Tenjo Sajiki, which is one of Japan's most famous experimental theatre troupes, was founded in 1967 by Shuji Terayama, the chief director and playwright of the troupe. During the Summer of 1971, they toured several European cities with their piece, Jashumon, written and directed by Terayama. The theme of the six-scene play concerns the tragic nature of the family as an institution, which is characteristic of traditional Japanese society. The plot revolves around the enormous emotional and economic interdependence of Yamataro, the son, and Ogin, his aging mother.

What follows is a description of the production of Jashumon, which was presented at the Nancy International Theatre Festival, Nancy, France, on April 28th and 29th, 1971. Shigeo Takenaga assisted Terayama with the direction of the piece. The sets were designed by Ryoichi Enomoto.

David Gordon's The Matter was performed on April 1st and 2nd, 1972, in a large white room at the Merce Cunningham dance studio in New York City. Spectators and performers, indistinguishable from one another except for an occasional nude body, were let in together about twenty minutes before the dance was to begin. The room was empty: mirrors spanned a wall at one end; a stage with steps jutted a little into the space at the other end. The floor was large and well-lighted.

The distinction between performers and nonperformers was noticeable only as individuals found places to sit: spectators sat at what could be considered the front of the performing area on and around church pews facing the dance floor and along the opposite (back) wall on window ledges; performers, most carrying unobtrusive bundles of clothing and shoes, settled along the mirrored wall on the dance floor.

The theme of the 1936 Olympics, which was held in Berlin with considerable political overtones, was assigned to the Gruppo Sperimentazione Teatrale. The scenario that reached Mario Ricci in Rome early in 1972 called for the use of recordings, television, huge puppets, and a chorus to depict that Olympics. When sent to Ricci, the scenario had the official approval of the Olympic Arts Committee. The Italian director (with the aid of two artist friends, Carlo Montesi and Claudio Previtera) set about enthusiastically to create what he hoped would be a controversial piece. The 1972 Olympics, after all, were the first to be held in Germany since ‘36, and a great deal of European attention would naturally focus on the work and its conception.

In the portraying of athletic events, the scenario called for the repetition of such phrases as: “A (Hitler Youth) youngster must be tough as leather, hard as Krupp steel.”

The Grand Union was formed in the Fall of 1970. Founding members of this anarchistic democratic theatre collective were: Becky Arnold, Trisha Brown, Dong, Douglas Dunn, David Gordon, Nancy Green, Barbara Lloyd, Steve Paxton and Yvonne Rainer. Characteristic of the Union, there are nine different answers to how and when it began. The lives of the members have been intertwined for anywhere from five to ten years. In 1970, the members of Yvonne Rainer's Continuous Project Altered Daily (CPAD) conceived of an organization in which they might share choreography. Three other choreographer/performers of similar mind were invited to join. This was the beginning of the organization but not of the concept.

Trisha Brown began studying dance when she was thirteen—“ballet, tap, acrobatics and modern jazz, as it was interpreted by my dance teacher in Aberdeen, Washington.” She also was involved in another physical discipline. “My older brother was an athlete and he was training me to be an Olympic star when I was ten or eleven. I played basketball, football, did tackling, and ran out for passes all the time I was growing up. He trained me in pole vaulting and running. He tapped my physicality when I was very young and pushed me a lot.”

She attended Mills College in California where she majored in dance and studied traditional modern dance techniques. “At that time the mode of teaching choreography was to use the Louis Horst forms of theme and development. I never understood it. I always had difficulty because I hadn't developed my own source of movement, so the restrictions of the choreographic forms just got in my way.”