Roller skates! Pointe shoes! Parachutes! A mythic dance takes flight again at a Brooklyn rink The Trisha Brown Dance Company has revived Robert Rauschenberg’s 1963 dance piece “Pelican,” a unique performance featuring dancers on roller skates and pointe shoes wearing large parachutes. Originally conceived almost by accident, the piece was last week reimagined and performed at a Brooklyn roller rink, fusing archival research with new choreography. “Pelican” is described as an absurdist love story and a trust exercise, with dancers relying on each other and their skills to perform the virtuosic and high-stakes choreography.

• Robert Rauschenberg’s 1963 dance piece “Pelican” featured dancers on roller skates and pointe shoes, some wearing 8ft parachutes.
• The Trisha Brown Dance Company recently revived and reimagined “Pelican” for the first time, using archival research and new choreography.
• The revival took place at Xanadu, a roller skating rink in Brooklyn, and incorporated the original concept of roller skates as a means of freedom from inhibitions.
• Rauschenberg himself performed in the original “Pelican,” learning to skate for the occasion, which was born out of a typo in a festival program.
• The revival involved extensive archival work and aimed to capture the essence of the original piece while filling in the gaps, described as a ‘forensic’ approach.
• “Pelican” is characterized as a trust exercise and an absurdist love story, highlighting the dancers’ reliance on each other and their joy in performing a challenging piece.