Yvonne Rainer sits up very straight, embracing the dancer’s posture she’s maintained since childhood. She shakes slightly, one of the few features that disclose her age.

Sitting in the basement of the Dia: Beacon, an art foundation located in the Hudson Valley, Rainer prepares for the first of her three performances. They’re not hers, a fact she makes quite clear, but instead those of her “company,” five friends she’s known and worked with for over a decade. She doesn’t have a formal troupe, but instead relies on longstanding relationships.

“I trust them,” she says. In addition to not having her own company, the age of her dancers is a subject of controversy. Ranging from 35-60, the dancers, like Rainer herself, have to adapt their performances to the shape and feeling of their bodies. Read More »