Dance at Bennington Presents: Yvonne Rainer

Yvonne Rainer will give a lecture "What’s so funny? Laughter and Anger in the Time of the Assassins."

Rainer, one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater (1962), made a transition to filmmaking following a fifteen-year career as a choreographer/dancer (1960-1975). After making seven experimental feature-length films —“Lives of Performers” (1972), “Privilege” (1990), and “MURDER and murder” (1996), among others—she returned to dance in 2000 via a commission from the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation (“After Many a Summer Dies the Swan”). Since then she has made six dances, including “AG Indexical, with a little help from H.M.,” “Assisted Living: Do you have any money?” and “The Concept of Dust: Continuous Project – Altered Annually.” Her dances and films have been seen throughout the U.S. and Europe. Museum retrospectives of her work, including drawings, photos, films, notebooks, and memorabilia, have been presented at Kunsthaus Bregenz and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2012); the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; Jeu de Paume, École des Beaux Artes, La Ferme du Buisson, Paris, and Raven Row, London (2014). A memoir—“Feelings Are Facts: a Life”—was published by MIT Press in 2006. A selection of her poetry was published in 2011 by Paul Chan’s Badlands Unlimited. Other writings have been collected in "Work: 1961-73" (1974); "The Films of Y.R." (1989); and "A Woman Who…: Essays, Interviews, Scripts” (1999). She is a recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a U.S.A Fellowship.