John Jasperse Company | Misuse liable to prosecution Oct 19, 2007
by Tania
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One ingenious element of
One ingenious element of Jasperse’s work was the use of a vacuum cleaner to deflate an inflatable mattress, turning the latter into a shelter, and then into a costume, for the dancer beneath it. Why did this idea seem familiar? Finally I remembered: In her chapter on Steve Paxton in “Terpsichore in Sneakers, ” Sally Banes described Paxton’s 1963 work, “Music for Word Words ”:
“The inflatable in that piece was a twelve-foot-square room, which Paxton deflated with a vacuum cleaner until it became his costume. The confusion of textures—skin and plastic—of scale—massive and human size—and of function—room and costume—is an early example of Paxton’s juggling of features of culture and nature. ” (p. 62)
Was Jasperse subtly paying homage to Paxton? Or was this just a clever idea recurring?
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