The Grand Union was an improvisational dance group based in New York City from 1970 to 1976.
It grew out of Yvonne Rainer dance company, and her piece Continuous Project - Altered Daily.
[2] By late 1970, new members had joined the group and the materials were improvised to a much greater extent.
The company, which was still often billed as "Yvonne Rainer and Dancers" in the beginning, chose "The Grand Union" as a name to avoid any obvious associations with dance to inoculate themselves against charges that what they were doing was not properly dance.
[3] To avoid problems with the supermarket chain of the same name, the group used the legal name "Rio Grand Union".