Lisa Kraus’s Reconstruction of “Line Up”

In this reconstruction of Trisha Brown’s “Line Up” by Lisa Kraus, eight dancers must learn one sequence of distinct, angular movements and be prepared to reverse the sequence when called upon. The dancers require tremendous focus and an excellent knowledge of each movement, in order to perform the choreography both backwards and forwards. At this point in the rehearsals, all of the dancers are acting as “callers”. The caller calls out the name of a specific dancer and tells her to reverse her movements. Each dancer is performing the same movements but in different directions. Each performance will be different, with different dancers being called on to reverse their movements at random. I am curious to see how the caller will create rhythms and patterns with the choreography while orienting each dancer during the actual performances this winter.

Trisha Brown based her movement on certain rules that she created. Generally, each movement is completed and then the dancer moves on to the next movement. She would experiment with her dancers creativity by giving them instructions, such as telling them to “line up” and building her choreography off of their responses. Trisha Brown would start with one movement and keep on moving in the direction that she felt was most logical. Branch and spill are two examples of variations in the movement  that can be called out to one dancers.Trisha Brown’s movements emphasize a dancer’s line as they gracefully and weightlessly float across the stage.