462

This hostile review of Yvonne Rainer’s work by the dance critic Joan B. Cass contrasts with the generous, attentive takes of Jill Johnston and Deborah Jowitt also included in chapter 8. Unable to perceive and appreciate the dedication, concentration, and skill required to execute Rainer’s choreography, Cass describes it as vapid, tedious non-dance, while revealing her own rigid expectation and standard of “attenuated, proudly presented bodies,” which she did not see in evidence despite the real talents of Rainer’s collaborators. Cass’s review is emblematic of a reactionary modernist response to emerging postmodern dance currents of the time.