Yvonne RainerHELLZAPOPPIN’: What about the bees?

American choreographer and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer is one of the most influential artistic figures of the last fifty years and a major innovator in several disciplines, from dance and film to feminist theory and poetry. As a founding member of the Judson Dance Theatre in New York – an informal experimental collective that gave birth to postmodern dance in the 1960s – Rainer was one of the leaders of a generation that expanded the conventions of dance and performance by exploring the use of banal, everyday actions and tasks such as standing still, walking, and running.

Her latest work HELLZAPOPPIN’: What about the bees? touches upon worlds of text, experimental film, and choreography, and reflects America’s ongoing struggle with systemic racism. In keeping with Rainer’s earlier performances, it combines text, dance, and film excerpts from two classics: the 1941 Hollywood musical HELLZAPOPPIN' and French auteur Jean Vigo’s 1993 short Zero for Conduct.

Yvonne Rainer has announced that HELLZAPOPPIN’: What about the bees? will be her “last dance.” It represents the culmination of sixty years of an oeuvre encompassing choreography, filmmaking, writing, and teaching – an iconic body of work that has had a transformative impact on several generations of artists across the world. The Gorki is therefore all the more thrilled to be able to present this special guest performance in Berlin.