1980 – Journey
An early experiment with text and movement
The story behind this dance is a love story. Jon Spelman (who would become my husband) had shown me a play, “Self-Accusation,” by Peter Handke. Jon and I were in Wisconsin for one month of getting to know each other. We ran two miles a day, and here’s what we did: one mile one of us talked, the return trip the other. We told each other the story of our lives up to that point, but highlighting the story of our becoming the artists we were at that moment.
Choreographed and performed by Liz Lerman, and duet-variation of Journey performed by Thomas Dwyer and Benjamin Wegman.
And then in the afternoon I would go to the little rural elementary school and work on “Self-Accusation,” which as my solo was re-titled “Journey.” The discipline of the idea (one gesture for each word) made it possible to do every day. I always believed the gesture was emerging from my years with the old people.