I have just finished watching Arte tonight where there was a great documentary on the work of Lucinda Childs, a 'minimalist' dancer working in patterns, sequences, repetitions. Lucinda was the founder of the Judson Dance Theatre of New York, seen as being very 'experimental' at the time> Lucinda then moved away from Judson to form her own company. The documentary showed some of her early work which I found a little bizarre, like Carnation...
which was criticised as not being 'dance' and I can understand why, I would class it as performance art.
But the programme then followed her evolution into minimalistic dance which was stunning, but she was again criticised due to the dance steps not being technical, but as she explained the difficulty for dancers of her work is in remembering the repetitions, the sequences, the patterns and also her dances require great stamina.
She then began to work with Philip Glass in the early 1970's and one of her key roles was in Einstein on the Beach...
Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass's first opera was designed and directed by Robert Wilson. It premiered on July 25, 1976, in Avignon, France, by the Philip Glass Ensemble, it is Glass's longest opera, taking 5 hours to complete with no intermission! But given the nature of the music (the lengthy repetition of small elements, very gradual development and change, recurring patterns) perfect for Lucinda Child's style, it was Wilson's wish that the audience would be free to enter and leave as they wish. Listen to some of it on http://www.glasspages.org/kneeply5.mp3
But my favourite part of the programme was her most famous work, performed with Philip Glass called Dance. This was stunning, with her signature minimalist dances, juxtaposed and backdropped by very large video-projections of the same dance and dancers. Stunning stuff.
From March 28 Lucinda Childs choreographs six performances of Bach's "St John Passion", directed by Robert Wilson, at Paris's Chatelet Theatre. Worth checking out I should think if you are in Paris over the Easter holidays.
Hi Swan! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI adore Philip Glass. My brother, Jay, did some work with him a while ago. I have one of his cds. He's a very complicated man and I can feel it in his work.
Does Fleur like going to the ballet? Sophia has been to the Nutcracker, but this year I am hoping to get her to some other performances. I remember my mother brought Leslie & me to see a ballet performed by the music of The Who. I must have been about 12 yrs old. I was in heaven.
Sending hugs your way,
Lynn xo
Hi Lynn, I also love Philip Glass, there is something in his music that I find very entrancing although it is manic!
ReplyDeleteI haven't taken Fleur to the ballet yet, but I am sure that both her and Louis would love it. I can't imagine a ballet being set to The Who's music, but I should think it was something special.
Louis and Fleur love anything like this on the television, in fact, the last time they saw some ballet, after the programme they both went upstairs and came down in tights and tops and then proceeded to act out a wonderful dance with Louis throwing Fleur around but quite gracefully - I love moments like these ;-))) Much love this Easter
From Sue