Yvonne Rainer: A Reader

A testament to the pioneer of postmodern dance's active literary life, replete with manifold writings published from 1963 to 2020

Dedicated to the writings of the American avant-garde dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer (born 1934), this reader underscores the artist's underexplored life in letters. The volume brings together a selection of Rainer's statements, reviews, lectures, reading reviews, essays, letters to editors and other writings, as well as her key interviews with Simone Forti, Anna Halprin and Lynne Tillman, all published between 1963 and 2020. From writings on James Lee Byars and Monique Wittig to writings about her own dance and film practice, gender and lesbianism and aging, Yvonne Rainer: A Reader offers an unprecedented in-depth account of what has inspired Rainer since her beginnings in mid-1950s New York. Also included are new conversations with contemporary artists and thinkers-Gregg Bordowitz, Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz, Nick Mauss-with Arlène Berceliot Courtin, to decipher the importance and relevance of Rainer's thinking and practice today.