Undisciplined Assertions: Between Dance and the Visual Arts

Pelican was one of 15 or so choreographies that Robert Rauschenberg created between 1963 and 1967, mainly within the interdisciplinary context of Judson Dance Theatre. At this point he describes his interest in ‘theatre’ as ‘consuming’ and all but abandons painting and assemblage. My interest in Rauschenberg’s journey from his monochromes of the early 1950s to his first choreographic piece in 1963 is driven by the image of Rauschenberg, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Steve Paxton and Caroline Brown travelling on various Cunningham tours around America in Cage’s car, and the imagined ‘undisciplined’ conversations that took place. The sociability of this kind of ‘work’ fed into a moment of unprecedented disciplinary exchange in America in the mid-twentieth century, within which dance took a leading role