Mapping Dance Exhibition
Redefining Choreography
In the mid-1950s, Halprin began to reject the idea of choreography as a series of fixed movement phrases. Searching for a new working process, she re-examined the theatrical elements available to her and reconceptualized her role as choreographer. Through her collaborations with experimental composers, visual artists, and poets, Halprin invented new possibilities for dance. These dance works employed novel compositional structures, setting up situations in which the performers collectively undertook unconventional movement tasks. The performances were risky, spontaneous, and constantly evolving. While presented in traditional performance venues, Halprin’s new dances eschewed traditional sensibilities. It was during the creation of these works that Halprin developed and honed her concept of dance scoring.
Engaging Audiences
Attendees of Halprin’s experimental performances during the 1960s occasionally responded loudly and violently. Not intending to provoke her audiences, Halprin realized she needed to cultivate her spectators as much as she did her dancers. To do this, Halprin crafted public participatory performance works that explored the relationship between audience and performer, developing a partnership where there had been a divide. People of all ages and backgrounds were invited to participate alongside members of San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop in evenings of mutual creation. Through these performance events, Halprin reframed the role of the artist as a guide whose responsibility is to evoke the art within others. Beginning with Myths (1967) and continuing through the annual City Dance events of the 1970s, Halprin brought the public into her dance-making practice.
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Score for Birds of America, 1960
or Gardens without Walls
Photo by Jamie Lyons
Poster for The Four-Legged Stool, 1961
Score for The Five-Legged Stool, 1962
Photo by Jamie Lyons
Score for Procession, 1964
Photo by Jamie Lyons
Score for Parades and Changes, 1965
Scores for Myths, 1967
Score for Initiations and Transformations, 1971
Score for City Dance ’78, 1978
Photo by Jamie Lyons
Score for Male & Female Dance Rituals, 1978
Photo by Jamie Lyons
Score for Eating Ritual, 1981
Photo by Jamie Lyons
Score for In and On the Mountain, 1981
Photo by Jamie Lyons
