Influences on Paxton

Some things that could have influenced Paxton's artistic views could be that when he started dancing with Limon, Cunningham and other post modern dancers it was during the 1960s "The Golden Age".  This is an age when tremendous change was going on!  There was events like the assassination of JFK, and music was changing how people thought.  This time era in general might of had a lot to do with why Paxton was so interested in partner work (contact improv).  The one that sticks out to me the most would be the Vietnam war that was going on, maybe Paxton was interested in bringing people together artistically.  I believe that this would have a lot to do with his development of his artistic voice.  At the same time in the 60s everything was changing so much which could be why he chose to use movement that wasn't the "norm" in post modern dance.  He used a lot of walking, running, and pedestrian movements, which was so different from other works.  This could be because of the heat of the Golden Age, and the fact that everyone was changing their thoughts and actions!

-Amelia