, bypassing the original choreographer’s control, Brown extended back Trisha whose admiration for This question was highly charged for Gill, School Tisch University’s York at New more than a decade to Gill’s time as an undergraduate including excerpts of the delicate choreography, where students learned Brown’s Arts, of the dance, According to Lepecki, reenactments have the potential to “activate” these fields of possibility, these fields of possibility, “activate” reenactments have the potential to According to Lepecki, aesthetic, as cultural, other words, In in dances from the past (31). which are always embedded in which a dance might perform do the ways too, so, change over time, and political landscapes charge and opportunity is then to explore and A contemporary choreographer’s in the world. in a way that is particularly Lepecki further argues, build upon these unrealized mobilizations. that reenactments , (Niweweorce) Brown’s Newark Trisha interesting in relation to Gill’s return to control of their authors: potentially release past works from the limiting from the early ’60s, and Anne Collod’s 2008 return to Anna Halprin’s mid-’60s work, as well as mid-’60s work, Anna Halprin’s to Collod’s 2008 return Anne and ’60s, from the early in contemporary of reenactments to a critical consideration conferences dedicated numerous and bodies and gestures those tracks and steps and returning to all “[T]urning writes: He dance. paradoxically becomes by past dancers and sounds performed and images and words and sweat (2010:29). experimental choreography” of contemporary most significant marks one of the - backward-turning ven these seemingly What makes question: asks a compelling Lepecki then what he proposes that readers consider As an answer, than regressive? tures experimental rather (29): archive” “will to he calls the Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25September 2021 Desert. Desert. by the original cast in 1987 was the touchstone for performed of the reconstruction in 2013, a recording at BAM performances of the piece as France. Although Gill watched several recordings of Trisha Brown at Le Centre National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC), Angers, 20 Danielle Goldman Lance Gries in the original production of Figure 2. From left: Carolyn Lucas, Diane Madden, Jeffrey Axelrod, and (Photo © Tristan Jeanne-Valès) not thatthedance tellsanarrativeaboutitsperformers, orthatthechoreography isconcerned that arebeingsetupfortheperformers space.in And Brown “working insideofthese actsofformtoreallygetanexperiencethepeoplein cal structures, andspecificenergies ofeachperformer. It isahighlychargedwork. Gillcansee of Brown’schoreography, whilesimultaneouslywitnessing thedynamicidiosyncrasies, physi- abstract choreography, orperhapsbecauseofit, theperformersemerge. Oneseestherigor cess, asdotheangularshapescraftedbydancers. Yet, somehowinspiteofthisseemingly ing furniturearound” (inBurt2005:31). The muscular athleticismofNewark very weak,” shenotes, “I feltlike crawling intotherehearsalspace. And Iovercameitbypush- Newark duringadifficulttimeinherlife, whensheandher mother hadbeenill. “Iactuallyfelt which Brownseemedinterestedinshapingbodiesasobjects. According toBrown, shemade “Valiant Series,” Set andReset(1983).Bycontrast, Brown’sNewark early ’80s, whichincludedGlacialDecoy(1979), famously silkydancesinBrown’s “Unstable MolecularStructures” cycleofworkduringthe plex thanherminimalistexperimentsofthe1970s. Italsowasamarkeddeparturefromthe ior” (inBurt2005:26). objective. To movetowardsaminimalpresentationwasactuallyveryexposedmodeofbehav- withheld pieces. Iexperiencedarichsubjectivity, whereasontheoutsidedancelooked feeling emotionandinternalcommotionwhileperformingthoseearlydeductive, systematized, “Although in the earlyseventiesIwasworkingtowardsanobjectivityinmovement, Iremember abstraction withoutalsonotingherinterestinaffectandemotion. As Brownherselfexplains: Trisha Brownandthe Avant-garde” thatitisamistaketoconsiderBrown’sexperimentswith tions With

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push themtotheseplaceswhere they’rereallyexperiencingthat” Newark, Browncarriedthesediscoveriesintochoreographythatwasmorecom- Newark, Ithinkthat’shappening because, truthfully, theimpossibilityoftasks was decidedlyforcefulandgeometric. Itwasadoggedly formalistwork, in Newark (Niweweorce) Newark and attended

