1111 2 Judson Dance Theater 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Judson Dance Theater takes a fresh look at the radical, experimental dance 4 presented during the early 1960s at Judson Memorial Church in down- 5 town Manhattan. 6 Ramsay Burt explores the new artistic agenda set by Trisha Brown, 7 Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, and their fellow dancers, putting it in the 8 context of developments in the visual arts. As well as following their 9 subsequent careers, he traces how the ideas they proposed about the 20111 body and performative presence contributed to the development of 1 experimental dance in Europe, for example in the work of Pina Bausch, 2 Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, and Jérôme Bel. 3 Informed by recent work in dance studies and art history, this book 4 is, without doubt, the finest assessment of the period so far and will 5 appeal to students of dance history, theory, and practice, as well as 6 anyone interested in the avant-garde arts. 7 8 Ramsay Burt is Professor of Dance History at De Montfort University. 9 His publications include The Male Dancer (1995), Alien Bodies (1997), and, 30111 with Professor Susan Foster, he is founder editor of Discourses in Dance. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 Judson Dance Theater 3 4 Performative traces 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Ramsay Burt 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 First published 2006 4 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 5 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada 6 by Routledge 7 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 8 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business 9 © 2006 Ramsay Burt 20111 1 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. 2 “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s 3 collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” 4 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or 5 reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including 6 photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or 7 retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. 8 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 30111 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 1 Burt, Ramsay, 1953– Judson Dance Theater: performative traces/Ramsay Burt 2 p. cm. 3 Includes bibliographical references. 4 1. Judson Dance Theater – History. 2. Modern dance. I. Title. GV1786.J82 B87 5 792.809747′1–dc22 2006003845 6 7 ISBN10: 0–415–97573–5 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–97574–3 (pbk) 8 ISBN10: 0–203–96966–9 (ebk) 9 40111 ISBN13: 978–0–415–97573–5 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–97574–3 (pbk) 1 ISBN13: 978–0–203–96966–3 (ebk) 21111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 For Nicholas Zurbrugg 4 1947–2001 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 Contents 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 List of illustrations viii 4 Acknowledgements ix 5 6 7 1 Introduction: transatlantic crossings 1 8 9 2 Cunningham, Judson, and the historical 20111 avant-garde 26 1 2 3 Minimalism, theory, and the dancing body 52 3 4 4 Allegories of the ordinary and particular 88 5 6 5 Before and after 1968: dance, politics, and 7 the avant-garde 116 8 9 6 Repetition: Brown, Bausch, and De Keersmaeker 138 30111 1 7 Traces of intimacy and relationless relations 162 2 3 8 The Judson tradition at the start of a new century 4 186 5 6 7 Notes 202 8 Bibliography 213 9 Index 225 40111 1 21111 1111 2 Illustrations 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 2.1 Merce Cunningham. Nocturnes 43 4 2.2 Deborah Hay. Would They or Wouldn’t They 46 5 3.1 Robert Morris. Site 64 6 3.2 Trisha Brown. Trillium 68 7 3.3 Yvonne Rainer. The Mind is a Muscle Part One, Trio A 78 8 3.4 Anthony Caro. Early One Morning 81 9 4.1 Fred Herko performing George Brecht’s Comb Music 99 20111 5.1 Trio A at Judson Flag Show 135 1 7.1 Lea Anderson’s The Lost Dances of Egon Schiele 177 2 8.1 Facing from Trio A Pressured 199 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 Acknowledgements 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Institutions have played an important part in enabling me to write this 4 book. It is the second book I have written while I have been Senior 5 Research Fellow at De Montfort University. As a result of this fellowship 6 I have been able to write without the distractions of a normal university 7 lecturer’s teaching load. At a crucial stage, I was Visiting Professor and 8 Visiting Scholar at the Department of Performance Studies at New 9 York University, enabling me to spend over half a year in downtown 20111 Manhattan meeting many people about whom I was writing, going to 1 libraries, and experiencing for a while living in New York. The end of this 2 stay was made possible with funds from the British Arts and Humanities 3 Research Council. I have relied heavily on the library at De Montfort and 4 on the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library which I have 5 haunted every time I could find an excuse (and the money) for a trip to New 6 York. I have been very grateful for opportunities to speak about Judson 7 Dance Theater, where I have been able to try out material for this book. 8 These include invitations from: University of Copenhagen; University of 9 Stockholm; Collège Internationale de Philosophie; Paris; University of 30111 Ljubljana; University of Antwerp; and the University of Rio de Janeiro. 1 I would particularly like to thank Richard Carlin for his support of this 2 project, and many friends who have helped me in a number of ways with 3 this book over the five years it has taken to write. Valerie Briginshaw 4 deserves special mention for reading every chapter, sometimes in more 5 than one draft and giving me invaluable feedback and encouragement. I 6 would also like to thank friends and colleagues including Michael Huxley, 7 Jayne Stevens, Jo Breslin, Martin Hargreaves, Sally Doughty, Kerry 8 Francksen-Kelly, Theresa Buckland, Sally Luxton, Christy Adair, Dee 9 Reynolds, Bojana Kunst, Karen Vedel, Inge Damsholt, Maaike Bleeker, 40111 Luk Van den Dries, Claire Rousier, and Christophe Wavelet, and on the 1 other side of the Atlantic to Susan Foster, Barbara Browning, Richard 21111 Schechner, Carol Martin, Peggy Phelan, Diana Taylor, Allen Weiss, x Acknowledgements 1111 André Lepecki, Douglas Dunn, Deborah Jowitt, Marcia Siegel, Nancy 2 Duncan, Diane Torr, David Vaughan, George Dorris, Don McDonagh, 3 and Vincent Warren. I am also grateful to members of the Corporeality 4 and Choreography working group of the International Federation for 5 Theatre Research (IFTR/FIRT) who have read or heard and discussed 6 various bits of the book at various stages: Ann Cooper Albright, Emilyn 7 Claid, Sarah Cordova, Heili Einasto, Rachel Fensham, Tommy 8 DeFrantz, Isabel Ginot, Lena Hammergren, Jacqueline Shea Murphy, 9 Janet O’Shay, Phillipa Rothfield, Christel Stalpaert, and Myriam Van 1011 Imschoot. I should also like to thank artists and writers whose work I have 1 analysed, and who have allowed me to interview them: Trisha Brown, 2 Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Carolee Schneemann, Jill Johnston, David 3111 Behrman, Lea Anderson, Felix Ruckert, and Boris Charmatz. 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 21111 1111 2 1 Introduction 3 4 Transatlantic crossings 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 In September 1985 a small incident occurred in Montréal during the first 4 Festival International de Nouvelle Danse which participants have proba- 5 bly long since forgotten. During the same week, Merce Cunningham, 6 Pina Bausch, Trisha Brown, and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker were all 7 presenting work in the festival and they, together with members of their 8 dance companies, were all staying in the same hotel at the same time. 9 One evening, the dancer Dena Davida, who runs Montréal’s experi- 20111 mental dance centre Tangente and was one of the organizers of the fes- 1 tival, was sitting in the hotel coffee shop talking to Trisha Brown and 2 Stephen Petronio (who was still at that time dancing with Brown).