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Score for DEAD
and DEAD have been published in Out of Character: Rants, Raves and Monologues from Today’s Top Performance
Artists (Bantam, 1996) and in Footnotes: Six Choreographers Inscribe the Page (G+B Arts, 1998).
SCORE FOR D E A D
D E A D is a solo dance/performance piece created 8 June
1981 as part of a celebration of my 30th birthday.
A. On the evening before performing the dance, pre-record a
list of every death I can remember which has occurred during my lifetime. Allow pauses for memory lapses. Even
if I am not sure a death happened in the last 30 years, if it seems like a real death in the moment, I must say it.
Allow for people and pets I've known personally; relatives of people I've known; deaths of celebrities I've experienced through
the news media; and fictional characters whose deaths seem real to me at the time.
B. On the day of performance
play the tape.
C. For the first 3 or 4 names stand still and as I hear each name make the American Sign Language
sign for DEAD. (I.e., left hand open with palm facing downward and right hand open with palm facing upward. Turn
both hands over so that they are in the opposite orientation from their starting positions.)
D. When I hear a name
that has a particular resonance for me fall down to the floor in some emblematic way and try to rise again before the next
name is called. As the next, and the next and then the next names are spoken repeat the falling to the floor and
rising dance for each name.
E. Try not to anticipate a death. Try not to remember the death until I hear
myself speak it on the tape. Try to respond to the death in the moment. Try to let go of the death as I rise from
the floor.
F. Continue until there are no more names, (about 10 minutes). Allow myself to become exhausted
with the effort. Don't stop until the dance is over.
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