50th Anniv of Anna Halprin's Work "The Paper Dance" That was Put Under Wraps by Cops in 1967

The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College presented RADICAL DANCES last night.  The program included choreography by her early collaborators: Forti, Rainer & Limon.  The piece de resistance was Anna Halprin's  'The Paper Dance' from Parades and Changes first performed 50 years to a packed house in Hunter College Playhouse.  It notoriously was raided & shut downby police during its performance for indecent exposure.  The piece was groundbreaking & shocking in 1967 for having dancers disrobe on stage.  The performance is tame by today's standards.  The uproar his scandalous production caused ripple effects through the world of dance & censorship.  A warrant issued for Ms Haprin's arrest for indecent exposure.  The case went to the NY courts which ruled that freedom of expression is upheld by the constitution and dismissed all charges of indecency.  Ms Halprin is quoted "It was radical when I first did it.  Now nudity in dance is so ordinary.  Sometimes I wish the dancers would put their clothes back on if they don't have a good reason to be naked."  Halprin is credited with being at the center of the postmodern movement.  According to Halprin "It involved for me a new sense of realism and that's when I started using task oriented movement, the movements of everyday life."  Watching the piece for the first time, I found the piece mundane.  I didn't feel any excitement, vitality or register a remarkable artistry to the piece. The rolls of parchment carried onto the stage & shredded by the dancers didn't provide a significant tactile sensation or an urgent auditory appeal.  The disrobing & nude posing by the dancers didn't provide seem an epoch-making artistic proposal.  While its relevance today felt passe, this is greatly owed to Halprin's courageous originality which has rendered a broader appreciation of how dance favorably impacts our lives.   Ms Halprin, now 96, was skyped from her home in CA onstage with a panel featuring several people present at the original performance which caused such a stir:  Jack Anderson, NYTimes critic, choreographer Simone Forti, dancer Charles Reinhart and audience member Alice Teirstein.  "What I hope that I've accomplished in my life time is to redefine what dance can be.  I hope that people will understand that dance is a powerful tool, for healing, for education, for building.  I hope that will be my greatest legacy, not these personal expressions of my own art, but showing how one can live artfully through dance." (AH)