DANCENOISE: Don’t Look Back
July 22–26, 2015
DANCENOISE, May 12, 2015, at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Photograph by Lori E. Seid
DANCENOISE is Anne Iobst and Lucy Sexton. The duo began making dance-based performances in 1983, initially emerging at the crossroads of no-wave, punk, performance art, modern dance, and Manhattan's East Village nightclub scene. Their legendary stage shows—built on manic choreography, indiscriminate violence, biting up-to-the-minute social commentary, and precise comedic timing—made them, in the words of downtown performance legend Tom Murrin, "the premier practitioners of synchronized aggression." DANCENOISE performed in many New York clubs and theaters including WOW Cafe, the Pyramid, 8BC, Performance Space 122, Franklin Furnace, and the Kitchen, and went on to tour nationally and internationally, presenting their work at Lincoln Center and winning a NY Dance and Performance Bessie Award.
This week-long presentation will include the premiere of a new live performance, a retrospective installation of their iconic shows, film screenings, and a curated evening in which DANCENOISE reimagines the famed King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, an East Village bar where they organized and hosted a weekly performance series in the 1980s.
DANCENOISE: Don't Look Back is organized by Jay Sanders, Curator and Curator of Performance, with Greta Hartenstein, Curatorial Assistant.
Major support for the Whitney’s Performance Program is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Generous support is also provided by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the Performance Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
In the News
"Review: DANCENOISE Brings Biting Commentary (and Fake Blood) to the Whitney."
—The New York Times
“Unruly on the surface yet deeply structured, DANCENOISE’s performances skewered, even eviscerated popular and media culture, with feminist fury, wicked humor and a good measure of gore.”
—The New York Times
"At the Whitney, Back to the Gutsy ’80s"
—The Wall Street Journal