David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 1 #1 In 1973 - Grand Union gets a 1st NYSCA grant for $2400.00 - to produce 1 weeka home town performances. Instead - the group rents a space for 2 months - April’n May - to produce their own performances - and the work of artist friends. Grand Union does 17 performances insteada 7 - and David Gordon decides to do a solo performance in May. #2 David don’t consider what he’s gonna do for an entire solo evening. He is used to performing set material with Valda - and company. Used to improvising with G.U. Not used to being alone on stage. st Not since 1 3 Judson solos. (see ‘60s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 1) #1 David notices - his peers begin to claim turf. I - someone says - was 1st - to do something something. I did it before she did - someone says. My version was definitive - someone else says. David begins his solo performance by rotating his index finger. He claims he invented the rotating index finger. David’s rotating index finger predates all circular movement - he says - ethnic spinning - double’n triple pirouettes - pelvic grinds - twirling pony tails and sung “rounds”. He makes a list n’takes props’n costume changes - and music - for his solo.

HE SPEAKS -SINGS’N DANCES - FOR AN HOUR OR SO. DAVID DON’T COUNT ON HOW SCARED HE WILL BE - AND HE NEVER DOES IT AGAIN - except for the 1st Spilled Milk concert when Valda has the accident. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 2

MAY 1973 SOLO PERFORMANCE

#2 IN 1974 - NYSCA REWARDS GRAND UNION’S AMBITIOUS PRODUCING ADVENTURE - BY CUTTING THE NEXT YEAR’S GRANT TO $1800.00. WE DECIDED - NYSCA PROGRAM DIRECTOR SAYS - YOU ARE AN IMPROVISATIONAL COMPANY - YOU DON’T NEED MONEY TO REHEARSE. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 3 ALSO IN 1974 - RICHARD NIXON RESIGNS THE OFFICE - ê - OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ALSO - JUNE 1974 - IS IN A CAR HIT BY A LONG ISLAND RAILROAD TRAIN. #1 David leaves by train for Washington DC - to guest perform with and company at the Kennedy Center. Friend Norma Fire picks up 12-year-old Ain Gordon - inna morning - to spend the day with her. #2 Valda leaves 54 Charles Street inna suicide seat of a car - with a woman driver she don’t know - to look at a summer rental. Car is hit’n dragged by a Long Island Railroad train’n hits a telephone pole. Valda goes partially through the windshield. Found dazed and bloody in the car - she’s taken to hospital in Riverhead - Long Island. Manages to call Norma in New York. Valda says - I won’t be home today and would you mind putting the lamb chops back in the freezer? #1 Norma can’t get holda David in Washington till after Trisha Brown’s 1st evening performance. 1st Amtrak train to Penn Station is 5 inna morning. July of 2014 - Valda reminds him - he stays awake and dressed - to be safe. Watches MGM’s 1940 Pride and Prejudice onna Late Show on TV. Greer Garson’n Laurence Olivier - she says he said - till he can get a cab to the station to catch the 1st train to get to her. . David calls Ain and Norma from Penn Station when he arrives - and gets a Long Island Railroad train to Riverhead - and cabs to the hospital. He says he’s Valda Setterfield’s husband and where is she? She smiles - he says - as he kneels at her bedside to take her hand. #2 I’ve been worried about you - Valda says. Is Ain okay? She smiles. You must be hungry - she says - after such a long trip. There’s fresh strawberries in that closet - she points. Would you mind taking the strawberries home? It’s a pity to waste them. Oh - and your white shawl collared cardigan I borrowed is in the closet too - she says. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 4 #1 Valda is more out of it then she knows - or David knows. She don’t remember the lamb chop phone call. She remembers the strawberries - and the off duty nurse who pours warm water on her belly - n’gently massages till she can pee. To avoid the catheter - she says - the nurse says. A less nice nurse wheels her to a room. Stands her up’n abandons her - to exit and take x-rays. Valda is cold - and terrified to stand alone.. #2 David - his back to Valda - opens the metal doorsa the narrow hospital closet. He sees the bloody white sweater’n smashed boxes - of squashed strawberries. He don’t say anything. Valda says - d’ya see the strawberries? We stopped to buy ‘em at a roadside stand - they looked so good - she says. David turns around. Valda has such a lotta stitches in her face. He startsta cry. #1 Don’t worry - Valda Setterfield says - I’ll be okay” she says - better get me vitamin E for the scars. ALSO IN 1974 – SPILLED MILK VARIATIONS IS PERFORMED - ê - AT PAULA COOPER GALLERY IN SOHO.

