United States

About

United States is a full-evening dance work conceived and choreographed by David Gordon during his company’s 1988–89 national tour. Built as a suite of discrete dance essays, the piece explores American places, themes, and cultural cues through layered spoken text, recorded music, and pared-down movement. A Judson Dance Theater pioneer, Gordon deconstructs stage conventions with humor and self-awareness, favoring ordinary gesture over virtuosity. A collage aesthetic frames autobiographical and place-based narration against choreographic structures. Chairs recur as functional props and symbols of domestic routine. Several sections use prerecorded voiceovers by Gordon, Valda Setterfield, and others, and include texts such as John McPhee’s writing on natural disasters. In San Francisco at Theatre Artaud, the engagement featured five sections from the larger cycle.