Charles Dennis, an influential experimental artist and a co-founder of the New York City performance venue Performance Space 122 (P.S. 122), died on May 8 at his home in Hurley, New York. He was 77. His wife, Mona Banzer, said he died from lung cancer.

Dennis’s career spanned multiple disciplines including performance art, dance, choreography, video, film, and curation. He began his artistic work in 1971 as a member of the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds, a company founded by director Robert Wilson. Dennis performed in several of Wilson’s early avant-garde productions, notably appearing as an ensemble dancer in the groundbreaking opera “Einstein on the Beach,” composed by Philip Glass, which premiered in 1976 in Avignon, France.

In 1977, Dennis began developing his own form of physical theater, combining dance with visual and multimedia elements. One of his noted solo works, “Chaol Canyon,” incorporated dance alongside an eight-foot dragonfly sculpture, slides, video, and audio to evoke the atmosphere of an Arizona gorge.

In 1980, Dennis joined choreographer Charles Moulton and performance artist Tim Miller to establish Performance Space 122 in a former elementary school on First Avenue between Ninth and 10th Streets in Manhattan’s East Village. At the time, the city was recovering from a severe financial crisis, leaving many buildings vacant. Despite the tough environment, the neighborhood was a hotbed of artistic experimentation, attracting punks, rappers, dancers, and avant-garde performers.

P.S. 122 quickly became a hub for cutting-edge performance art. The venue was described by its artistic director from 1983 to 2004, Mark Russell, as “the performance answer to punk rock.” Dennis was known for embracing risk and experimentation; Charles Moulton later described him as “an advocate of what was exciting and unknown” who encouraged taking chances and tolerated failure, sometimes even inviting booing during performances to foster an atmosphere where artists could push boundaries.

Dennis played a key role in launching two ongoing P.S. 122 programs: Open Movement, dedicated to improvisational dance, and Avant-garde-Arama, which showcased diverse short works involving dance, film, music, poetry, puppetry, and performance art.

Born Charles Cheney Dennis Jr. on February 4, 1949, in Manhattan, he was one of three children to Charles C. Dennis Sr., a magazine distributor and market researcher, and Margaret (Hull) Dennis. Dennis attended Drew University in New Jersey but left to tour and work with Wilson. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary arts from Empire State College (now SUNY Empire) in 1988.

In 1989, Dennis began producing “Alive and Kicking,” a public access television show that documented the New York performance scene. His first marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife, Mona Banzer, whom he married in 1987, and two sisters, Margaret and Faith Dennis.