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the dangerandathleticisminside ofthesecomposi (1987) Opal Loop(1980), (1987), whichwastheseconddanceinher by by ing in “Against Expectations: tance ofthisrelationship, argu- similarly underscorestheimpor (MoMA 2010). RamsayBurt between structureanddancer” and thatisabasicrelationship bones ofanychoreography, works revealwhatIcallthe explained, “Allof Trisha’s early As DianeMaddenrecently never attheperformer’sexpense. and choreographicstructure, but placed aclearemphasisonline (1973), andLocusSolo(1975), including works fromtheearly1970s, experience. ManyofBrown’s objecthood andtheperformer’s sistently exploredlinksbetween throughout hercareershecon- political contentinherdances, endeavor toincludeexplicit Blackwood 2010). (in dancers infrontofyou’” what youwanttodothese Son ofGoneFishin’ (1981) Although Browndidn’t (inKourlas2014). It’s Sticks reflects thispro- (1973), Scallops and - - Beth Gill 21 at Electric Midwife Midwife Electric by Trisha Brown at Le Centre Centre Le at Brown Trisha by New Work for the Desert, Gill for the Desert, Work In New 3 (1987) (1987:21). As the duet proceeds, the cast As the duet proceeds, (1987:21). and she improvised on Brown’s move- dancers had discovered a new law of physics dancers had discovered a new law of physics Newark (Niweweorce) (Niweweorce) Newark Figure 3. A close-up of Lance Gries performing duet opening the Gries Lance of close-up A 3. Figure from National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC), Angers, France. France. Angers, (CNDC), Contemporaine Danse de National © Tristan Jeanne-Valès) (Photo - for the first time, Gill hung a Post-it note in her Queens apartment, Gill hung a Post-it note in her Queens apartment, for the first time,

G Nazareth College (Gill 2012). (Gill College Nazareth Newark After viewing Newark This is particularly evident in This is particularly evident

3. performancesfor of York New upstate in tour on while note Post-it this about spoke ill enabling them to move smoothly through brick walls” enabling them to move smoothly through weaving through the unrelenting duet. of five women enters and exits the space, question seemed the At least initially, look like?” “What would my Newark on which she asked: from a quarter century ago that embodies so to mean this: How do you respond to a work up to its and make your own work that lives much of what you desire and love about dance, field of dance? standards while also speaking to a contemporary acters. Rather, the audience is Rather, acters. to watch the danc- compelled the challenges ers experiencing meeting of formal structure, of the dance with the demands great vitality. ’s unremitting opening Newark by originally performed duet, Axelrod, Lance Gries and Jeffrey “the as which Brown describes geo- furniture-like, ponderous, inexo- metric behavior of the (in Burt geometric men” rable, brisk steps After a few 2005:28). launch the two men in an arc, With into unison phrase-work. one dancer slightly downstage of they proceed to shift the other, shapes in a mesmerizing string each of movement invention, shift revealing another grounded yet unpredictable geometric pos- Their material is angu- sibility. and precise. muscular, blocky, lar, When they fall to the ground, they do so in a weighted man- themselves into the air then hurling Lunging deeply, of wood. thudding down like blocks ner, As Marcia B. they display exquisite athleticism and geometric precision. from profound stillness, “as if the it was Siegel described the dance in 1987, with their personalities or char with their Newark, to Newark, includes a unison duet that strongly refers ment style and choreographic strategies as a way to generate material. But she carefully framed ment style and choreographic strategies as a way to generate material. and social concerns. aesthetic, her references to Brown’s choreography with her own perceptual, Gill starts Rather than beginning the dance with the assertive entrance of two men in unison, the audience is given time to settle down and to perceive First, with space and with softness. Thomas crafted by lighting designer an empty stage awash in the dark blue light of twilight, - Gill establishes a space for con this drawn-out opening lasting several minutes, With Dunn. a lone female fig- Then, templation and offers the audience a gentle experience of time passing. ure ( Jennifer Lafferty) slowly crosses from one side of the stage to the other with measured, behind her back in a broken shape described She holds her arms asymmetrically quiet footsteps. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25September 2021

