"Boy Who Wanted to be a Bird" was a solo danced in silence. It was given one time only, in the summer of 1951, on Martha’s Vineyard (the exact date and venue are unknown). Cunningham recalled that after the performance “a lady in the audience came up and asked how could I possibly do this dancing without music, because there was no rhythm. At that particular moment, in this funny, dark little place, a gorgeous moth flew in and began moving in the most spectacular way around the one light. And I just pointed.”