#2 1974 - Valda’s supposeta be in Spilled Milk concert. She’s in Riverhead hospital after the train/car accident. David visits her in the day n’performs inna evening. #1 He is surprised to learn, when he sees the mailer, he performed solo 1 of the 2 evenings wearing dark glasses. Surprised he performed solo. Surprised at the dark glasses. #2 July of 1973, Valda and David are in Paris. Walking’n working daily - David develops gestural hand action inna streetsa Paris. Teaches hand’n walking in Spilled Milk to Valda’n 8 dancers.

David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 5 #1 1974 - Valda don’t perform in - or see - Spilled Milk after the accident. Spilled Milk is performed 2 times at Paula Cooper Gallery. David never does it again. Valda and her nutritionist - Dr. Pressman - believe in Vitamin E for scars. The Riverhead Hospital doctor doesn’t. David sneaks Vitamin E to Valda inna hospital. He asks friend Florence Rothauser to drive ‘em home in her too small car. He don’t wanna wait an extra day to take her home in an ambulance. Ain sees Valda arrive from his bedroom window. Inna hall Ain leans over the bannister. Watches Valda climb 2 flightsa stairs’n stop to rest at each landing. #2 Valda begins to realize how little she can do. After 4 or 5 days - she thinks - as she gets better in a way she gets worse. She can’t sit up in bed by herself - and she can’t get outta bed without help. David straddles her - hands behind her neck to pull her into a sitting position. He climbs off’n takes her hands - pulls her gently to standing. She smiles at Ain but he’s afraid to touch her. #1 She finds a paperback to read. She don’t remember reading it. She opens the “new” book. Finds Valda Setterfield written inside the cover. She cries. David helps her dress to go to a dance concert with her friend Meg Harper. She’s terrified - she tells David - when she suddenly realizes - she can’t remember - how she got there. There are long and frequent periods of not knowing where I am - she says. Or how I got here. Or there. Or wherever it is I am. Sudden or loud noises - frighten her - activities in the street are paralyzing. #2 Before the accident, Valda decides to leave 's company. She dances with him for 10 years. She’s almost 40. What’ll she do - she says - if she’s not a dancer at all? What’ll David do if Valda’s not a dancer? #1 The accident happens in early summer of 1974. Facial scars are healing with vitamin E by the enda summer. Valda goes back to Merce for a project she previously committed to. But she don’t pick up movement as quick as she useta - she thinks. Merce says not to worry - like any injury it takes time - but he agrees with her. Yes - she’s slower. Valda is undone. #2 What if Valda could learn something new? Something she never did before? So she don’t have anything to compare it to? Something new’n hard to do - so her sturdy British resilience will kick in? Sounds like a Hollywood movie screenplay but David has no other plan. #1 1974 - the Cunningham company’s on tour but Valda has a studio key. David convinces her to walk with him from Charles Street’n 7th Avenue to Westbeth. Traffic bewilders her. She needsta rest on a wood bench at Abingdon Square. A wood bench is inna studio. He suggests they do “he loves me - he loves me not” - from Giselle. He suggests’n she humors him. She mimes flower plucking. They move along the bench till he falls off. Valda laughs at him. He’s thrilled to make her laugh. They go to the studio again’n again’n use the bench each time. Sit on it - stand on it - move around it. Cunninghams return’n generously lends ‘em her brand new studio at 541 Broadway. No bench. There’s blue metal folding chairs - from Buffalo Roadhouse - a 7th Avenue chicken wing joint. Lucinda buys ‘em at the enda the outdoor season. Gonna use the chairs - she says - for audiences - to see her work in her new studio. David and Valda still have - in 2016 - 5 of Lucinda’s blue chairs. #2 David has no therapeutic plan - and he’s not making art. He has no idea how to make Lucinda’s chair be what Valda needs. David needsta invent a serious challenge that ain’t too daunting. Extreme’n exhilarating but not exhausting’n with a sense of humor. Valda Setterfield has courage and is willing to take a chance. #1 They make and hold to a daily schedule. They arrive and warm up. #2 He coaxes’n coaches Valda to fold’n carry the chair and to step up on it. On - in and over the chair - and to sit in it - and to locomote in the chair. To step off - fall off’n jump off - Lucinda Child’s Buffalo Roadhouse blue metal folding chair. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 6

