Kudos to choreographer Lucinda Childs, whose pristine and rigorous “Dance” — a glorious work of minimalist art from the late 70s — we so enjoyed Friday night at Royce Hall. Set to the music of Philip Glass, the reconstructed hour-long piece powers forth in real time, while, concurrently, a huge video projection displays giants performing the same work thirty years prior. The minimalist visual artist, Sol Lewitt, directed the b/w film.
With the Childs/Glass/Lewitt juggernaut — mesmerizing rhythm, repeating, accumulating dance phrases – pinning us in our chairs, we thought two things:
i) how beautiful! and
ii) thank god they are doing it and we’re just sitting here watching.
Clad scrupulously in white tops and trousers, the 11 dancers got a killer, nonstop, aerobic work out.
One joyful image burns in the brain: dancers pinned in the air, in sideways leaps, legs extended down with toes pointed, arms outstretched to either side, kind of a gingerbread-man imprint frozen in space. So simple, so thrilling.
Like this? Read more:
- Lucinda Childs choreographs – L.A Times Culture Monster
eisenstadt,
gered mankowitz, photog, 1967
“the red danube” (1949)
