Secret Pastures, Performance Video, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New York, 1984, from Cooper Hewitt on Vimeo.
An audio described version of this video is available for individuals who are blind or have low-vision.
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company premiered Secret Pastures at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1984 with a set of collaborators who connected the stage to the street. Smith created costumes; artist Keith Haring designed the set; hairstylist Marcel Fievre conceived androgynous brush cuts; and art-rock composer Peter Gordon and his Love of Life Orchestra composed the score. Secret Pastures explored politics, economics, race, and sexuality, depicting men dancing with each other, interracial communities, and shared labor that served people rather than business. Smith’s unisex, interchangeable costumes for the production expressed his own efforts to undermine stereotypes of gender and race.