photos by Johan Albers – Valda Setterfield – CHAIR 1974/5

#1 He convinces her to climb up on the chair - tilt’n fall backward. Slide the chair forward out from under her standing foot. From under her off balanced standing body - and she does it! #2 He asks her to sit - to slowly tilt and tilt more - and to fall off the chair. He piles a buncha coats onna floor so she don’t bruise her hip falling. She learns to relax her body into sideways fall offa chair. He removes 1 coat atta time till she don’t need no coats. They do chair moves over’n over - in’n outta sync. She startsta remember yesterday’s rehearsal - she accumulates movement. David adds singing for repeat version. Stars and Stripes Forever. She hasta breathe simultaneously for singing and dancing. #1 David’s instinct is to schedule daily work - Valda says. To eliminate comparison and to do it at the Cunningham studio. To do it where she feels safe - she says. To teach Valda radical new ways to move her 40-year-old body. And to work together patiently - and quietly and slowly - she says. With no pressure of results. In 2016 - I thank him forever - Valda Setterfield says. #2 Can David state professional career intentions for 1974 concert at Paula Cooper Gallery? No. Purpose of concert is to convince Valda Setterfield she is still a dancer. December 14, 1974 - Setterfield’n Gordon perform Chair - alternatives 1 through 5 - at Paula Cooper Gallery - in Soho - reviewed in Village Voice ê by Deborah Jowitt. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 7

#1 Valda’s body is banged up - after the accident - but - she can apply - David says - her ballet and modern - technical training - to the rigorous new movement - he says - and she can count on her musicality.

#2 The accident plays havoc - also - with her memory - so David writes a script for One Act Play - to be halfa the Chair program - to assure Valda - she can still memorize’n remember.

#1 1974 - ONE ACT PLAY - David stands on stage with Valda - in performance - n’says tell me all about it - and she does. Valda Setterfield recounts page after narrative page - í - of nonlinear events - of a day in the life. His day - not hers.

David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 8

#1 2 possible roads - to take after the concert - at Paula Cooper Gallery - move on as dancing partners or begin again - as partners in theater? Valda gets fond of the inelegant - unbeautiful - untheatrical - but remarkably useful blue metal folding chairs. David has denim drawstring bags made to carry their chairs. Chairs in bags on trains - planes and autos carried to performance venues. 2 chairs each in case of breakage. Perform in the United States, Europe and Japan. In theaters - gymnasiums - galleries and Art museums. Valda grows strong’n confident. Performs athletic’n pedestrian movement she never imagined. Low ceilings - leaking roofs - waxed marble - or wood floors with splinters. She’s not deterred. Happy to be dancing. Or whatever it is - she says - they’re doing with the chairs. David asks her to teach Chair to herself onna left. Valda says okay. Now they can add a 4th section – the symmetrical version.

David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 9

#2 1974 - Without discussion - or further consideration - Valda and David opt to continue to perform Chair - during the 1970s - and David makes Times Four - the next movement piece - and abandons One Act Play - and watches í Norman Lear TV inna ‘70s.

David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 10

1971 - All In the Family - 1972 - Maude - 1974 - Good Times - 1975 - The Jeffersons - 1976 - Mary Hartman Mary Hartman.

