“Art is a game between all people of all periods.” —Marcel Duchamp

The Backyard was developed in a residency with Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson at their studio on Mad Brook Farm in Vermont in summer 2017 and 2018. Performed by Megan Bridge and Beau Hancock, this 45 minute improvised dance proposes a hyper-conscious inhabiting of time, space, and relationship; a radical invitation for intimacy and embodiment. Placing Paxton/Nelson’s work PA RT (1978-2002) at the center of our research, The Backyard exists in a landscape of deep listening and rigorous attention. With music by Robert Ashley, this new work is also a palimpsest of PA RT—an effaced manuscript, written over, but still bearing traces of its original form.