Yvonne Rainer
Author of Feelings Are Facts: A Life
About the Author
Yvonne Rainer was born in San Francisco and has lived in New York City since 1956. Originally a dancer and choreographer, she began making films in 1972. Her dances and films have been seen throughout the world in major international festivals.
Works by Yvonne Rainer
Work 1961-73 1 copy
Associated Works
HOW(ever), Vol. V, No. 2, January 1989 — Contributor — 1 copy
Camera Obscura, a Journal of Feminism and Film Theory 1 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Rainer, Yvonne
- Birthdate
- 1934-11-24
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Martha Graham School
Ballet Arts - Occupations
- choreographer
dancer
filmmaker
professor - Organizations
- Judson Dance Theater
Grand Union
University of California, Irvine - Awards and honors
- MacArthur Fellow (1990)
Merce Cunningham Award (2015)
Sundance Film Festival Filmmakers' Trophy (1990)
Geyer Werke Prize (1991)
Teddy Award (1997)
Miami Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Special Jury Award (1999) (show all 7)
Wexner Prize (1995) - Relationships
- Gever, Martha (partner)
- Short biography
- Choreographer, dancer, filmmaker and writer, Yvonne Rainer is celebrated as a pioneer of postmodern dance. Her often experimental and challenging work, continuously produced for more than forty years, has been widely influential. Rainer was born in San Francisco in 1934. In 1956 she moved to New York with painter Al Held to study acting, but the following year began studying dance instead.
Rainer's early dance study was comprehensive. From 1957 to 1959 she studied modern dance with Edith Stephen, Afro-Cuban dance with Emile Faustin and Syvilla Fort, and "body work" with Allan Wayne. She also took lessons at the Martha Graham school for one year, and at Ballet Arts. In 1960 Rainer attended Ann Halprin's summer workshop in California; studied composition with Robert Dunn, a composer and friend of John Cage; studied with James Waring; and began eight years of study with Merce Cunningham. She was performing by 1960, began to present her own choreography in 1961, was a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater in 1962, and by 1965 had established herself as an influential dancer and choreographer. She left dance for filmmaking in 1975, and returned to dance in 2000. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
“It goes without saying that a dance is a dance and a book about dance is a book. Though they may meet at the intersection of Art and Good Intentions, I find myself greedy. I have a longstanding infatuation with language, a not-easily assailed conviction that it, above all else, offers a key to clarity. Not that it can replace experience, but rather holds a mirror to our experience, gives us distance when we need it. So here I am, in a sense, trying to ‘replace’ my performances with a show more book, greedily pushing language to clarify what already was clear in other terms. But, alas, gone. This has seemed one good reason to compile a book out of the remains of my performances, letting the language fall where it may. Let it be said ‘She usually makes performances and has also made a book.’” –Yvonne Rainer
Forty-five years after its publication, Primary Information brings Yvonne Rainer’s classic book back into print in an exact facsimile.
In 1974, Yvonne Rainer published Work 1961–73, an illustrated catalog of her performance works up to that point. In these years, as the art world turned toward minimalism, Rainer and her Judson Dance Theater colleagues were engaged in a parallel, and equally radical, redefinition of dance. Stripping dance of its pomp and self-serious virtuosity, they created what dancer and choreographer Pat Catterson has called “the people’s dance.” Or, as Rainer put it, instead of the “overblown plot” of traditional dance, she explored the “obvious” alternative: “stand, walk, run, eat, carry bricks, show movies, or move and be moved by some thing other than oneself.”
Work 1961–73 chronicles the years when Rainer found herself and her work at the heart of a revolution in dance, performance and art. Written in Rainer’s wonderful frank, funny and perceptive prose, and illustrated with photographs, handwritten scores, sketches, press articles and ephemera, Work 1961–73 is a period document and an instruction manual, an archive and a manifesto.
A sought-after, rare classic, Work 1961–73 is brought back into print in a true facsimile edition by Primary Information; the only change is the small addition of new notes at the back of the book.
One of the most influential artists of her generation, dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer (born 1934) was a founding member of Judson Dance Theater in New York City and a leading figure in the development of minimalist and postmodern dance. show less
Forty-five years after its publication, Primary Information brings Yvonne Rainer’s classic book back into print in an exact facsimile.
In 1974, Yvonne Rainer published Work 1961–73, an illustrated catalog of her performance works up to that point. In these years, as the art world turned toward minimalism, Rainer and her Judson Dance Theater colleagues were engaged in a parallel, and equally radical, redefinition of dance. Stripping dance of its pomp and self-serious virtuosity, they created what dancer and choreographer Pat Catterson has called “the people’s dance.” Or, as Rainer put it, instead of the “overblown plot” of traditional dance, she explored the “obvious” alternative: “stand, walk, run, eat, carry bricks, show movies, or move and be moved by some thing other than oneself.”
Work 1961–73 chronicles the years when Rainer found herself and her work at the heart of a revolution in dance, performance and art. Written in Rainer’s wonderful frank, funny and perceptive prose, and illustrated with photographs, handwritten scores, sketches, press articles and ephemera, Work 1961–73 is a period document and an instruction manual, an archive and a manifesto.
A sought-after, rare classic, Work 1961–73 is brought back into print in a true facsimile edition by Primary Information; the only change is the small addition of new notes at the back of the book.
One of the most influential artists of her generation, dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer (born 1934) was a founding member of Judson Dance Theater in New York City and a leading figure in the development of minimalist and postmodern dance. show less
Edited by Yvonne Rainer, this selection of texts and images by Rainer and various authors offers a retrospective portrait of her work, focusing on some of her most notable performances and projects from both the late 1960s (Trio A, The Mind Is a Muscle) and since her return to dance with the White Oak Dance Project in 2000. Rainer is known for her challengingly experimental and sometimes minimalist work as a dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, which spearheaded the rise of postmodern show more dance. An essay by Rainer frames things from the perspective of an ageing dancer who is aware of her physical limitations. With a conversation between Rainer and dancer Trisha Brown. show less
Trio A [videorecording] : (the mind is a muscle, part 1) / choreographed 1966 and performed August 14, 1978 by Yvon by Yvonne Rainer
MS - manual add. Shown in DANC1450 with discussion of "No Manifesto"
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 15
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 171
- Popularity
- #124,898
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 6
- ISBNs
- 18
- Languages
- 1