SlowDancing / Trio A
2017
SlowDancing / Trio A (2017)
Opening Exhibition: Danspace Project, New York City — June 22, 2017
The work, made in collaboration with choreographer, Yvonne Rainer, seeks to create an unusual motion picture record of Rainer’s iconic dance-work, Trio A (1966). Trio A has become an emblem of Rainer’s work of the 1960s, wherein she famously transformed the dancing body—stripped it of special techniques and star status, traded its costumes and leotards for T-shirts and sneakers. Trio A presents a steady stream of unique motions performed without a pause.
To create SlowDancing/TrioA, the roughly five-minute dance was divided into 46 seven-second-long sections, which were then individually recorded at several thousand frames per second. When played back, each five second section stretches to approximately five minutes. Three versions of the film were completed, each with a different time signature (2 hours, 2.5 hours, 3 hours) and projected onto three screens suspended in the gallery. At the rear of the room, a single small monitor displayed Yvonne Rainer performing the whole of Trio A in real time (because Rainer was unable to perform the whole piece without assistance from Catterson, she called this version of Trio A “Geriatric Version”).
Yvonne Rainer and Raindears company member, Pat Catterson, cast 46 dancers—many original to Trio A, and many of the younger featured dancers (also their students)—to perform the parts in sequence on a specially-constructed set designed for high-speed, high-definition capture. The end result when edited together is a single film that shows the whole of Trio A, from start to finish, performed by 46 different people. Three different versions of it (each with a different time signature) were screened simultaneously inside of Danspace Project’s sanctuary.
The following New York Times article contains sample videos of both the slow moving sequences as well as Rainer’s real time dance:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/arts/dance/seven-seconds-of-yvonne-rainer-trio-a.html
Featured Dancers:
Brittany Bailey, Patricia Beaman, Alexandra Berger, Siobhan Burke, Pat Catterson, Emily Coates, Robbie Cook, Caroline Copeland, John Erdman, Patrick Gallagher, Thyrza Goodeve, Peggy Gould, Sarah Haarmann, Patricia Hoffbauer, Irene Hultman, Gina Ianni, Jill Johnson, Simon Leung, Abigail Levine, Jodi Melnick, Elliot Mercer, Tess Montoya, Elisabeth Motley, Richard Move, Adele Nickel, Wendy Perron, Stephen Petronio, Manou Phuon, Joey Picciotto, Francisca Quintanilla, Yvonne Rainer, Maia Ramnath, Keith Sabado, Jade Salzano, Shelley Senter, Charlotte Stout, Macy Sullivan, Michou Szabo, David Thomson, Joshua Tuason, Damani Van Rensalier, Isabelle Vergara, Debra Wanner, Timothy Ward, Wendy Whelan, Megan Wright
