Beginning in the 1960s, dancer and choreographer Yvonne Rainer became interested in movement as a functional and objective exercise, stripping dance from its traditionally aesthetic and expressive qualities. Originally choreographed in 1966 as part of a larger work entitled The Mind Is a Muscle and performed here by Rainer herself, Trio A stipulates continuous movement and an absence of interaction or eye contact with the audience. The result is a piece focused on the flow of ordinary gestures, examining the action itself as the aim instead of the theatricality of performance.