__NOTOC__ Valda Setterfield (September 17, 1934 – April 9, 2023) was a British-born American

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

dancer and actress. She was noted for her work as a soloist with the

Merce Cunningham Dance Company Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

and for her performances in works by her husband, postmodern choreographer and director David Gordon. Perron, Wendy (February 2, 2022
"Remembering David Gordon (1936–2022)"
''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...

'' She was described as his muse, and together they were called "The Barrymores of post-modern dance." Their son, playwright, theatrical director and actor Ain Gordon, has worked with Setterfield on a number of projects as well.

Life and career

Setterfield was born in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

, Kent, in 1934, and grew up in

Birchington-on-Sea Birchington-on-Sea is a village#United Kingdom, village in the Thanet District, Thanet district in Kent, England, with a population of 9,961. Note that the village's name is actually Birchington - 'Birchington-on-Sea' is the name of the railwa ...

. She trained in ballet with Dame

Marie Rambert Dame Marie Rambert DBE (born Cyvia Rambam; 20 February 188812 June 1982) was a Polish-born English dancer and pedagogue who exerted great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher. Early years and background Born to a liberal ...

and

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

with

Tamara Karsavina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (; 9 March 1885 – 26 May 1978) was a Russian prima ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. After settling ...

, and performed in English pantomime. She also performed in an Italian

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

.Smith, Amanda (February 1981)"David Gordon: Keeping the Options Open" ''

'' In 1958, on the promise of a scholarship to study with

José Limón José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...

, she came to New York City, Croce, Arlene (November 29, 1982) "Profiles: Making Work" ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' following her good friend David Vaughan. While taking classes with choreographer James Waring, she met her husband-to-be, David Gordon. They were married from 1961 until his death in 2022, and had a son,

Ain Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

, who carried on the family theatrical tradition."'60s ARCHIVEOGRAPHY - Part 1"
''Archiveography'' website Setterfield appeared with the improvisational dance company The Grand Union and in the works of

Yvonne Rainer Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental.

, Robert Wilson,

Richard Foreman Richard Foreman (born Edward L. Friedman; June 10, 1937 – January 4, 2025) was an American avant-garde experimental playwright and the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Though highly original and singular, his work was influenced by ...

and

JoAnne Akalaitis JoAnne Akalaitis (born June 29, 1937, in Cicero, Illinois) is an avant-garde American theatre director and writer. She has won five Obie Awards for direction (and sustained achievement) and was a co-founder of the New York theater company Mabou ...

. She performed with David Gordon – whom she first met when they were both in the company of choreographer James Waring – at

The Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/p ...

and

Judson Dance Theater Judson Dance Theater was a collective of dancers, composers, and visual artists who performed at the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, Manhattan New York City between 1962 and 1964. The artists involved were avant garde experimentalists ...

, and is a founding member of Pick Up Performance Co(s). She was featured artist on the WNET/PBS Dance documentary ''America’s Beyond The Mainstream'' and in 1987 costarred with

Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; ; born January 27, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male ...

in ''David Gordon's Made in USA'' for WNET/PBS ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member statio ...

''. In 1988, she returned to Rambert as guest artist, performing in a Gordon's ''Mates''. Setterfield played

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

in the Bessie- and

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

-winning ''The Mysteries & What’s So Funny?'' (1990) and toured Europe and Japan with the White Oak Dance Project in 1992. She has acted in the work of her son, playwright Ain Gordon, at

Soho Rep The Soho Repertory Theatre, known as Soho Rep,The official website'now use "Soho", with a lowercase h, as do most articles from th''New York Times''/ref> is an American Off-Broadway theater company based in New York City which is notable for pro ...

and

Dance Theater Workshop Dance Theater Workshop, colloquially known as DTW, was a New York City performance space and service organization for dance companies that operated from 1965 to 2011. DTW merged with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to form New York Live ...

and played herself in his ''Art, Life & Show Biz'' at

PS 122 Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a non-profit arts organization founded in 1980 in the East Village of Manhattan in an abandoned public school building. Origin The former elementary school, Pu ...

and elsewhere. She danced in Gus Solomons Jr.'s ''A Thin Frost'' in 1994. In film, Setterfield has appeared in the work of Yvonne Rainer and

Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (; born September 11, 1940) is an Americans, American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for work in the suspense, Crime film, crime, and psychological thriller genres. ...

, and performed the choreography of

Graciela Daniele Graciela Daniele (born December 8, 1939) is an Argentine- American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director. A stage musical based on her life, title '' The Gardens of Anuncia'', premiered in 2021, created by Michael John LaChiusa. Biography ...

