With décor by Morris Graves, Inlets fulfilled Cunningham and Cage’s wish to collaborate with this mystical painter of nature. It premiered in 1977 at Meany Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Like Cunningham, Graves grew up in Washington and, together with Cage, shared an interest in Zen Buddhism. His set for Inlets consisted of a large Mylar disk that moved slowly across the back of the stage. When the disk reached stage center, the lights shone brightly for a moment, evoking the atmospheric cycle of a moon. The costumes were leotards and tights in variations of black and white, and everyone wore a rhinestone choker. The music is a score by John Cage using sea shells filled with water and amplified so that the gurgle “gives an effect related to the sound you hear when you place a shell over your ear,” and includes the burning of crackling pine cones in a fire and the sound of a conch shell being blown to represent the elements of air, fire, and water.