David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 11 #1 ALSO IN 1974 - Valda’n David are persuaded by Trisha Brown - to buy the Soho loft - inna factory building she finds - with help from artist George Maciunas. David sees factory space once. Children’s clothes manufacturer. Long wide space with no columns - no interior support - women sew - in rows - with a naked bulb above each sewing machine. Lease expires in a year. Lofts don’t cost much in 1974. We don’t have money. Hafta borrow from Rose’n Sam and Auntie Ruthie. Hafta builda kitchen - bedrooms’n toilets - and a dance studio. David gets a CAPS grant - Creative Artists Public Service - pays for a sprung wood dance floor. G’bye Greenwich Village brownstone with ivy outside the windows - and ceilings low enough to change light bulbs without a ladder. #2 In 1976 - we move to the 3000 square foot - emptied factory space - with 12 foot windows - and 14 foot ceilings. David buys a very big ladder. #1 1976 - at 40 - David asks Valda and Ain if he can take 2 years off - from economic safety of display’n design work. Wantsa figure out if he can “make a living” - with a 30 X 50 dance studio - dancing’n making dances? David says thanks when Valda’n Ain say okay - begins to continue - what turns out to be - his life’s work. #2 2011 - after 50 yearsa “making art” (See 2010s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 1) Arts funders offer David Gordon more support to create his archives - than to create his art. #1 Professional archivists tell Gordon “choose his 6 best.” What about the other 40 or 50 “less than bests”? What if he don’t think in terms of best and worst? What if he remembers what he did and what he didn’t do - and how’n why’n when. #2 In a movie - a film - inna movies David grows up watching - an actor he recognizes - plays a character he don’t know - or recognize - a physical and other emotional self - ya never knew that actor could play a part like that - David says - and the actor starts out - perhaps - inna opening scenes - doing the opening steps - with a small or big purpose - exhibits an intention - starts out to do something particular - but the actor runs into another actor - or - not - or into an unexpected something - and something called a “reversal” happens - a reversal alters the patha the action - or the behavior of the actors toward each other - producing suspense - or maybe laughter. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 12 #1 And sometimes the movie is called a whodunnit - or sometimes a buddy movie or a musical comedy - or a drama - and sometimes it’s a whodunnit - and - a buddy movie - and - a musical comedy - and - a drama. Well - David says - those are the “dances” I think I make - made - have made - have tried to make - for 50 some odd years. Buddy-musical-comedy-whodunnit-drama-dances. I useta watch - I watch - movies of Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra - George Stevens - Federico Fellini - William Wyler - useta watch - watch - D.W.Griffith movies and Busby Berkeley - Billy Wilder - Howard Hawks - Orson Welles - John Ford - John Huston - Michael Powell - David says - and Ernst Lubitsch. Useta watch those movies - films - n’tryta make movement pieces - dances - for the stage - tryta make performance work I never made before - physical and emotional other - ya never knew he could make a work like that - David says somebody’s gonna say - might say - and perhaps - doing the opening steps with a small or big purpose - he exhibits an intention - he says - and runs into an unexpected something - a reversal happens - which produces suspense - fear - maybe laughter - and once in a while - David says - I might even be happy to do what I did. Well - maybe not happy. #2 What if - as in Chair, Alternatives 1 to 5 - in 1975 - ê - he describes in performance - exactly - he says how the work is made.

