Judson Dance Theater: Greenwich Village and Avant-Garde Dance

In the 1960’s, a group of dancers convened at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, to exchange and present ideas. The collective became known as Judson Dance Theater, and through a series of workshops and performances, they redefined what could be considered “dance”.

With a rich tradition of hosting musicians, painters, poets, and performers in its Greenwich Village location, Judson Church stands as a pillar of artistic innovation in New York City. Beginning its art ministry in the 1950s under the leadership of Reverend Howard Moody, the church set aside invaluable space and resources for artists to work, collaborate, and present their ideas. The church also assured that this space was to be a place where artists could have the freedom to experiment in their work without fear of censorship.

Judson Church has had particular influence on the fields of dance and performance art. Beginning in the early 1960’s, the church became the home for a group of curious and rebellious performers who became known as Judson Dance Theater. Many legendary artists including Yvonne Rainer, Deborah Hay, Trisha Brown, Fred Herko, Steve Paxton, James Waring, Carolee Schneemann, David Gordon, Judith Dunn and Lucinda Childs participated in the Judson experiment. 

While Judson Dance Theater came to be known for many things — trailblazing post-modern dance, launching careers, and formulating new dance techniques — to the participants, Judson could not be defined. In fact, the group never published a mission statement or manifesto. They preferred to let the dance speak for itself. As Wendy Perron, writer and former member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company said, “Judson Dance Theater was a confluence of people and ideas that reflected the defiance of the 1960s. It questioned authority, challenged artistic assumptions, and favored “ordinary” over virtuosic. And it changed modern dance forever.”

Judson began in the classes of Robert Ellis Dunn, musical accompanist for choreographer Merce Cunningham. Dunn, encouraged by Cunningham’s life and artistic partner John Cage, began to teach a class on composition and improvisation. This class took place at the Cunningham studio, then located on 6th Avenue and 14th Street. A handful of dancers signed up, including Simone Forti, Ruth Emerson, Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer, all of whom would become key players in Judson Dance Theater.

Drawing upon Cage’s ideas of indeterminacy, Dunn created assignments in the form of scores — open-ended structures that invited experimentation. His pedagogy prioritized curiosity over judgment, and asked questions of his student’s processes rather than their focusing on their final work. As Emerson told historian Sally Banes, Dunn was “interested in what happened and how you had done it.” Emboldened by this exciting and innovative atmosphere, Dunn and his students began to search for a place to present their new ideas. 

After being turned away from the Young Choreographer Concert at the 92nd Street Y, Emerson, Paxton, and Rainer, with the mentorship of Dunn, presented pieces to Al Carmines, musician and assistant minister at Judson. At the time, Judson already had a reputation for supporting the arts through visual art (Judson Gallery) and poetry (Judson Poets’ Theater). 

With approval from Carmines and the Judson board, Judson Dance Theater organized their first performance on July 6, 1962. It consisted of 14 choreographers and 17 performers, and more than 300 audience members were in attendance. This initial concert set a precedent for what was to come. 

Dance critic Jill Johnston dubbed the show “a democratic evening of dance.” And in fact, Judson was intentionally democratic both onstage and off. The collective held consistent group meetings where discussions about each other’s work was led by a different person each time. Anyone who attended these meetings could show their work in an upcoming concert. They adopted the Quaker concept of consensus, meaning a decision wasn’t made until everyone agreed.

The first Judson concert exemplified many of the aesthetic values that would become prevalent in the Judson group. Carmines reflected on the movement of that evening, saying, “I shall never forget that first concert of dance, it wasn’t dance as I had ever known anything about dance. It wasn’t pretty, it didn’t portray ennobling feelings, it didn’t have much sentiment. They were doing things in their dance that I, and everyone else I knew did every day of their life.” This pedestrian movement style became synonymous with Judson. The artists rejected narrative story lines, virtuosic technique, and extravagant costumes. For many of the choreographers, it was an intentional departure from the codified structures on modern dance techniques they had trained in. 

Choreographer Yvonne Rainer was one of the Judson participants who was interested in displaying everyday actions in her work. Judson’s third performance, Concert for Dance #3, began with Rainer’s We Shall Run. In this piece, the dancers began by standing still, onstage, for an extended period of time. Then, they took off in a brisk jog. They created packs, crisscrossed, peeled off, and rejoined the group. The running patterns continued as Hector Berlioz’s Requiem played on the loudspeaker.

Rainer describes the piece, saying, “The only movement was trotting around and there were dance-trained people and untrained people in it. I always wanted to have my cake and eat it, too. So I had pedestrian movement on the one hand, and on the other, they had this glorious inflated grandiose music, that was originally for 300 voices and cannon going off.”

Judson artists often favored interdisciplinary methods of working. Painters, sculptors, and musicians joined the group, and from this intermingling many exciting projects arose. Sculptor Charles Ross created experimental props and sets for many performances. He built an obstacle course-like structure for a Judson’s Concert #13, and prompted the dancers to use the sculpture as they wished. Each choreographer of that evening had to confront the new environment, leading to a playful and generative sequence of encounters.

While the Judson workshops came to a close in 1964, the ideas, partnerships, and aesthetics born of the group carried on. Many of the dancers began their own companies, including Trisha Brown and Lucinda Childs. Partnerships between the Judson artists continued to blossom. 

The aesthetic and intellectual products of Judson continue to influence the experimental dance scene to this day. Countless retrospectives and exhibits have been presented about the workshops, and many of the original pieces have been restaged.

The space of Judson Church continues to foster up and coming dance artists as well. Nonprofit organization Movement Research programs weekly presentations of in-progress performance pieces at the church. The “Movement Research at the Judson Church” series is highly regarded among avant-garde artists, many of whom see it as a way to carry the original Judson legacy into the future.

Click here to watch Village Preservation’s program with Judson Memorial Church, “Embodying Sanctuary: Faith, Activism, and Creativity at Judson Memorial Church.”