Steve Paxton, dancer and choreographer, dies at 85

Steve Paxton, a pivotal figure in 20th-century dance, died on the night of February 20-21, 2024, at age 85. He was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale Dance in 2014. Born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1939, he studied under José Limón and Merce Cunningham at Connecticut College. He moved to New York at 20, dancing with the José Limón Dance Company and Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Paxton was a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater, a collective that pioneered postmodern dance. Influenced by visual artists Robert Morris and Robert Rauschenberg, he incorporated everyday actions into performances, such as eating a pear in "Proxy" (1961) and smiling for five minutes in "Smiling" (1969). He also used ordinary objects and animals. In 1969, he performed at Galleria L'Attico in Rome during the Festival Danza Volo Dinamite. In 1970, he co-founded the Grand Union collective. He developed Contact Improvisation, a movement system based on physical contact, gravity, and trust, exemplified in works like "You Come, We'll Show You What We Do" (1975) and "Free Lance Dance" (1978). Later works include "Goldberg Variations" (1986-1991) and "Temporary I, II, III" (1982) with Simone Forti. He taught extensively and traveled globally. Yvonne Rainer noted that Paxton made walking fundamental to dance through works like "Transit" (1962), "English" (1963), and "Satisfyin' Lover" (1967).