Steve Paxton

Steve Paxton (born 1939, Tucson, Arizona) is an experimental dancer and choreographer. His early background was in gymnastics while his later training included three years with Merce Cunningham and a year with José Limón. As a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater, he performed works by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown. He was a founding member of the experimental, Grand Union, and in 1972 named and began to develop the dance form known as Contact improvisation, a form of dance that utilizes the physical laws of friction, momentum, gravity, and inertia to explore the relationship between dancers. He believed that even an untrained dancer could contribute to the dance form, and so began Paxton's great interest in pedestrian movement. After working with Cunningham and developing chance choreography defined as, any movement is dance, Paxton's interest in the boundaries of movement was ignited. Paxton is one of the most influential dancers of his generation whose approach has influenced choreography globally. He attempts to be remain reclusive,except when performing, teaching and choreographing internationally.

Contact Improvisation

Paxton was influenced by the experimental arts and performance scene in New York in the 60's and 70's, and he was interested in how the body could create a physical playground. Contact Improvisation developed out of an exploration of the human body and under the supervision of Paxton. Contact Improvisation's roots trace back to 1972. Contact Improvisation, usually done in duets, pulls elements from martial arts, social dance, sports, and child’s play. [Sally Banes,"Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance"(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979),56.] Upon entering a Contact Improv structure, two bodies must come together to create a point of contact (i.e., back to back, shoulder to shoulder, head to head, leg to leg, the options are endless), give weight equally to each other, and then create a movement dialog that can last for an undetermined amount of time as long as both participants are fully engaged. Contact Improvisation can be done by any person because the emergence of a movement vocabulary depends on a specific touch and the initiation of weight exchange with another person. Paxton in the late 1970’s focused on teaching, performing, and writing about Contact Improvisation around the country and in Europe. [Sally Banes, "Terpsichore", 56.] Now Contact Improvisation is taught around the world by people like Nancy Stark Smith, who worked closely with Paxton, or by others who have been exposed to it by different dancers, choreographers, teachers, and contact improvisers. OK

Approach to Movement

Paxton believed that even an untrained dancer could contribute to his experimental dance form. From his work with Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon, and later his contribution to the formation of the Judson Dance Theater and Grand Union, Paxton was fascinated with the exploration of the human body. His approach to a movement vocabulary included the pedestrian world around him. Paxton describes the body as a physical machine that can be expressive by nature and the culture around it. [Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick, "No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003, 409.] With the emergence of his first dance "Proxy" (1961) activities in this piece such as walking, sitting, and eating would preoccupy Paxton’s approach to movement for some time. Paxton was known for eliminating any outside influences that would prevent the piece from just being accepted how it was. [Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick, "No Fixed Points",408.] He composed a range of non-dance movement vocabulary that seemed to give him a relaxed but authoritative state of being in performance. [Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick, "No Fixed Points", 408.] Paxton minimized the differences between the audience and the performer. In turn his movement vocabulary became fragments of ‘everyday’ movement mechanics and this held a world of possibilities for individual potential. Another piece that showed his fascination with the pedestrian world was "Satisfyin’ Lover" (1967). This dance was for a group of thirty-four to eighty-four people and it utilized walking, standing, or sitting according to the score. [Sally Banes, "Terpsichore", 71.]

Approach to the Body

Paxton not only utilized the architecture of the human body but he used objects to emphasize how the body could manipulate itself around different objects. [Sally Banes, "Terpsichore", 61.] He was interested in texture, shape, size, and even how the use of animals influenced or changed his dance vocabulary. This is apparent in such pieces as "Jag Ville Gorna Telefonera" (1964). In this piece he used three chickens, a full-sized overstuffed chair made of cake and yellow frosting, and clothes with zippers in the seams that could be taken off and put back together in an assortment of ways. Paxton also challenged the concept of sex and sexuality in dance. [Sally Banes, "Terpsichore", 64.] Not only was Paxton a revolutionary to the changing world of dance around him but his experimentation with movement and the structure of the human body crafted a different version of what it was to be a dancer. He changed and challenged the aspects of traditional modern dance. Today dancers, performers, choreographers, and teachers from around the world have incorporated some form of his teachings of Contact Improvisation into their studies.

Some of Paxton's works

*1961: "Proxy"
*1962: "Jag Ville Gorma Telefonere"
*1964: "Flat"
*1967: "Satisfyin' Lover"
*1970: "Intravenous Lecture"

References