One of the rare choreographies that explicitly foregrounds “war” is Yvonne Rainer’s work from 1970, made in the time of protests against the Vietnam War, immediately after Nixon’s Cambodian incursion: “a high sprawling non-competitive game-like piece for 31 people… an ass-backwards war, with people willingly relinquishing the flags and opting for capture and death.
Physical metaphors for war without motivation.” (Yvonne Rainer, Work 1961-1973, Halifax, NovaScottia, 1976). An interview with Rainer, who never saw the performance, and Pat Catterson, the dancer who recalls the movements she performed, unearths the forgotten work.
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