Valda Setterfield

Valda Setterfield (September 17, 1934 – April 9, 2023) was a British-born American postmodern dancer and actress. She was noted for her work as a soloist with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and for her performances in works by her husband, postmodern choreographer and director David Gordon. She was described as his muse, and together they were called "The Barrymores of post-modern dance." She trained in ballet with Dame Marie Rambert and mime with Tamara Karsavina, and performed in English pantomime. She also performed in an Italian revue. following her good friend David Vaughan. While taking classes with choreographer James Waring, she met her husband-to-be, David Gordon. They were married from 1961 until his death in 2022, and had a son, Ain, who carried on the family theatrical tradition.

Setterfield appeared with the improvisational dance company The Grand Union and toured Europe and Japan with the White Oak Dance Project in 1992. She has acted in the work of her son, playwright Ain Gordon, at Soho Rep and Dance Theater Workshop and played herself in his Art, Life & Show Biz at PS 122 and elsewhere. She danced in Gus Solomons Jr.'s A Thin Frost in 1994.

In film, Setterfield has appeared in the work of Yvonne Rainer and Brian De Palma,

Setterfield played the role of Bertolt Brecht in Gordon's Uncivil Wars, which is based on Brechts's Roundheads and Pointheads. She also appeared in Jonah Bokaer's Player & Prayer (2008), with Carmen De Lavallade and Gus Solomons Jr.; Anchises (2010); and Occupant (2013). In 2017, she appeared in Irish choreographer John Scott's production of Lear, playing the title role of King Lear. She collaborated with Scott on the choreography. She then appeared in Scott's 2018 work Inventions, a "Bach-inspired dance."

Setterfield died from pneumonia in Manhattan on April 9, 2023, at the age of 88.

In September 2019, Setterfield was the recipient of a Dance Magazine Award with David Gordon. The award noted that they "are renowned for the poignant humor of their work together – his uncanny sense of irony has found the ideal vehicle in her straitlaced, British facade."

Setterfield was one of the subjects of Stacey D'Erasmo's 2024 book The Long Run, about artists who sustain their creativity over a long career.