Oakland, CA–January 20, 2010. Yvonne Rainer, the mother of post-modern dance and an iconic figure in the 1960s dance revolution, will lead a rare teach-in at Mills College on Saturday, January 30, 2010. She will teach participants part of her legendary dance, Trio A, a manifesto in movement questioning the aesthetics of traditional dance. The free public event will be held in Haas Pavilion at 11:00 am. Following the teach-in, Rainer will screen several of her films from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in the Littlefield Concert Hall and explore the question, “Where’s the Passion?” in a discussion of expressiveness in dance.

An internationally renowned choreographer, Rainer was born in San Francisco. She co-founded the Judson Dance Theater in 1962 and was instrumental in infusing avant-garde art into the wider culture of the 1960s.

Rainer made a transition to filmmaking following her 15-year career as a choreographer/dancer (1960-1975). After making seven experimental feature films including Lives of Performers (1972), Privilege (1990), and MURDER and murder (1996), she returned to dance in 2000 with a commission from the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation for the White Oak Dance Project. Since then, she created a video, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan: Hybrid, consisting of dance and texts dealing with art and politics in fin-de-siecle Vienna, as well as three dances. Her latest dance, “Spiraling Down,” was premiered at the Festival of International Dance at Yale University in November 2007. Rainer’s memoir, Feelings Are Facts: a Life (MIT Press) was published in 2006.

Characterized by a long history of experimentation, the Mills Dance Department is an important part of the San Francisco Bay Area's dynamic urban dance community. Launched in 1938 as one of the country’s first and most visionary dance programs, the Dance Department trains students to be artist-thinkers and refined practitioners in a variety of dance idioms. The curriculum is designed to develop each dancer's technical, performance, and choreographic abilities, while urging students to seek creative inspiration in the world around them. Mills offers three graduate dance degrees: the MA in dance, the MFA in dance with an emphasis in choreography, and the MFA in dance with an emphasis in choreography and performance.

Internationally acclaimed dancer/choreographers Trisha Brown and Molissa Fenley are among Mills’ prominent dance alumnae.

For further information about the Rainer events visit www.mills.edu or call 510.430.3259.

About Mills College
Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 550 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, and ranks as one of the Best 371 Colleges by the Princeton Review. Forbes.com ranked Mills 55th among America's best colleges and named it a "Top Ten: Best of the All-Women's Colleges." Visit us at www.mills.edu.

PRESS CONTACT:
Jeanne Herrera
Media Relations Director
510.430.2300