“Minimalist” Dance, Social Critique: Revisiting Yvonne Rainer and Steve Paxton's 1963 Word Words

Abstract

In this essay, I reexamine Yvonne Rainer and Steve Paxton's 1963 danceWord Words, arguing that this apparently “minimalist” work in fact deployed “underground” strategies, those of female (and male) impersonation. Camp performance, an approach that Rainer soon disavowed, allowedWord Wordsto explore gender in ways that were not possible by the time Rainer developedTrio A.Word Wordsdid not simply “overwrite” Rainer's (female) gender, as has been suggested alongside similar discussions ofTrio Aand gender, but destabilized the gender system's binaries: a deeply radical move, even in the context of other Judson performances using camp.