18 Facts About Steve Paxton

Steven Douglas Paxton was an American experimental dancer and choreographer.

Steve Paxton was a founding member of the experimental group Grand Union and in 1972 named and began to develop the dance form known as Contact Improvisation, a form of dance that utilizes the physical laws of friction, momentum, gravity, and inertia to explore the relationship between dancers.

Steven Douglas Paxton was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1939, and grew up in Tucson, Arizona.

Steve Paxton participated in gymnastics as a child before moving to dance in high school.

Steve Paxton briefly attended the University of Arizona but dropped out to pursue a career in dance.

Steve Paxton lived in Connecticut, and then New York City, from the late 1950s through the 1960s, before moving to the Mad Brook Farm commune in East Charleston, Vermont, in 1970.

Steve Paxton died at Mad Brook Farm on February 20,2024, at the age of 85.

Steve Paxton was influenced by the experimental arts and performance scene in New York in the 1960s and 1970s, and he was interested in how the body could create a physical playground.

Steve Paxton believed that even an untrained dancer could contribute to his experimental dance form.

From his work with Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon, and later his contribution to the formation of the Judson Dance Theater and Grand Union, Steve Paxton was fascinated with the exploration of the human body.

Steve Paxton described the body as a physical machine that can be expressive by nature and the culture around it.

Steve Paxton was known for eliminating any outside influences that would prevent the piece from just being accepted how it was.

Steve Paxton composed a range of non-dance movement vocabulary that seemed to give him a relaxed but authoritative state of being in performance.

Steve Paxton minimized the differences between the audience and the performer.

Steve Paxton was interested in texture, shape, size, and even how the use of animals influenced or changed his dance vocabulary.

Steve Paxton changed and challenged the aspects of traditional modern dance.

In October 2013, Steve Paxton, considered 'a titan of the 1960s and '70s avant-garde,' gave a rare performance of Night Stand with long-time collaborator, Lisa Nelson in a New York gallery; the piece was created in 2004 but had never before been performed in the United States.

Two pieces of Steve Paxton's work appeared in 0 to 9 magazine, a 1960s avant-garde publication that experimented with language and meaning-making.