“As I Lay Dying”
Choreography: Valerie Bettis (1948)
Reconstructor: Robin Osborne (1992)
A dance drama based on William Faulkner’s novel about the Bundren family, and their saga to bury their mother, Addie Bundren, in her home county Central to the story is the recapitulation of Addie’s life, her marriage to Anse, affair with Brother Whitfield, their illegitimate son, Jewel and the sibling rivalry between him and Daryl, the second born son, ultimately results in the family destruction. The journey to Jefferson County to bury Addie grows to biblical proportions. Dewey Dell, the only daughter, unsuccessfully seeks out an abortion from a man who rapes her. Cash, the first born, who has built her coffin, injures his leg while trying to rescue it (and her body) when it is swept down a flood swollen river. The misplaced devotion for the family matriarch, and their own selfishness brings tragedy and a dark humor to this family’s saga.

About this reconstruction:

When I received a grant (Melani Award) from The City University of New York to reconstruct and video tape this seminal piece, the dance drama, “As I Lay Dying,” she began the process of pulling all of the pieces together. I had met Valerie when I was a senior at UCLA, and she had been “brought” to us as our “New York artist” for the year. I immediately fell in love with her use of the spoken word with dance. I experimented on my own, creating a my own choreography, intwined with words. I performed in her piece “Arena for One” as a member of the UCLA Dance Co., subsequently moving on to UC Irvine, where I did my graduate work. Again, fascinated by moving with the spoken word, I became increasingly interested in dance as narrative, literally and abstractly. It was after I had moved to NYC where I studied with Valerie in her studio, performed with her Theatre Dance Company, that I became acquainted with “AILD” after seeing the Camera Three edited version of it. When the opportunity arose for me to apply for the CUNY grant, I knew that this was a project that I would dearly love to undertake. Months of research in the Lincoln Center Dance Collection, auditioning for the cast, and many hours of rehearsal resulted in a performance at the Brooklyn Music School in October 1992 with a final video version of “As I Lay Dying.”

“Agate Street Leap”

Choreography: Robin Osborne

Music: Maurice Ravel

Performed in 1994 with four dancers at a fundraising concert for the Brooklyn Music School.