Valda Setterfield was a British-born American postmodern dancer and actress.
15 Facts About Valda Setterfield
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Valda Setterfield was noted for her work as a soloist with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and for her performances in works by her husband, postmodern choreographer and director David Gordon.
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Valda Setterfield was born in Margate, Kent, in 1934, and grew up in Birchington-on-Sea.
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Valda Setterfield trained in ballet with Dame Marie Rambert and mime with Tamara Karsavina, and performed in English pantomime.
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Valda Setterfield appeared with the improvisational dance company The Grand Union and in the works of Yvonne Rainer, Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman and JoAnne Akalaitis.
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In film, Valda Setterfield has appeared in the work of Yvonne Rainer and Brian De Palma, and performed the choreography of Graciela Daniele in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and Everyone Says I Love You.
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Valda Setterfield later said in an interview about the attacks "My father was a golfer and he taught me to recognise the sound of a golf ball hitting its target, when I heard that sound I thought that something has hit its target".
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Valda Setterfield was staying a few blocks away from the World Trade Center and saw the impact of American Airlines flight 11 and United Airlines flight 175 and the subsequent collapse of the towers.
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Valda Setterfield played The Old Woman in Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs at London's Barbican Theater, On the Boards in Seattle, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival.
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Valda Setterfield played the role of Bertolt Brecht in Gordon's Uncivil Wars, which is based on Brechts's Roundheads and Pointheads.
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Valda Setterfield died from pneumonia in Manhattan on April 9,2023, at the age of 88.
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In 1984 Valda Setterfield received a New York Dance and Performance Award, and in 1995 she, David Gordon and Ain Gordon received an Obie Award for their performances in The Family Business at Dance Theatre Workshop and New York Theatre Workshop.
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Valda Setterfield received a second Bessie in 2006 for outstanding achievement.
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In September 2019, Valda Setterfield was the recipient of a Dance Magazine Award with David Gordon.
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Valda Setterfield was one of the subjects of Stacey D'Erasmo's 2024 book The Long Run, about artists who sustain their creativity over a long career.