Julius Eastman and Dance: Molissa Fenley, Andy de Groat

Part of Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental →

Known primarily as a composer and musician, Julius Eastman wrote in a press release for a 1981 performance at The Kitchen: “Now music is only one of my attributes. I could be a Dancer, Choreographer, Painter, or any other kind of artist if I so wished.” Indeed, Eastman’s practice varied widely and included significant and abiding work with dance throughout his career. This little-known history was presented through discussion, screening, and performance.

Molissa Fenley returned to The Kitchen to perform Geologic Moments, which she developed with a new score commissioned from Eastman as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in 1986. Accompanied by a remastered recording of the performance by Eastman and Joyce Solomon, this dance for six begins in a slow tempo and dynamically accelerates, concluding in a solo for Eastman’s baritone titled “One God.” Dancers: Christian Axelsen, Jared Brown, Molissa Fenley, Ananda González, India González and Peter Kyle.

A screening of archival footage of Andy de Groat’s 1981 piece (GRAVY) a medicine of spaces in rehearsal at The Kitchen, with music by Eastman, was shown publicly for the first time, contextualized by other archival material detailing Eastman’s own work as a choreographer, with an emphasis on early works from his time in Buffalo, including his large-scale dance work Moon’s Silent Modulation.

Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental was curated by Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Dustin Hurt, and presented by Bowerbird in collaboration with The Kitchen, in conjunction with the Eastman Estate.