Mapping Dance

Mapping Dance: The Scores of Anna Halprin displays a selection of iconic choreographic scores and performance videos from the collection of the Museum of Performance + Design by California dance pioneer Anna Halprin. Vibrant in color and elaborate in design, the scores provide essential information on performances Halprin created between the 1960s and 1980s and represent a record of her creative activity. A self-activated participatory Sensory Tour especially created by Ms. Halprin for the occasion accompanies the exhibition and is available as a take-away score for the duration of the exhibition.

Anna Halprin is a seminal American dance figure of national and international renown and is one of MP+D’s most researched subjects. Halprin’s ground-breaking work in choreography and participatory performance is documented at MP+D through 65+ linear feet of archival materials and 47 original dance scores. Spanning over 30 years, Halprin’s choreographic scores represent visual and instructional mappings of the temporal, spatial and participatory dimensions of the performances she imagined and produced. They also make visible her visionary process and creative framework while keeping a permanent record of her artistic activity.

The exhibition displays 21 scores ranging in dates from 1959 to 1987 including scores for Five-Legged Stool (1961-62), Esposizione (1963) and Procession (1964). Also featured in the exhibition, and on loan from Anna Halprin, will be City Dance ‘78 (1978), a large 14’-6” x 3’-1/4” felt tip marker and ink on paper scroll representing choreography by Anna Halprin and the San Francisco Dancer’s Workshop for a performance that premiered on June 10, 1978 at various locations throughout San Francisco. The scores on display will be contextualized with performance photographs and videos from MP+D’s collection. 

Exhibition overview from museum website