Judson Dance Theater
Underground: Judson Dance Theater
During the 1960s, the Judson Dance Theater in New York was housed in the Judson Memorial Church. With their interdisciplinary approach and unconventional performances, the company seriously stretched the definition of dance. An evening at the intersection of dance and film.
A church in Greenwich Village, New York, became the unlikely site for radical dance, performance, film and installations in the 1960s. During a time when the American avant-garde was still male-dominated, Judson Memorial Church became a sanctuary for women’s artistic expression.
Featuring films by Yvonne Rainer, Carolee Schneemann, Meredith Monk and Elaine Summers, this programme spotlights prominent artists whose work responded to and took part in the Judson Dance Theater, active in the early-to-mid 1960s, redefining dance by way of the avant-garde. In their hands, film not only became a witness but also a participant in their undertakings to explore the boundaries of motion, time and space.
Curated and introduced by Julian Ross, film programmer and researcher, and Eye's new Head of Programming.
Programme
Judson Fragments (Elaine Summers, other contributors credited at the end of the video, 1965, 16')
After her groundbreaking mixed-media solo-concert Fantastic Gardens at Judson Memorial Church --which Jonas Mekas called “by far the most successful and most ambitious attempt to use the many combinations of film and live action” that he had seen-- choreographer, filmmaker, pioneer of intermedia art and of somatic practices Elaine Summers (1925-2014) sat down to experiment with parts of films she had shot and gathered, after this particular experience. Some had been shown during Fantastic Gardens, like Fred Herko watering a garbage can. Others were of Steve Paxton and Deborah Hay performing a dance on a golf course at a Country Club. For Judson Fragments, Summers put all of these and many more fragments together, improvising and playing with the means of film as a medium: speed, negatives, overlay etc. Composers Malcolm Goldstein and John Herbert McDowell provided the experimental music. The result is a filmdance, as much a film as a dance experience.
“I'm in love with light and movement and bodies, and this is why I choreograph dances and make films. Exploration of light and movement naturally led me to filmmaking. Film to me is another form of dance: camera movement and editing are another form of choreography.” (Elaine Summers, Ms Magazine, 1975)
Original film ©1965, digitized version ©2007 by Elaine Summers, renewed 2015 heirs of Elaine Summers, courtesy of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Special thanks to New York Women in Film and Television for the grant that helped the digitization of the original film, and to the Artistic Estate of Elaine Summers.Trio Film (Yvonne Rainer, 1968, 13')
Dance movement by Yvonne Rainer, David Gordon and Steve Paxton. At the premiere, at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan, the dancers each performed the same series of movements twice, but not in unison, accompanied by the sound of wooden slats being thrown from the balcony one by one. Characteristic choreography by Rainer, who converted the ideas of minimal art into straightforward, concrete dance.
Meat Joy (Carolee Schneemann, 1964, 6')
Famous performance by (Fluxus) artist Carolee Schneemann. She orchestrated a performance in which participants interact with different types of animal flesh and other materials: raw fish, chickens, sausages, wet paint, plastic, string and pieces of paper. Schneemann: “I wanted to make my own body part of the work, as matter.”
16 Millimeter Earrings (Meredith Monk & Robert Withers, 1966/1977, 25')
A groundbreaking solo performance by Meredith Monk from 1966, considered an early prototype of interdisciplinary art. Monk fused film, movement, objects, music, text, sound and light into a flowing whole, a visual-sonic-poetic form of expression. Robert Wither's film version documents a 1977 reconstruction of the original performance. Withers' cinematic interpretation rearranges Monk's image and sound, yet captures the essence of this crucial work.
The screening of 16 Millimeter Earrings was made possible by Babeth Mondini-VanLoo.
This is part of
Special screenings
Details
Production year
2024
Length
90 min.
Event language
English
Country
NL
Part of
Underground
This autumn, Eye Filmmuseum highlights the American avant-garde cinema of the 1960s. The exhibition and film programme feature both iconic and lesser-known works, showcasing the era's vibrant experimental spirit. Highlights include films by pivotal avant-garde figures such as Jonas Mekas, Maya Deren and Stan Brakhage, as well as contributions from prominent visual artists like Bruce Conner, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, and Andy Warhol. This exploration of cinematic innovation is set against the backdrop of a changing society.
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