22 Danielle Goldman Gill at New York Live Arts, 2014. Figure 4. Jennifer in the opening of Lafferty ia Kourlas, dance critic for shapes imprintthespace. ForGill, thesestrategies, employedinNew Work fortheDesert aswell etries withtheirlimbs, slowlyextendingtheirarmsinto horizontallines, pausingtolettheir linear pathandpositionthemselvesinprofile. Inaprelude ofsorts, theycraftprecisegeom- ened, sheisbrieflyjoinedbyMarilynMaywaldandChristiana Axelson. They, too, enteron a looked almosttwo-dimensional. After Laffertyreturns tothestageandlighthasbright- choices employedbyGillde-emphasizedthedancers’individuality andcreatedimagesthat neither beentirelyflatnorextractedfromthree-dimensional space,certainchoreographic move thedanceintoabstractrealmswithoutdiscerniblereferences. Althoughadancercan ing She employedflatnessstrategicallyasawaytoemphasizeline andshape,oftensuggest- nied herbackto Arizona. these realmswaspartoftherehearsalprocessforbothGillandherdancers, wholateraccompa- ronment likeNew York City, wherepoliticalidentitiesseemsopressing. Movementbetween There’s alsoawayinwhichone’sparticular “situatedness” shiftsuponleavinganurbanenvi- tance,” sheexplainedinaninterviewforDanceEnthusiast: of New York; itenabledanentirelydifferentmodeofperception. “I wasseeingwithgreatdis- turn toflatness. Thedesertdidn’tjustofferdifferentviewsfromthecongestedurbanlandscape In particular, Gillmentionedthevastnessofspaceandstrangenesshavingperspective ing atwo-monthresearchresidencyat Arizona StateUniversityatthebeginningofproject. 4.

recalls “Jennifer’s arms lifted behind her back like a cactus” (Mattocks 2014). behind her back like hidden wings” (Kourlas 2014). In the New York “Context Notes,”Live Arts Aaron Mattocks Jennifer Lafferty G Gill craftedNew Work fortheDesertwiththismovementandcollapseofdepthinmind. ing together. Ireally, reallydeeplylovedthat. (inBomboy2014) sort ofoutlinesmountainranges, andhorizonlines, andothertopographysortofcom- kind ofafuzzypixelationinwaytowhatyou’relookingat, andjustthemergerofthese on me, andthatIwaslookingatapaintedbackdropoftheaterset. You know, there’s [W]hen Iwouldlookfaroutinthedesert, Ifeltlikedepthwascollapsingatsomepoint horizon linesandthekindoftopographyfoundinnatural world,butalsoworkingto

— (Photo by Alex Escalante)

delicate as a feather, yet firmly grounded Time Out New York, writes: “At of Beth the Gill’sstart New Work for the Desert by Beth

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cr osses the stage slowly with her arms held low Y showing atCityCenterinNew ette. After awork-in- for theDesertbeginswithsilhou- It issignificantthatNewWork Abstraction Strategy Flatness as hidden wings. by criticsasbothacactusand Newark, influenced notonlybyBrown’s the audiencethatshehadbeen ences ofthe Arizona desertdur indicates, byherownexperi- darkness, figure crossesthespaceinnear- discern.two-dimensional The tours ofherfigurearehardto silhouette, thedepthandcon- ork City, Gillexplainedto but also, asthetitle New Work, for the Desert andthenis gone. 4 Visible onlyas

progress

- Beth Gill 23 New Work for the Desert Desert the for Work New (Photo by Alex Escalante) Alex by (Photo Figure 5. Marilyn Maywald and Jennifer Lafferty in Jennifer and Maywald Marilyn 5. Figure by Beth Gill at New York Live Arts, 2014. Arts, Live York New at Gill Beth by -

