Revisiting a David Gordon Duet: "Times Four" Revived in Its Original Loft

Strategic Insights -

Choreographer Wally Cardona is reimagining a 1970s duet, "Times Four," for David Gordon and Valda Setterfield, two prominent artists from New York's postmodern dance scene. Cardona will perform the duet, originally created in this Manhattan loft, with dancer Molly Lieber, drawing from a 1975 rehearsal video, Setterfield's notes, and photographs. The original performance took place a year before Gordon's passing, but Cardona had kept the idea alive, incorporating additional choreography and bringing a new perspective to the piece. The show will be a co-production of the Pick Up Performance Company, Wally Cardona Ventures, and New York Live Arts.

Key Takeaways:

  • Wally Cardona revisits David Gordon's duet "Times Four" in its original loft, where Gordon and Valda Setterfield worked and lived for decades.
  • Cardona will perform the duet with dancer Molly Lieber, drawing from a 1975 rehearsal video, Setterfield's notes, and photographs.
  • The original performance, created in the 1970s, explores space with a meditative calm, highlighting shifts of weight and direction, and the energy between bodies.
  • Cardona adds new choreography to the duet, inspired by Gordon's use of everyday movements and the layers of clothing worn by Gordon and Setterfield in 1970s images.
  • The production will remove articles of clothing in different moments, a new element introduced by Cardona and Lieber to "Times Four."
  • Cardona and Lieber will perform on a hardwood floor, uncovered after years of being hidden beneath brown Marley, as seen in old videos of Gordon and Setterfield.
  • The show will include the Muybridge solo, a work created by Gordon in 1972 for Setterfield, based on Eadweard Muybridge photographs, which David Gordon had asked Cardona to participate in before his passing.
  • The choreographer Wally Cardona is known for his quiet, task-based works, but this production will allow him to explore family life and artistic life together.
  • The duet reflects the relationship between Gordon and Setterfield, who had "huge battles" about the use of the arms, as mentioned in a 1979 interview by David Gordon in Contact Quarterly.

Statistics:

  • The duet "Times Four" was originally created in the 1970s for David Gordon and Valda Setterfield.
  • The original performance took place a year before Gordon's passing.
  • The rehearsal video of 1975 is a primary source for the current production, which Cardona has expanded and reimagined with additional choreography.
  • The production will include the Muybridge solo, a work created by Gordon in 1972 for Setterfield.
  • The duet will be performed on a hardwood floor, uncovered after years of being hidden beneath brown Marley.
  • The audience will be seated on metal folding chairs, familiar objects in Gordon's work.

Sources:

  • Wally Cardona, "Times Four/David Gordon: 1975/2025" (performance production, 2023)
  • Ye Fan for The New York Times, interview with Wally Cardona, (date not specified)
  • David Gordon, interview in Contact Quarterly (1979)
  • Merce Cunningham, choreographer
  • Eadweard Muybridge, photographer and pioneer of motion photography
  • Wally Cardona Ventures
  • New York Live Arts