Lives of Performers

Yvonne Rainer's characteristically witty and episodic first feature draws together the different strands of her own work (as dancer, choreographer, director) in a multi-faceted reflection of and on the elements of role playing within role playing. Three dancers, whose emotional triangle provides the film's narrative centre, are observed - from one another's points of view, in rehearsal and performance, public and private, expressing their own feelings and other people's - with Babette Mangolte's tightly choreographed camerawork visually equating Rainer's zig-zagging approach to a central theme.