whether having

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they are unlikely to be

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Gill absorbed these impor But Gill knows that lines, that lines, But Gill knows tant lessons from the 1990s, as tant lessons from the 1990s, well as more recent critical the- for the Work that knowledge when crafting New and she drew from ory and somatic practices, then subtly complicates them as the dance wears and Desert. Gill sets up seductive geometries, Gill’s , Although spectators might observe clear designs in space at the outset of New Work on. to also reckon with the bodies producing those lines and over time, choreography asks viewers, and tone, The clarity with which Gill directs the dancers’ presence (attending to focus, shapes. does too, So, partially accounts for this reckoning. energy throughout the rehearsal process), Axelson walk offstage, Soon after Maywald and the slippery emergence of recognizable gesture. arms her her back to the audience, With sculptural shifts. Lafferty embarks on a series of slow, Moving her fingers rest delicately on her shoulders. and then circle upward until extend down, she shifts through a series of sculptural slowly but with sustained presence and attention, evoke weather vanes; a shifting horizon; literal or static, without ever becoming positions that, received as abstract. to do with race, gender, age, age, gender, to do with race, or other elements of iden- tity however compelling, are never are never however compelling, and merely lines in dance, work. she explores this in her many contemporary Admittedly, consider choreographers might to profess it politically suspect abstrac- an interest in modernist schol- During the 1990s, tion. studies, ars in the field of dance world of as well as in the wider the challenged the visual arts, of abstrac- “cultural neutrality” As Darby English argues in tion. Total Art in of Work How to See a abstraction’s authority , Darkness in the art world generally corre- sponds with the degree to which “suppress and one is able to protect the body and the reference to social constraints the body inevitably unleashes [...]” Although dance (2007:206). can never entirely suppress the one could extend English’s body, observation about painting to say that when dancing bodies call to mind social prejudices and complicated histories of oppression as in her previous dances, “give “give dances, as in her previous on like sense of line, the work a (in hieroglyphics” a paper or Maxfield 2012). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25September 2021

24 Danielle Goldman Lang andStuart Singer, walkonstage. Their duetprovides thework’smostexplicitrefer it. After thepreludewith Lafferty, Axelson, andMaywald, twoadditionaldancers, Heather former helpinghertoexploredifferent dimensionsofNewark andhershiftingfeelingstoward at thesametime she explains, “I realizedthatthecombinationoftwomechanicallyderivedmotionsconducted (Brown andRainer1993:31). BrownthenshiftstoadiscussionofNewark. am wellawarethereismoretodancethanelegantvocabularyanddeploymentofdancers[...]” metaphors thatBrownwouldoftenemploywhendescribingherdances. Brownresponds, “I sation abouthowher “commitment todanceasaphysicalabstraction” squareswiththesocial fixed inoneplace. as fleeting. Justasgesturesapproachlegibility, theymorphintosomethingelse. Nothingstays sions andwaysofbeingperceived. it. GillusesthisinNew Work, fortheDesert subtlyrevealingbodieswithmanydifferentdimen- always abodyatthecoreofanyshape, withahostofmeaningsandassociationsswirlingaround ing ways(Gill2013). Overthecourseofdance, Gill’schoreographyindicatesthatthereis that bodiesnotonlyexperienceform, butthattheyarepoliticallysituatedinlayeredandshift- work, reflectingGill’ssensitivitytowardBrown’sdeclininghealth, aswellherunderstanding a significantdeparturefromthevalianceofNewark, anditbecameanimportantaspectofthe gendered, sexual, andhistoricallysituated. They alsosuggestaveryhumanfragility. This was the headissupported, orthehandsarecuppedinfrontofbelly, allsuggestbodiesthatare multiple meanings. As Gill’sNew Work fortheDesertprogresses, momentswherelegspart, or remaining possibilityinBrown’sapproachtoabstraction, particularlyitscapacitytogenerate eration ofcontemporaryreenactmentsinthislight, Gillseemedtorecognizesomedegreeof discussed itwithherdancersduringtherehearsalprocess. Thinking aboutLepecki’sconsid- gestures andrubthemout, erasethem, orrideoverthem” (33). into somethinglesscertain. “Yes,” exclaimsRainer, “that’s what’ssofascinating, thewayyouuse explains herfascinationwiththosesubtlemomentsindancewhenrecognizablegesturesslide for thatedgebetweenmechanicallyderivedmotionoractionandemotionalaffect” (31). Brown two collide, an elegantwoman;a became achoreographicopportunity. and desiresinevitablyinformone’s memoriesofadance. Ratherthananobstacle, thesefissures that one’simpressionsofadanceareneveridenticaltothe itself. BAM in2013, improvisinginrelationtoitsstructures and vocabulary work asitwasperformedin1987, 2014). Somewhatparadoxically, throughameticulous studyofNewark taneously untethersomeofthosefictions” inthehopesoffinding newcreativeterritory(Gill oped aboutmyselfinrelationshiptothesememories.” Hergoalwasthen to “fulfill andsimul- me themostaboutthisrevelation, wasobservingasortoffiction thathadsimultaneouslydevel- become intimatelyconnectedwithherowncreativeprocessover theyears. “What interested ized thatthe “selected memoriesandimpressions” she’dretainedofBrown’schoreographyhad intriguing toherasthearchivalrecordingsof1987performance. As Gillexplains, shereal- process, Gilladmittedthatherownimaginingsandimpressions ofNewark becamejustas means attemptstobealiteralorconservativereconstructionofit. Although The Body Remains Movingthrough Abstraction In a1993discussionwith Trisha Brown, Yvonne RainertriedtoengageBrowninaconver Gill wasfamiliarwiththis1993conversationbetweenRainerandBrown, andsheread Gill usedeachofthesixdancers inNew Work fortheDesertindifferentways, witheach per New Work fortheDesertclearlyunfoldsinrelationtoNewark, lookslikeapersonwailing. That fascinatedme, andfromthenonI’vebeenlooking

