Originally published in An Anthology of Chance Operations, Beach Crawl is an early work by Walter De Maria, who would gain renown as a minimalist sculptor and pioneer of monumental earthworks. Presaging those terrestrial experiments, this score instructs [performers] to crawl on their hands and knees while moving three rocks in a circular pattern down a sandy stretch of beach. In the hands of choreographer Phoebe Berglund, these instructions are transformed into a new work of dance. Her dancers’ crawl is punctuated with moments of meditation and tender contact, unfolding in concert with the natural elements and the ethereal sonic atmosphere performed by composer Joseph Allan Johnson. —Sarah Cooper
Performed by Julia Antinozzi, Juli Brandano, Wendell Gray II, Leanna Grennan, Amelia Heintzelman, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Jade Manns, Leah Samuels, and Ella Wasserman-Smith; sound design by Joseph Allan Johnson; and choreographed and directed by Phoebe Berglund.
The score for Beach Crawl can be found in the Getty Research Institute’s unique copy of An Anthology of Chance Operations (1962), published by Jackson Mac Low and George Maciunas and edited by La Monte Young.
