Page 60 - Studio International - September 1966

Leadville (left) by Alex Hay

A silver-suited robot spaceman, with tape recorder
strapped to his back, descends from the rafter,
sliding slowly down a silver pole.
On reaching the ground he inches his way from the
pole towards the audience with slow-motion machine-
like movements and vacant expression, to the sound
of his tape recorder spewing out yellow tape which
is not rewound but trails on the ground behind him.
The voice on the tape says he wishes he were alive,
not as a human being but as a part of nature, a
mountain, a physical feature of the earth.
The spaceman makes a few leaden-footed jumps.
Then, to the music of Blue Velvet, he does a dance
which consists of slowly twisting his torso.
To the sound of machine gun firing, he sinks—
always in slow motion—to the ground.
Duration is between five and seven minutes.

Spring training (opposite) by Robert Rauschenberg

This takes place in some five episodes, each scene
ending with 'lights out':

1 Robert Rauschenberg in shirt and short cotton
drawers, barefoot and bare-legged, stands in the
centre of the auditorium, and begins to mop up
with bucket and mop the eggs that drop from the
rafters. The action completed, Christopher Rauschen-
berg brings in his pet turtles one and two at a time,
each with a flash light strapped to its back, and
places them about the floor. As the auditorium lights
slowly dim and go out, all one can see is the lights
on the turtles, sometimes slowly moving. (Opposite,
centre right.)

2 Steve Paxton in trousers and undershirt and with a
tin can attached to his shin, does a series of move-
ments (or dance), while in the background
Christopher Rauschenberg, next to a coat rack in
front of a collection of built-in telephone books, tears
the pages out into a microphone that greatly
amplifies the sound. (Opposite, top right.)
3 Three brides eating Ritz crackers and armed with
alarm clocks do a series of actions, while Steve
Paxton and Bob Rauschenberg, dressed as before,
move woodenly about, sometimes in unison, some-
times lifting and placing each other elsewhere as if
the lifted one were a dummy.
4 Deborah Hay in leotard tights and black heels
does a mild little tap dance to some sweet pop
music with a 'faceless' Hollywood leer which she
adjusts every so often.

5 Robert Rauschenberg in front of a black curtain,
wearing a white dinner jacket, with a bucket strapped
to his hips by a red strap, takes a kettle and pours
water into a bucket filled with dry ice. As the dry-ice
clouds billow out he strums the strings on his jacket
to the music of Hawaiian Hula. (Opposite, top left.)