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folding thearmsupandroundingdroppingheadforward barren landscape. attendingmultipleperformancesofthelivereconstructionat The imagesemergeslowly, butsomehowtheyregister Near theendofherrehearsal

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— One’spastexperiences Gill’s projectbyno

Gill seemedtorealize

watching videosofthe “During ‘Newark,’”

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if the - - - Beth Gill 25 by Beth Gill at New New at Gill Beth by marked by swift shifts marked by swift shifts New Work for the Desertthe for Work New (Photo by Alex Escalante) Alex by (Photo loose and sensual,

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Figure 6. Marilyn Maywald in Maywald Marilyn 6. Figure York Live Arts, 2014. Arts, Live York -

Meanwhile, however, Marilyn Maywald serves as a much more fluid presence in the piece. as a much more fluid presence in the piece. Marilyn Maywald serves however, Meanwhile, after the ensemble fills Later, ing at times to be lost in reverie. ing at times to be lost in reverie. stopping in a lunge to offer sup- through the space, Lafferty calmly trails Maywald Meanwhile, Maywald waist to provide additional lift to a jump. or quietly taking hold of Maywald’s port, She lingers facing the audience. same shape as before, the pauses again with torso over bent leg, Brown’s public appearances in recent years, Trisha Having followed in this inverted position. out at the the soft serenity of Maywald’s face resembled the openness with which Brown stared Theater in 2011 while accepting her Bessie award for lifetime achieve- Apollo audience at the It also brought seemingly at an honest loss for words. lingering longer than expected, ment, now full of new Arts Center, Walker to mind the poetic title of Brown’s 2008 exhibition at the Whether I Have Stopped Dancing.” Audience Does Not Know That the “So meaning: Having performed in recent years with Vicky Shick, a former Trisha Brown dancer who now Trisha a former Shick, Vicky recent years with Having performed in and love for Brown’s choreogra- Maywald has a deep appreciation work, choreographs her own movement resembles the kind of danc- her than any other dancer in the cast, more In fact, phy. Brown herself is best known Trisha ing for which frequent of momentum and the she When folding of limbs. the uni- after enters the space, son duet has had some time on Maywald skits along its own, releases the surface of the stage, and swings her arms her weight, Gill with pendular motion. developed much of Maywald’s material by improvising to Anderson’s iconic score Laurie a driv- for Brown’s Set and Reset, ing yet sensuous dance from the movement has a Here, 1983. At one point, dreamlike quality. Maywald pauses with her torso curved to the side over one bent giving the audience a chance leg, to focus on the open serenity of her nearly upside-down face before momentum again takes over. the space with intricate part- a duet develops between nering, Maywald Maywald and Lafferty. continues with the movement appear material from earlier, . Initially measured and restrained, their steps quickly become punctuated and become punctuated their steps quickly measured and restrained, Initially . ence to Newark but with Brown costumes, Trisha iconic that resemble matching unitards Wearing weighted. for geometric unison perform in strong Lang and Singer cut, sleeveless a more contemporary shapes as if completing moving between deeply, They lunge remains of the dance. much of what of the choreography The details puzzle. three-dimensional an intricate, and then dismantling than energetic register more subtle and varied performed within a and the dancing is are new, provide an undeniable echo of the historic But Singer and Lang . Brown explored in Newark modernist abstraction to remain ’s bold presentation of allowing Newark work’s opening duet, for most of Gill’s dance. present as a reference Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25September 2021

