Trio A, a solo dance by Rainer, was initially performed in 1966 as a trio by Rainer and fellow New York choreographer-dancers David  Gordon and Steve Paxton under the title The Mind is a Muscle, Part 1.  At the premiere, at Manhattan’s Judson Memorial Church, the dancers each  performed the same sequence of movements twice but not in unison,  accompanied by the sound of wooden slats being thrown from the balcony  one by one. Since then it has been presented in various forms, sometimes  integrated into other pieces by Rainer or adapted and interpreted by  other choreographers. This film depicts Rainer’s solo performance of the  work in 1978, several years after she transitioned from choreography to  filmmaking.

Trio A consists of a four-and-a-half-to-five-minute sequence  of discrete movements that, with the exception of walking, are never  repeated. Although it appears effortless, the dance is painstaking to  learn in its precise articulation of hands, arms, shoulders, feet, and  legs. It is a signature work by Rainer, who in the 1960s transposed to  dance the ideas that were then giving shape to the era’s Minimalist  sculpture and painting, abandoning the aesthetics of classical and  modern dance—which were rooted in virtuosic technique and expression—in  favor of an unenhanced physicality and uninflected continuity of motion.  The deceptive “ordinariness” of many of the individual movements in  Trio A had a profound impact on the development of postmodern dance.

Source: Publication excerpt from MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2019)

More information: www.moma.org

Yvonne Rainer, a dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, was born in 1934 in San Francisco, California. A key figure in American post-modern dance, she is known for redefining the image of the dancer by rejecting virtuosity and physical expressivity. She was a member of the collectives The Judson Dance Theater and The Grand Union before turning to experimental filmmaking in 1972.

Initially aspiring to become an actress, Yvonne Rainer moved to New York in 1956. Married to abstract expressionist painter Al Held, she was immersed in the visual arts scene and connected with artists such as Robert Morris, Robert Rauschenberg, and Alex Hay. In 1957, at the age of 23, she took her first dance classes with Edith Stephen. By 1959, she was studying with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, while also training in classical techniques, and decided to fully dedicate herself to dance.

In 1960, she attended a workshop led by Anna Halprin in California and, upon returning to New York, enrolled in Robert Dunn’s composition class. These experiences proved pivotal in shaping her choreographic approach. Anna Halprin emphasized the concept of tasks and a focus on the process of action, while Robert Dunn explored structuring dance through simple concepts or chance-based processes.

Simone Forti, Steve Paxton, Trisha Brown, David Gordon, and Deborah Hay also participated in Robert Dunn’s workshops. These dancers, then in their early twenties, were deeply engaged with the New York avant-garde art scene. Under Dunn’s guidance, they presented some of the works created during the workshops at a dance concert held on July 6, 1962, at the Judson Memorial Church—a seminal event in post-modern dance history.

During this period, Yvonne Rainer also performed for choreographers such as Simone Forti, James Waring, and Aileen Passlof.

Source: Centre national de la danse

Director.