The Beat Goes On

"Now, more than three decades later, it has resurfaced at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of "A Lick and a Promise," a retrospective of Prina's performance work (through December 13). The performance, which was presented September 18, 20, and 21, unfolded as an intricate braid of choreography, music, spoken text, and rock mythology-both elegiac and euphoric, rigorously structured yet unpredictable."

"Before entering the auditorium, one came upon an internally illuminated clock just outside. Prina had programmed it to chime, every hour on the hour, selected hits from the 1993 Billboard charts, a sly reminder of how pop culture marks our lives even as it slips away. Prina has described the clock as "a monument to the ephemeral.""

"At MoMA, the performance opened in silence, with dancers Jon Baldwin and Freeda Electra moving to stop-and-start rhythms, setting a pulse that carried over to a call-and-response exchange between Prina and actor Abbott Alexander. Prina stood behind a lectern, reading a staccato litany, one word at a time, to which Alexander (italics) responded. Half emcee, half leprechaun-and clad in what looked like a garish St. Patrick's Day costume with green sequined vest, bow tie, and bowler hat-Alexander delivered Kelley's fractured texts, stomping all the while to the still inaudible beat."

Now, more than three decades later, The Beat of the Traps resurfaced at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of "A Lick and a Promise." The performance unfolded as an intricate braid of choreography, music, spoken text, and rock mythology, both elegiac and euphoric, rigorously structured yet unpredictable. An illuminated clock outside chimed selected 1993 Billboard hits hourly as a monument to the ephemeral. The modular structure combined dance movements, spoken parts, drum duets, recordings of Billboard number ones, and live performances arranged in systematic permutations. The opening featured silent, stop-and-start rhythms, a staccato litany, costumed delivery, and six drum duets.

Read at Artforum