26 Danielle Goldman for the Desert for the Desert Figure 7. From left: Stuart Singer, Kayvon Pourazar, Heather Lang, and Marilyn Maywald in a newhorizon. As thelightsfadeonMaywaldandPourazar, carefullytracing thecontoursof tions aredeeplyexperienced, andsharedwithacontemporaryaudience. These mightseemlikeminorlosses, buttheyarenot. InNew Work fortheDesert, thoserealiza- ity ofaheroicusemodernistabstraction, howevernaïveorethicallyfraught, nolongerexists. another the Trisha BrownDanceCompanywith Trisha Brownatitshelm. Norisitpossibletomake er’s lifethatwerenolongerwithinanyone’sgrasp. Itisnolongerpossibletoaspirebein recent conversation, Maywaldnotedthattheworkwasfilledwithlongingforaspectsofadanc- the work’ssadnessandundeniablesenseofloss. Reflectingonthisdimensionofthedanceina argued, seemedtohave “hit animpasse” (Seibert2014). ButhereSeibertfailstoaccountfor the humanizing “exit fromcoldgeometry” feltlikea “provisional compromise.” The work, he Lang’s clavicles. the fingertipsofhertwocuppedhandstomovefromforeheaddownwellbetween trace theoutlineofSinger’sface. MaywaldperformsasimilartracingofLang’sprofile, using With onehandonSinger’sshoulder, Pourazarusesthebackofhisotherhandtodelicately the ground. Havingentirelydispensedwithunison, thedancesoftensandNewark suggested representations. Slowlyandwithagreatdealofcare, theyeaseSingerandLangto A newpairing, MaywaldandPourazarseemtohavebeenreleasedfromanypreviousrolesor ment performedarousingsolofollowedbytenderduetwith Axelson, approachfrombehind. position withlegsslightlyparted. MaywaldandKayvonPourazar, whohasjustbeforethisseg- Once theynearcenterstage, theystoptogazeupward. Slowly, theyshifttoahumblekneeling arms, theypullthemselvesalongthegroundwiththeirlegstrailingbehindlikedeadweight. Yet thisisnotthework’srestingplace. The endofthedancebringsaquietopeningonto The dancecriticBrianSeibertcriticizedtheendingofNew Work fortheDesert, claimingthat At theendofNew Work fortheDesert, SingerandLangdragthemselvesonstage. Usingtheir Newark by Beth Gill at New York Live Arts, 2014.

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because thework, itturnsout, isinimitable, butalsobecausethepossibil- (Photo by Alex Escalante) dissipates. New Work Beth Gill 27

dancing. New York New York pure-movement

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16 March. Accessed 16 March. from the actual movements of the body” (2013:151). With great swiftness and great swiftness and With (2013:151). of the body” from the actual movements

