Lateral Splay, 1979

Lateral Splay, 1963
performance
Judson Dance Theater, Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY, November 19 and 20, 1963
Performers: Judith Dunn, June Ekman, Sally Gross, Alex Hay, Deborah Hay, Tony Holder, Jerry Howard, Deboarh Lee, John Quinn, Larry Siegel, Carol Summers, John Worden

Violent, explosive energy–A single impulse. Inspired by/in reaction to the formality and grace of certain works by Merce Cunningham.

For twelve to fifteen runners in a large open space. The spectators should be seated in a circle or semicircle cut through by several files. Balconies, doors, or lower windows which might lead into the main room will be used by the performers.

Clothing: fig sweatpants in various colors, one low on the hip. Men are bare chested. Women were small tops which leave mid drift exposed. (During rehearsal for the Johnson performance I had imagined soft links of colored material to be tied around her waist and legs; the next morning I found a carton in front of my life filled with long strips of blue and green velvet.)
An event repeated throughout Johnson dance theater Concert #13, within an environment by the sculptor, Charles Ross. Ross had made a mountainous slide of steel folding chairs which flooded one corner of the open floor up to the balcony. The thirty participants included dancers, writers, painters, musicians, actors, sculptors.

Lateral Splay functioned as an explosive and linear refrain, a propulsive jet movement coughing through the sequences of other works and the materials of the environment. It involves a maximum expenditure directed energy; and rehearsals with practice with the sense that the runners were particles bombarding space.

Four basic runs were made at high speed by 12 runners:

1. Backward run (spot direction by turning head from side to side, spine straight)
2. Forward run (Head high, free, intense, clear forward focus)
3. Low crawl run (knees bent, relaxed shoulders, arms swing)
4. Turning run with falls (turning is you run, sharp balls, rise immediately, continue turning run, or after fall choose another run)

The audience was seeded and wedges forming a complete circle around the floor space. Three times during the evening the Lateral Splay runners position themselves behind the audience sees an unexpectedly shot out across the floor. Runs were also done in the balcony over the heads of the audience where steel sheets had been laid, making tremendous thundering noises as the runners passed over them.

Rules to Performers included: SPEED—as fast as possible. DURATION—as long as possible; any action taken to exhaustion. DIRECTION—random. VARIATIONS—climbing, swinging. PERFORMANCE—stylized, severe, maximum energy in runs; collision embraces are natural, abandoned.

In order to stop a run the rule was to collide with an obstacle. The obstacles were the walls of the church, the audience, the steel girders, the mountain of chairs, and the other runners. When collision occurred, the runner had to meet the obstacle at full speed, merge with it, and fall down. Rests lasted until the impulse to run again. Because the runs were exhausting, the sequences could last for only three minutes.