And he adds a 2nd altogether different description and - but - both are not true. They are fictional. Artist Gordon lies. Critic Marcia B. Siegel writes: how can we believe him? Or does she say trust? How indeed? He makes up lies all his life. (See ‘30s/40s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2) 2016 - David tries to write some truths about the art of lying. After 50 yearsa inventing movement’n text for theater’n performance - what does n’don’t matter? N’what’s appropriate archival baggage - for a final journey? With his usual luck David Gordon negotiates to “be buried” in the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 13 #2 1974 - after Valda’s accident - David rents a tiny cottage - on Fire Island. No electricity. No running water. Ferry across from Bay Shore. î Beach taxi - David remembers - to Blue Point Beach. Nearest beach neighbor ain’t near. David decides it’s a peaceful’n quiet place. Valda can recuperate from the car n’train accident. #1 David sends 12-year-old Ain to England - on his own - to stay at Westgate-on-Sea - with grandparents - Eileen and Val. For the montha July - Valda’n David wake up early - David pumps water for tea - they walk onna beach together - David collects snail shells - n’lines the outdoor toilet walls with snail shells - pumps more water to flush the toilet - and - as evening approaches -they cook a simple dinner - 1 time with seaweed offa beach - and eat’n read - by gaslight - go to bed early. Even David - who never goes to bed early - goes ta bed. #2 David hasta go to the city once a week to do 15 Azuma windows. He arranges for a friend to stay with Valda for the coupla days he’s gone. #1 1974 - David also hasta perform 1 week with Grand Union - in August - in Buffalo - at Art Park è Grand Union arrives at Art Park - which opens week of July 25 - 1974 - to discover Native Americans protesting - the use of their land. Not a good beginning. We don’t know what to do.We are contracted at Art Park - also - overlapping the residency - David says - of Charles Ludlam’s - Theatre of the Ridiculous - and neither company has any audience. They perform Camille - and Lola Pashalinski - who I don’t know - is in it - David says - and luckily - I get to work - he says - with Lola a lotta times - a lotta years later. (see ‘90s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 1) #2 Before he hasta leave for Art Park - David looks - with friend Norma Fire - in the NY Times - at summer beach rentals - and they go ta see a house - fulla the “art” of the owner - and a private piece-a beach - and rent it for August - in Huntington Long Island. Somehow David gets Valda - and Ain - just back from visiting with Eileen and Val in England - to the Fire Island ferry - maybe Norma goes over to help them? And David arranges car service from the ferry - Valda says she remembers. And Kastle’n Michael and sons Ringo and Zeke - drive from Buffalo to meet Valda and Ain and Norma - at the Huntington house? è Anyway - somehow - David says - without him - they all get to the Huntington house. #1 David gets a phone call at Art Park. Michael is inna water - Norma says - of Huntington private beach - n’the tide goes out - she says - and - he’s in quicksand - David says that’s what she says - and they all hafta get him out - and - Kastle and Michael hate the Huntington house - and Kastle specially hates the “art” - and - as soon as David gets outta Art Park - as soon - David says that’s what Norma says - he hasta drive around with Michael - to look for another house - and he does - and - we all wind up - for the 1st time - in Montauk - and - 1 night - after dinner - David says - he can’t stand up - can’t get outta his chair - hasta be helped to his feet - and when he gets back to the city -ê - he is diagnosed - with 2 compressed discs - at the base of his spine. David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 14 #2 ç lives onna top floor - on downtown Broadway - across from Trisha Brown. David’n Valda live onna 2nd floor and - Trisha tells David - with his compressed discs - to go to Elaine for help - and - Trisha says - that Elaine saved Trisha’s dancing life. So - David lays onna floor of Elaine’s studio at her request - with his eyes closed at her request - on rubber balls - ê - 4 or 5 of Elaine’s red - white’n blue rubber balls. He feels foolish. #1 Elaine asks - how do your mother and father lift objects? He’s surprised at the question - but - locates - with his eyes closed - visual memory. He’s surprised at the memory. #2 Elaine asks him to describe himself. Ya mean - he says - like how tall I am? And how much I weigh? We can start there if you like - she says sweetly. He says he think’s he’s a passive kinda guy. Things happen to him. Elaine says - oh - I see. So - she says - you have a wife and a son. You design 15 commercial store windows weekly to make a living. You improvise with the Grand Union - and you own your own loft. You make dances for you and your wife - and for your own company. And you’re passive. #1 David is surprised to discover he’s not passive. During next months with Elaine Summers - David Gordon - he says - is frequently surprised. Surprised when his body “releases” and he quivers and shakes. He hears himself say - I’m not doing this. I’m not making this happen. It’s happening to me. Surprised - balancing on red - white’n blue rubber balls - with his eyes closed. Uncharacteristically sharing personal physical memories. Surprised he’s crying. #2 There’s a Grand Union evening inna ‘70s David never woulda got to - or got through without Elaine. She bathed him in warm water in her bathtub - and massaged him - till he was able to stand up. Inna 1970s Elaine Summers saves - as she does for so many folks - David Gordon’s dancing life. She also asks David to teach 1974’s CHAIR to her dancers - n’to teach ‘em 1976’s TIMES FOUR - n’he does. Elaine’s red long hair’n bangs get white - onna 2nd floora 537 - across the airwell from David’n Valda - and she hasta use 2 canes - but she sees THE MATTER/2012 - ART & ARCHIVE at Danspace - and bravos - she don’t - she never does - stop working - or smiling. #2 David don’t - can’t - acknowledge he’s essentially a storyteller - and a comedian - and he don’t - can’t - stop wanting to be an abstract artist - like Trisha Brown. So - 1976 - David constructs a new duet - TIMES FOUR.è 40 minutes of minimal movement phrases. Each performed 4 times with no text - no music - no sound except for breathing and footfall - to 4 fronts. Valda loves performing TIMES FOUR. Setterfield & Gordon é ê in Times Four - 1977 David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 15

#1 Times Four - David says - buys ‘em presentation - at the Whitney Museum’n the Whitney date buys ‘em - prestigious European dates - festival dates. Valda loves Times Four - loves dancing it - but - it drives David nuts. #2 Japanese friend advises - not to wear rings - and not to blink - when they face front. çSetterfield’s notes for TIMES FOUR David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 16 #2

David writes this for the Whitney program - 1976 é ê Wendy Perron writes for Soho Weekly News -

David Gordon ‘70s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 2 17 #1 TIMES FOUR gets excerpted in AUTOBIOGRAPHY of a LIAR - performed by Valda and Karen Graham - and the Pick Ups - at Danspace - in 1999. And in LIVE ARCHIVEOGRAPHY in 2016. David’s happy to see bits of it - once in a while - and to not hafta do it.