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8 March 2015. www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/view/Beth-Gill-Desert-NYLA. 8 March 2015. 1:11–36. www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/arts/dance/trisha-brown-troupe-attains Accessed 8 March 2015. 7 April. -half-of-fund-raising-goal.html. /890573051/new-work-for-the-desert. www.timeout.com/newyork/dance/beth-gill-talks-about August 2014. Accessed 08 14 June. , New York -her-latest-premiere-new-work-for-the-desert. 2:28–48. 42, Journal www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/arts/dance/trisha-browns-long-career-and-last-dances.html. MIT Press. Live Arts. sarahmaxfield.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/in-discussion-with-beth-gill/. www.moma.org Accessed 8 March 2015. produced by Ben Coccio and David Shuff. Video .” Company /explore/multimedia/videos/136/829. Productions, Inc. DVD. DVD. Inc. Productions, Brown, Trisha, and Yvonne Rainer. 1993. “Trisha Brown.” BOMB 45:28–33. Brown.” “Trisha 1993. Rainer. Yvonne and Trisha, Brown, 37, Journal Dance Research Avant-Garde.” Brown and the Trisha Expectations: “Against 2005. Ramsay. Burt, London: Routledge. . Judson Theater: Dance 2006. Traces Performative Ramsay. Burt, , Times The New York Attains Half of Fund-Raising Goal.” Brown Dance “Trisha 2014. Michael. Cooper, The MIT Press. MA: Cambridge, . Darkness Total Art in of Work How to See a 2007. Darby. English, 15 July. Personal conversation with the author, 2012. Beth. Gill, 6 March. Phone conversation with the author, 2013. Beth. Gill, www.kickstarter.com/projects August 2014. Accessed 8 for the Desert.” Work “New 2014. Beth. Gill, http://betatrajal.org/home.html. Accessed 30 March 2015. trajal harrell. “Works/Info.” 2013. Trajal. Harrell, Out Time for the Desert.” Work New about her latest premiere, “Beth Gill talks 2014. Gia. Kourlas, Dance Research Afterlives of Dances.” to Re-Enact and the Will Archive: Body as “The 2010. André. Lepecki, Accessed 7 July 2014. 25 January. , Times New York Pure Finale.” Dance, “Pure 2013. Alastair. Macaulay, MA: The Cambridge, Arts. and the Occurrent Activist Philosophy Semblance and Event: 2013. Brian. Massumi, 19–22 March, , for the Desert Work Program for New “Context Notes.” 2014. Aaron. Mattocks, http:// Accessed 15 May 2014. 1 January. “In discussion with: Beth Gill.” 2012. Sarah. Maxfield, Brown Dance 11: On Line/Trisha “Behind the Scenes: Performance 2010. Art (MoMA). Museum of Modern , The Dance Enthusiast to Beth Gill.” “Dance Up Close 2014. Erin. Bomboy, References Michael Blackwood York: New . Dance: States of Performance York New 2010. Michael. Blackwood, importance for dance studies, Massumi then continues: “But the body remains” (151). The (151). body remains” “But the Massumi then continues: studies, importance for dance is what Gill activates valiance and fragility, capable of both remainder, promise of this bodily Brown. Trisha toward through her loving turn It’s as if, in the wake of choreography’s modernist masters, today’s dancers are left in a very are left in a very today’s dancers masters, modernist in the wake of choreography’s It’s as if, at play in dance, this materiality is always Of course, of embodied relation. present moment As as Gill has done. its significance as deftly not to consider choreographers choose even when which in dance, discussion of abstraction argues in his recent Brian Massumi the philosopher in abstraction significantly whose interest of Merce Cunningham, unfolds in a consideration extract animateness dance the dance is to “To Trisha Brown’s: influenced qualities - any semblance of his have moved through the dancers seem to profiles, Lang and Singer’s bodies doing the the material they have encountered as a result, and, toric abstraction Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00469 by guest on 25September 2021

28 Danielle Goldman Trisha BrownDanceCompany(TBDC). n.d. “Company/About.” Accessed 30March2015. www Siegel, MarciaB. 1987. “Some bewildermentgreetsnew Trisha Browndances.” TheChristianScience Seibert, Brian. 2014. “A Sunriseinthe American SouthwestHelpsInspire Another Dawning.” NewYork .trishabrowncompany.org/index.php?section=6. Monitor, 30September. Accessed 8March2015. www.csmonitor.com/1987/0930/ltrish.html. -the-desert-control-and-freedom-spar.html. Times, 21March. Accessed 5March2015. www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/arts/dance/in-new-work-for