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

's ''

Mighty Aphrodite ''Mighty Aphrodite'' is a 1995 American comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Mira Sorvino, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Rapaport, and F. Murray Abraham. The screenplay was vaguely inspired by the story of ' ...

'' and ''

Everyone Says I Love You ''Everyone Says I Love You'' is a 1996 American musical romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Alan Alda, Allen, Drew Barrymore, Lukas Haas, Goldie Hawn, Gaby Hoffmann, Natasha Lyonne, Edward Norton, Natalie P ...

''. On the afternoon of September 10, 2001, Setterfield was rehearsing for a performance that was due to take place within a few weeks on a specially constructed stage in the Austin J. Tobin Plaza of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

complex next to World Trade Center 1. The rehearsal was cut short halfway through due to the rain. The stage was destroyed the next day in the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. She 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". She was staying a few blocks away from the World Trade Center and saw the impact of

American Airlines flight 11 American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic Airline, passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The hijacked airliner was deliberately crashed into ...

and

United Airlines flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 was a domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport in California that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as ...

and the subsequent collapse of the towers. In 2003, she danced at the 25th anniversary celebration of British Dance Umbrella, and in 2004/5 she performed in ''Dancing Henry Five'' at the Pantages Theater in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Danspace in New York City, the ODC Theatre in San Francisco, and other venues. She played The Old Woman in

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

's ''The Chairs'' at London's Barbican Theater,

On the Boards On the Boards (OtB) is a non-profit contemporary performing arts organization in Seattle, Washington, founded in 1978. Originally located at Washington Hall in the Central District, the organization moved in 1998 to their current location in U ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, and at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

Next Wave Festival Next Wave is a biennial festival based in Melbourne, which promotes and showcases the work of young and emerging artists. Next Wave encourages interdisciplinary practice and fosters the creation and presentation of works by emerging artists wor ...

. Setterfield played the role of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

in Gordon's ''Uncivil Wars'', which is based on Brechts's ''

Roundheads and Pointheads Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

''. She also appeared in

Jonah Bokaer Jonah Bokaer (born October 1, 1981) is an American choreographer and media artist. He works on live performances in the United States and elsewhere, including choreography, digital media, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and social enterprise. ...

's ''Player & Prayer'' (2008), with Carmen De Lavallade and Gus Solomons Jr.; ''Anchises'' (2010); and ''Occupant'' (2013). In 2017, she appeared in Irish choreographer John Scott's production of ''Lear'', playing the title role of

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

. She collaborated with Scott on the choreography. She then appeared in Scott's 2018 work ''Inventions'', a "Bach-inspired dance." Setterfield died from pneumonia in Manhattan on April 9, 2023, at the age of 88.

Awards and honors

In 1984 Setterfield received a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie), and in 1995 she, David Gordon and Ain Gordon received an

for their performances in ''The Family Business'' at Dance Theatre Workshop and

New York Theatre Workshop __NOTOC__ New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is an Off-Broadway theater noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 East 4th Street between Second Avenue and Bowery in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it h ...

. She received a second Bessie in 2006 for outstanding achievement. In August 2017, Setterfield was the sole recipient of the "Herald Angel Award" for that year's

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, which she received for her performance in the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

of ''Lear'', created by Irish choreographer John Scott, based on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

''. In September 2019, Setterfield was the recipient of a Dance Magazine Award with David Gordon. The award noted that they "are renowned for the poignant humor of their work together – his uncanny sense of irony has found the ideal vehicle in her straitlaced, British facade."Stahl, Jennifer (September 9, 2019
"Meet the 2019 Dance Magazine Award Honorees"
''

'' Setterfield was one of the subjects of

Stacey D'Erasmo Stacey D'Erasmo (born 1961) is an American author and literary critic. Biography D'Erasmo was born in 1961 in New York City. She received a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from New York University in English and American literature. From 1 ...

's 2024 book ''The Long Run'', about artists who sustain their creativity over a long career.Sharma, Meara (July 9, 2024
"How do you sustain a creative life in an unwelcoming world?"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

References

Notes

External links

The Voices of Judson Dance Theater
MoMA Magazine
Valda Setterfield on Random Breakfast
MoMA Audio: Judson Dance Theater: The Work is Never Done *
Valda Setterfield
at the Internet Off-Broadway Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Setterfield, Valda 1934 births 2023 deaths English female dancers Contemporary dancers American film actresses American stage actresses People from Birchington-on-Sea Rambert Dance Company dancers English emigrants to the United States Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Dancers from New York (state)