Yvonne Rainer: Trio A

In July 2026, Tate Modern will mark the 60th anniversary of Yvonne Rainer’s influential dance Trio A, staging free performances of the work in the Turbine Hall, presented with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and in collaboration with Rose Choreographic School. This will be the first time the work has been performed live in the UK for 12 years.

Choreographer, writer, dancer and filmmaker Rainer (born 1934) is known for her outstanding contribution to the evolution of performance, post-modern dance and film, developed in New York in the 1960s. Rainer is noted for an innovative approach to dance which treats the body as the source of movement rather than the conveyor of plot or narrative, closely associated with the art of American minimalism. In 1962, Rainer co-founded the Judson Dance Theater in New York with Steve Paxton, which included Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs and Robert Rauschenberg, with many of its radical methods going on to become standard features of contemporary art today.

Trio A, Rainer’s signature dance work, was originally conceived in 1965 and first performed at the Judson Memorial Church in 1966. The piece was a culmination of several years of experimenting with what Rainer called ‘ordinary dance’ and ‘neutral doing’, a combination of ‘found’ or everyday movements that unfold without repetition or breaks. The work, like its title, is not intended to have a narrative, but rather to depict movement itself, with the dancer deliberately refusing to make eye contact with the audience. Lasting approximately four and a half minutes depending on the performer, the piece consists of a varied sequence of movements, which appear to be in continuous motion. Over the years, Rainer has reinvented the piece according to different contexts and with different numbers of dancers; from dancing it solo in tap shoes to staging it in 1970 with nude dancers draped in American flags, protesting the Vietnam War.

Rainer has always intended for the piece to be shared and relayed. In Tate Modern’s iconic Turbine Hall on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 July, Trio A will be performed continuously from 14.00 until the museum’s late closing at 21.00. It will be brought to life by a group of dancers led by Sara Wookey, one of eight certified transmitters of Rainer’s repertoire.

To coincide with these performances, Rainer will give a remote artist talk in the Starr Cinema on Saturday 11 July. She will be joined in-person by Interim Director of Tate Modern Catherine Wood, author of Yvonne Rainer – The Mind is a Muscle (2007). Alongside these performances, the 1978 film of Rainer dancing Trio A, now in Tate’s Collection, will be played in the Tanks Lobby.

This programming of Trio A forms part of Tate’s wider commitment to exhibiting, collecting and researching performance and participatory artworks. In June, the second edition of the Infinities Commission - the annual commission showcasing the limitless experimentation of contemporary art - will open, seeing artist, choreographer and performer nora chipaumire create a new work for Tate Modern’s Tanks. Across the school summer holidays, the Turbine Hall will host new large-scale participatory performance by Lithuanian born artist Lina Lapelytė for UNIQLO Tate Play. Visitors will be invited to move through a maze of barriers, using simple actions such as stomping, jumping and singing, in time with an accompanying soundscape to create a piece of collective choreography.

Other upcoming events include the conference Alterfuturisms: Decentring Speculative Imaginaries, a day of talks, performances and screenings which brings together artists and thinkers challenging sci-fi traditions.

These follow significant recent performances such as the world premiere of Shu Lea Cheang and Dondon Hounwn’s Hagay Dreaming in March 2025, a well as a live programme of contemporary flamenco and dance as part of recent exhibition Theatre Picasso.

Notes to editors

Trio A is supported by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. With additional support from The Performance Activation Fund. In collaboration with Sadler’s Wells for the supply of studio space and dramaturgy.

Trio A is co-staged by Martin Hargreaves, Head of Rose Choreographic School, Sara Wookey and Tate, transmitted by Sara Wookey, curated by Rosalie Doubal, Senior Curator, International Art (Performance & Participation) and Jess Baxter, Assistant Curator, International Art, and produced by Demelza Watts, Producer of Performance and Public Practice.

For press requests, email ella.baker@tate.org.uk or call +44(0)20 7887 8730. To download press images, visit Tate’s Dropbox.

Listings information

Trio A
10 – 11 July 2026, 14.00 – 21.00; Free Turbine Hall, Tate Modern
Trio A is supported by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. With additional support from The Performance Activation Fund. In collaboration with Sadler’s Wells for the supply of studio space and dramaturgy.

Trio A screening
10 – 11 July 2026, 10.00 – 21.00 (10min, 30sec loop)
Tanks Lobby, Tate Modern

Artist talk with Yvonne Rainer
11 July 2026, 15.00 – 17.00; Ticketed.

Starr Cinema, Level 1, Tate Modern

Alterfuturisms: Decentring Speculative Imaginaries
18 April 2026, 10.45 – 17.30; Free with pre-booked ticket Starr Cinema, Level 1, Tate Modern
This event is organised by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.

The Infinities Commission: nora chipaumire
3 June – 26 August; Free East Tank, Level 0, Tate Modern
The Infinities Commission is supported by Glass Castle Foundation.

UNIQLO Tate Play: Lina Lapelytė
25 July – 31 August 2026; Free UNIQLO Tate Play: Lina Lapelytė, Line After Line After Line After Turn is in partnership with UNIQLO.

Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG Open daily 10.00–18.00, and until 21:00 every Friday and Saturday Admission free More information at tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern +44(0)20 7887 8888 Follow @Tate

About Yvonne Rainer
Yvonne Rainer (born 1934) is an American choreographer, writer, dancer and filmmaker based in New York. Her work, begun in a context of American minimalism, has made an outstanding contribution to the evolution of performance, post-modern dance and film, also influencing the field of contemporary art, in the multiple terms of her production of and participation in live work, her film-making, her writing and also her teaching. Alongside Steve Paxton and Simone Forti, Rainer was a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater, 1962-64, and a contributor to the legendary 9 Evenings event hosted by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) in 1966. As well as being included in Documenta 12, in 2007, Rainer has had retrospective exhibitions at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, 2012 and Raven Row in London, 2014. Her work was central to the 2018 exhibition Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done at Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Yvonne Rainer: A Retrospective exhibition was held at The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, in 2023, which featured screenings of seven restorations of Rainer’s film works.

About Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Profoundly attached to the world of dance since its origins, the High Jewelry Maison’s commitment to the choreographic arts was reaffirmed in 2020 with the birth of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Since its launch, the program has accompanied numerous companies in their creations as well as multiple institutions in the presentation of their works on the international stage. This presence is reinforced by the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, held in various cities worldwide.

In addition to supporting the creation and promotion of choreographic works, Dance Reflections places increasing importance on transmission and education. With its partners, the program organizes residencies for professional dancers as well as operations to raise awareness of choreographic culture open to all.

About Rose Choreographic School
Rose Choreographic School is an experimental research and pedagogy project at Sadler’s Wells. It supports artists to explore singular choreographic enquiries and to collectively imagine a School through which knowledges and practices can be developed and shared.

About Sara Wookey
Sara Wookey is a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Antwerp and an Affiliate Researcher with the Centre for Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge. She is an official transmitter of Yvonne Rainer’s repertoire and a specialist in dance within museums working as a practitioner-researcher and consultant.