Trisha Brown © Nathaniel Tileston.
Trisha Brown
Accumulation
Saturday, January 11
Performances at 2pm, 2:30pm, and 3pm
On the occasion of the group exhibition THE (grand) GESTURE, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. will host three performances of Trisha Brown's 1971 solo Accumulation on the afternoon of Saturday, January 11. The piece is four-and-a-half minutes in length and will be performed at the gallery by Cecily Campbell, Dancer/Rehearsal Director at the Trisha Brown Dance Company.
Accumulation was first performed by Trisha Brown at New York University on October 22, 1971, accompanied by The Grateful Dead's Uncle John's Band. The witty and now-legendary solo is based on the simple device of adding one gesture to another, one at a time, and repeating the growing phrase with each new movement. Although it is not the performer’s intention to portray anyone or anything else, the dance is full of personal expression as the dancers respond to the physical action of the piece and to the audience.
Both the dance and its structure were visible and bare-bone simple. None of the movements had any significance beyond what they were. And I never felt more alive, more expressive or more exposed in performance.
—Trisha Brown to Anne Livet, 1978
The performances are free and open to the public. To learn more about Trisha Brown Dance Company and Brown's repertory, click here.
THE (grand) GESTURE considers how ideas of movement and action may be formally expressed and conceptually embodied. Artists Trisha Brown, Keltie Ferris, and Arturo Herrera each offer unique interpretations of physicality and performance, often working through the lens of Abstract Expressionism or in response to its legacies. The exhibition is on view from January 10 through February 15.