From Trio A to Cover futurista. Thinking about dance from an appropriation perspective

Abstract

In this text, I revisit the extensively studied work Trio A (1966), made by the North American choreographer Yvonne Rainer, to discuss its contemporary relevance. Nearly fifty years after its creation, how does its subversive gesture resonate with later works? What are its current implications? How might it be reconfigured in a different time and space? As part of the artistic dissent that gave rise to a movement that expanded the boundaries of the field and even challenged the very definition of dance, Trio A continues to invite reflection. Within the context of twenty-first-century Mexican contemporary dance, it is worth considering the debates the piece may still provoke, as well as the ways in which it has been interpreted and revisited in Mexico. To explore these questions, I will approach the appropriationist strategy that I identify operating in the work of the Uruguayan choreographer Magdalena Leite, specifically in Cover (2010), a work that she created within the context of the Mexican dance field and that enters into dialogue with the assumptions of Trio A, but also with the notions of creativity, originality, and authorship.