Walker Art Center Presents Composing Forward: The Art of Steve Paxton Mini Festival

“A titan of the 1960s and ’70s avant-garde.” —New York Times

MINNEAPOLIS, November 7, 2014—This multifaceted mini-festival celebrates the work of legendary dancer and choreographer Steve Paxton, the creator of the worldwide movement phenomenon contact improvisation. Paxton’s life and art have been intricately linked to the Walker’s history of dance—from being a key dancer in Merce Cunningham’s company during some of Cunningham’s most fertile years in the 1960s, to his role as a principal in the influential Judson Dance Theater (along with Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, David Gordon, Deborah Hay, and Lucinda Childs), to his participation with the Grand Union collective, which had two seminal residencies at the Walker in the early ’70s. In recent years, Paxton’s live performances have been rare, but his role in the development of contemporary dance is profound.

About Steve Paxton

Steve Paxton is the inventor of contact improvisation (or “contact improv”), a form of dance characterized by two or more people moving together in almost constant and spontaneous contact. Since his initial experimentation with the form, Paxton has also investigated solo improvisations and has created set choreography.

Paxton was a member of José Limón’s company in 1960 and danced for Merce Cunningham from 1961 until 1964. He began his association with other artists of the post-modern movement in New York during the 1960s. In 1962, he became a charter member of the avant-garde dance collective, Judson Dance Theater. He also belonged to the collective Grand Union.

Some of his important early works include Proxy (1961), Physical Things (1966) and Satisfying Lover (1967). Like his post-modern contemporaries, Paxton’s choreography questioned the established parameters of dance and used movements like walking and running, which had not usually been considered part of dance vocabulary. This lexicon of movements is danceable by most able-bodied people unlike more exclusionary forms of dance, including ballet, that require proficiency in technical feats only an elite few are capable of executing.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Paxton worked with the group Freelance Dance. In the 1980s, Paxton performed in public infrequently and usually only appeared in improvised solos. More recently, he has worked with blind and disabled dancers. He also continues to collaborate in works such as Long and Dream (1994) with Trisha Brown and Night Stand (2002) with Lisa Nelson and musician Robert Ashley. Paxton remains an active participant in improvisational performances and solos. He has appeared as part of the improvisation initiative Crash Landing; worked with dance artist Katy Duck; and collaborated with The Lisbon Group. Two of Paxton’s works, Flat (1964) and Satisfying Lover were performed as part of the White Oak Dance Project’s PASTforward tour in 2000-2001.

Paxton continues to lecture, perform, choreograph and teach around the world.

(Source: Arts Alive)

Bound

William and Nadine McGuire Theater

A performance remount of his 1982 solo Bound, expertly performed by Slovenian dancer Jurij Konjar, combines improvised as well as set dance sequences with theatrical framing.

William and Nadine McGuire Theater

This poignant and incredibly nuanced duet created in 2004, performed by Paxton himself with longtime collaborator and master improviser Lisa Nelson, is a “reminder that one of the pleasures of watching high-level improvised performances is the sense you get of on-the-spot decisions, of accidents that become baby epics, of tides that turn unexpectedly” (Deborah Jowitt’s DanceBeat).

Tickets to Steve Paxton’s Bound and Night Stand are: $25 ($22 Walker members) for a single performance; $30 ($27) for both performances and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600

Related Events

Walker Cinema

Free

An informative and performative dialogue with legendary dancer/choreographer Steve Paxton begins with his influential work Smiling, performed by HIJACK’s Kristin Van Loon and longtime Paxton collaborator Lisa Nelson. This event is part of a multifaceted engagement that celebrates the work of the lauded creator of the worldwide phenomenon contact improvisation.
The Gertrude Lippincott Talking Dance Series is made possible by generous support from Judith Brin Ingber.

Discussion/Exploration with Steve Paxton

William and Nadine McGuire Theater

$10 ($6 Walker members)

In this program with the founder of the dance form known as contact improvisation, Steve Paxton will talk about his dance choices, with some doable examples. Limited to 25 participants

Tuning Scores with Lisa Nelson

Bazinet Garden Lobby

$10 ($6 Walker members)

In Tuning Scores, dancemaker and performer Lisa Nelson will guide participants through a workshop of looking, listening, watching, and hearing, while moving and while still.

Moving through the Walker’s galleries, Nelson will explore such questions as what do we see when we’re looking at dance? How does composition arise in the body and its environment? Playing with ways that we use our senses while moving and watching movement and stillness, we can observe how each of us senses and makes sense of our inner and outer surroundings. The Tuning Score, an improvisation composition practice, offers tools and a framework for communication among the players.

All bodies of all ages welcome. Limited to 20 participants.

Saturday, November 22

After the performance of Night Stand, head to the Balcony Bar to join a discussion or just listen in as others hash it out. Led by Walker tour guide Susan Ziel and local choreographer Taja Will.

Acknowledgments

The Walker Art Center’s performing arts programs are made possible by generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Fund, the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Producers’ Council

Performing Arts programs and commissions at the Walker are generously supported by members of the Producers’ Council: Russell Cowles; Nor Hall and Roger Hale; King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury and Henry Pillsbury; Emily Maltz; Dr. William W. and Nadine M. McGuire; Leni and David Moore, Jr.; Josine Peters; Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney; and Frances and Frank Wilkinson.