Score for DEAD and DEAD have been published in Out of Character: Rants, Raves and Monologues from Today’s Top Performance Artists (Bantam, 1996) and in  Footnotes: Six Choreographers Inscribe the Page (G+B Arts, 1998). SCORE FOR D E A D D E A D is a solo dance/performance piece created 8 June 1981 as part of a celebration of my 30th birthday. A. On the evening before performing the dance, pre-record a list of every death I can remember which has occurred during my lifetime.  Allow pauses for memory lapses.  Even if I am not sure a death happened in the last 30 years, if it seems like a real death in the moment, I must say it.  Allow for people and pets I've known personally; relatives of people I've known; deaths of celebrities I've experienced through the news media; and fictional characters whose deaths seem real to me at the time. B. On the day of performance play the tape. C. For the first 3 or 4 names stand still and as I hear each name make the American Sign Language sign for DEAD.  (I.e., left hand open with palm facing downward and right hand open with palm facing upward.  Turn both hands over so that they are in the opposite orientation from their starting positions.) D. When I hear a name that has a particular resonance for me fall down to the floor in some emblematic way and try to rise again before the next name is called.  As the next, and the next and then the next names  are spoken repeat the falling to the floor and rising dance for each name. E. Try not to anticipate a death.  Try not to remember the death until I hear myself speak it on the tape.  Try to respond to the death in the moment.  Try to let go of the death as I rise from the floor. F. Continue until there are no more names, (about 10 minutes).  Allow myself to become exhausted with the effort.  Don't stop until the dance is over.
D E A D JFK   RFK   Martin Luther King   Fred Hampton   Field Marshall Cinque   Jim Jones   Kitty Genovese   Grandma  Shadwick   Grandpa Shadwick   Aunt Sister Uncle Son   Adrian   James   Charlie Jones   Jones, Charles H. USMC   Cathy Noland   Nick Adams   Monty   Jean Seberg John 23   Paul 6   John Paul 1   LBJ   Hubert Humphrey   Martha Mitchell   Judy Garland   Hop-a-long Cassidy   Jacque Brel   Phil Ochs   Rango   Nugget the First   Nugget the Second   Zincy   Roy Campanella   Joe Louis   Ezra Charles   Emile Griffith   Bob Crane   Sal Mineo   Clark Gable   Marilyn   Patrice Lumumba   Joseph Kasabuvu   All 8 except Corazón Amuro   Jack Ruby   Joe Kennedy   Franco   Eichmann Gary Gilmore    Reza Pahlavi   Ike   Mamie   Warren's mother   Warren's father   Jeff's grandmother   Kathy's sister   Larry's dog   Ginsberg's mother   Ginsberg's father   Jim Morrison   Jimi Hendrix   Gus Grissom   Janis Joplin   Gracey Allen   Jack Benny    Spanky   Charlie Chaplin   The man who used to sing on Jackie Gleason   One of the Rolling Stones   John Lennon   Maria Callas   Queen Fredericka   King Paul   The Duke of Winsor   Duke Ellington   John Wayne   Superman   Lassie   Ramón Navarro   Patsy Cline   Michael Bloomfield   Sharon Percy   Sharon Tate   Inga Stevens   Jayne Mansfield   Bess and Harry Truman   De Gaulle/ Piaf/ Malcolm X/ Helen Keller/ Sid Vicious   2 at Jackson State   4 at Kent State   A lot at My Lai Less than a thousand at Jonestown   Wil Jonnson   Charles Geary   Manya Starkman Miss Kunkel   Wally Cox   James Dean   Ernie Kovac   Joan Crawford   Khrushchev   Dag Hammarskjöld   Madam Nu's Husband   Louis Armstrong Golda Meir 8 June 1981