In December of 1980, Susan Rethorst brought The Life of the Wasp, a dance piece for sixteen women, to The Kitchen. Playing on Doris Humphrey’s dance piece titled The Life of the Bee and on the socioeconomic label “W.A.S.P.,” Rethorst created a commentary on money and community. The piece received mixed reviews due to its conceptual nature, but Sally Banes of Dance Magazine praised its “rich and intriguing ambiguities.”