Issue #07

This issue of the Performance Journal, States of the Body, is both a legacy of Gender Performance, and a way in which to continue a dialogue. As the issue took shape we thought about the fact that after Gender Performance was published in 1991, MR was classified by many (artists and funders as well as conservatives and politicos) as a fringe group that was pushing buttons without thinking of what the ramifications might be. We disagree, and unlike the NEA, we don't want to forget that Gender Performance ever happened. We continue to feel that bodies come in many forms, and our willingness to play with them, experiment with ideas of gender, and stretch the boundaries of performance, are fundamental to dance and performance in the '90s. We asked Holly Hughes and Bill T. Jones to contribute pieces to States of the Body because we wanted to reflect on the Gender Performance legacy and the debate that ensued.

Other contributors have written about specific dance techniques, about the metaphorical body politic, about differing cultural attitudes towards the body, about human body cycles (i.e. death, age, and fitness), and about the relationship of dance as a body-dependent art to a technological and mediatized society. By organizing the issue around the title States of the Body we cast a wide net. Ranging from Hanya Holmes' spine to the intersection of body and technology in Trisha Brown's work; from Scott Heron's experience handcuffed to a table to Elizabeth Streb's performance zone; from Jerri Allyn's stories about her grandmother and disability to Wendell Beavers' questions about the place of dance technique, we have assembled an eclectic group of perspectives on the body, art, and society. We hope you enjoy them all, and many thanks to all of our contributors.