Feelings Are Facts : The Life of Yvonne Rainer

This is a terrific documentary here's what I said for Sydney Arts Guide http://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/feelings-are-facts-the-life-of-yvonne-rainer/ Screening as part of the Mardi Gras Film Festival this is a fascinating and informative documentary examining the life and complex works of Yvonne Rainer. Dance fans and those interested in the history of film and performance art especially pertaining to New York artistic life from the 160’s to now will be enthralled. Feelings Are Facts is also the title of Rainer’s book published back in 2006. Rainer- perhaps most famous for her “NO “ manifesto- is an American dancer, choreographer, writer and film maker- her work across these assorted fields is often defined as ‘Minimalist’ and regarded as challenging, experimental and confronting, and seen as pushing the boundaries of what can be defined as Art. Over the course of her career, Rainer has choreographed over forty works. She is perceived as having revolutionised modern dance, created what later became known as performance art, and changed the basic principles of experimental filmmaking- all during a time when women were largely ignored in the art world. Born in San Francisco, Rainer began to achieve fame as a member of the Judson Dance Theater in Greenwich Village between 1962 and 1964. Influenced in part by the theories of Merce Cunningham and John Cage, their use of chance and structure, the Judson’s inspired, very exciting cross-disciplinary approach soon attracted huge audiences. A quote from a New York Times review at the time observed that, “there was hardly anything conventional about it.” After leaving Judson, Rainer developed the work which continues to be regarded as her signature piece, the radically minimalist solo piece Trio A (1966) which we see performed in the movie. The film switches between such clips and contemporary interviewees, who place Rainer’s unapologetically difficult works in context. Interviewees include Rainer’s partner Gever, and such luminaries as Lucinda Childs, Carolee Schneemann, B. Rubym Rich, Su Friedrich and Steve Paxton and Pat Catterson. We are left wanting more information about her turbulent family history. Her rather stormy relationship with Robert Morris is briefly referred to. Rainer read feminist theory and writing and dissected her own experience as a woman, where she was able to value and define herself as a participant in culture and society. Eventually she began attending Gay Pride Parades and considered herself a “political lesbian“. At the age of 56, Rainer overcame her fears of identifying as a lesbian by becoming intimate with her long term partner Martha Gever and they have been together ever since. The film is mostly chronological but does jumps around about a bit, with her Trio A, an acknowledgement of the Cunningham and Graham influence and sometimes uses 2012 footage of early works such as Three Satie Spoons (to Satie’s Gymnopedies- so different to Ashton’s Monotones!). There’s also her Three Seascapes (to Rachmaninov). Rainer was attempting to include everyday movement in her work, to create a new lexicon of movement. In the We Shall Run (1963) the floor patterns were rigorously determined beforehand. It would also be interesting perhaps to have had a trifle more critical analysis of the films she has made. She began to develop ‘situations’ with objects, and footage of the 1969 political piece People’s Flag Show is included. We also see sections of her films Kristina Talking Pictures (1976), Lives of Performers and Journeys From Berlin (1979). There is also Murder MURDER (1996) and the 1985 The Man Who Envied Women. In later years Rainer returned to dance making and created a piece for Baryshnikov’s White Oak company in 2000, with Baryshnikov performing. We are led to performances of Spiralling Down’ ( to Ravel’s Bolero ) and then the 2011 works Assisted Living and Good Sports. Rainer is presented as a steely visionary, acutely intelligent and articulate, inspiring to her colleagues and performers, and constantly questioning and raising uncomfortable issues such as colonialism, menopause, terrorism, patriarchy, death, sex and desire in older people. Currently Rainer continues to explore, still creating unpredictable, challenging and vibrant work, and inspiring a younger generation of artists to think, question, challenge, and formulate intriguing, exciting new works of their own. Feelings Are Facts : The Life of Yvonne Rainer screens at Carriageworks as part of the Mardi Gras Film Festival on 20th February. Running time 90 minutes no interval.