Describe Yvonne Rainer in one word? If I must. Radical. Use it in every sense of the word. A trained dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, her works cross these disciplines at every boundary, although boundaries is not something one would normally associate with Rainer.
Having trained at the great Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Rainer was at the vanguard of dance throughout the 1960s and set up her own dance company soon thereafter. Her stylistic trademarks were to become the norm for modern dance, such was her vision.
The BFI, London, are having an Yvonne Rainer moment. In the Gallery is Rainer's installation After Many a Summer Dies the Swan; Hybrid; RoS Indexical and AG Indexical with a Little Help from H.M. Throughout December, the film theatres will show seven of her feature films, from the period 1972 - 1996: Lives of Performers, Film about a Woman Who..., Kristina Talking Pictures, Journeys From Berlin, The Man Who Envied Women, Privilege and MURDER and Murder.
With the a number of the old guard of modern dance now passed away, the choreographers of Rainer's era are the leading lights, but more than that her influence can be seen not just in dance but in experimental film, feature film, acting and movement studies. Innovate and remarkable, she does not exhibit often in London. When the opportunity is there, take it.
Yvonne Rainer's works are on show at the BFI, London, throughout December.
