Performing Arts Season in December With Works by Lucinda Childs
Lucinda Childs in „Geranium ’64“ (2024)
© Alexandra Polina
LucindaChilds, one of the formative choreographers of recent dance history, will visit Berliner Festspiele in early December of this year with her Lucinda Childs Dance Company. On three evenings from 3 to 5 December, her pivotal work “Dance” from 1979 will be presented in a reconstructed version from 2009 on the Main Stage of Haus der Berliner Festspiele. “Four New Works”, new short pieces for the dancers of her company and a solo for the choreographer herself, will be shown in Berlin for the first time on 7 and 8 December. For these most recent works, the choreographer collaborated with visual artist Anri Sala, pianist Anton Bagatov and composers Philip Glass and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
In the “Lecture by Lucinda Childs” on 4 December, the eighty-four-year old artist looks back at the history of her work, outlining her approach to choreography and some of her seminal collaborations.
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Dance Tue, 3 December, 19:30 |  |
A rigorous sequence of simple, almost sparse movements – fluid and highly dynamic, with countless repetitions and variations – characterises “Dance”, the iconic piece by renowned choreographer Lucinda Childs. Ever since its world premiere in 1979, the piece has been considered one of the choreographer’s most distinctive works and has been performed across the world by the Lucinda Childs Dance Company.
“Dance” amalgamates movement, the minimalist, forward-driving music of Philip Glass and impressive projections by artist Sol LeWitt into a meditative rapture. Reconstructed with a rejuvenated ensemble in 2009, the new interpretation unites the original ensemble – including the choreographer herself – featured in LeWitt’s film with the dancers of the current company on stage. In an engaging performative dialogue that merges past and present, the story of the work is continued.
World premiere: 11 November 1979, Brooklyn Academy of Music
A production of The Blanket.
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.
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Dance Sat, 7 December, 19:30 |
“Four New Works” are the first new works that Lucinda Childs has developed with her company in nearly a decade. The showcase celebrated its world premiere at Kampnagel Hamburg in August 2024 as a Berliner Festspiele co-production. The works allow a profound insight into the choreographer and dancer’s aesthetic cosmos and current creation. At the same time, they illustrate the development of her work as a pioneer of postmodern dance over a period of five decades.
“Actus”, the first piece of the evening, is a duo to the cantata “Actus Tragicus” by Johann Sebastian Bach. Composed as funeral music, Bach’s early work engages in a moving dialogue about eternal life and earthly sorrows. It is followed by “Geranium ‘64”, a new adaptation of a solo from 1965 which features Lucinda Childs herself on stage, combined with a video work by the renowned visual artist Anri Sala. The third piece of the programme is “Timeline”, a new choreography for seven dancers to hitherto unreleased music by the Icelandic composer, cellist and Academy-Award-winner Hildur Guðnadóttir. “Distant Figure”, another new choreography for six dancers to music by Philip Glass, composed especially for his long-term artistic companion, Lucinda Childs, concludes the evening. The music for this piece will be played live on stage by Russian star-pianist Anton Bagatov who will also perform two musical interludes.
World Premiere: 7 August 2024, International Summer Festival Kampnagel, Hamburg
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the State Minister for Culture and the Media. Supported by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, James Madison University, UCLA Center for the Art of Performance. “Distant Figure” was developed with the support of Pomegranate Arts. “Distant Figure (Passacaglia for Solo Piano)” © 2017 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc., used by permission.
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Lecture Wed, 4 December, 17:30 |  |
In her lecture, Lucinda Childs will talk about the history of her work, outlining her approach to choreography and some of her seminal collaborations. Following the lecture, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Dr Lou Forster, who is in charge of developing the archive of Lucinda Childs and curated the first retrospective of her works at the Centre National de Danse in Paris, will be the moderator.
LucindaChilds was born in New York City in 1940 and began her career as a dancer, choreographer and co-founder of New York’s Judson Dance Theater in 1963. Ten years later, in 1973, she founded her own company, for which she has created more than 50 works so far, both as a soloist and in the ensemble. She forged long-standing partnerships with artists like Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, Sol LeWitt, John Adams and Frank Gehry.
In 1976, she performed in the avant-garde opera “Einstein on the Beach” by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson and received an Obie-Award. She created her seminal work “Dance” to music by Philip Glass and film-projections by Sol LeWitt in 1979; it toured internationally and was included into the repertoire of the Lyon Opera Ballet. Since 1981, Lucinda Childs has created more than 30 works for renowned ballet companies, including the Ballet de l’ Opéra de Paris and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Furthermore, she has directed numerous operas, both contemporary works and operas from the 18th century. She has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Golden Lion at the 2017 Dance Biennale in Venice and the 2022 Dance Magazine Award. In 2018, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Dance.
Evening programme
The eveningprogramme is available for download on the website.
In the Media Library
The essay “Beyondthe Frame: Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs and Judson Dance Theater” is now available in the Media Library of Berliner Festspiele.
Press accreditation Performing Arts Season:
We will be happy to receive your accreditation requests for the performances in November and December at pas.akkreditierung@berlinerfestspiele.de.
Press photos are available for download in the Press Area of Berliner Festspiele’s website.
Save the Date: The Performing Arts Season in January
16 to 18 January 2025
Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage
MOMO
By Ohad Naharin
Batsheva Dance Company
German Premiere
“MOMO”, created by Ohad Naharin in collaboration with the Batsheva Dance Company, unfolds as a shared passion of sorrow and beauty, where emotions and impulses are expressed in a new form of movements. To music consisting largely of the album “Landfall” by legendary musician Laurie Anderson and the renowned ensemble Kronos Quartet, the impassioned search for necessary tenderness and catharsis runs its course.
23 to 25 January 2025
Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage
Glacial Decoy / In the Fall / Working Title
Trisha Brown Dance Company & Noé Soulier
The Performing Arts Season dedicates a three-part evening to the late American choreographer Trisha Brown, who passed away in 2017. The works were created over a period of over 40 years, celebrating the range of her artistic heritage and its continuing significance. The programme consists of two iconic works, “Glacial Decoy” (1979) and “Working Title” (1985), as well as the piece “In the Fall”, the first collaboration of the Trisha Brown Dance Company with French choreographer Noé Soulier, which will be presented in Germany for the first time.
In addition, the Trisha Brown Dance Company offers two workshops for dance enthusiasts at Tanzfabrik Berlin: “Trisha Brown Technique and Repertory: Working Title” for beginners, led by Jennifer Payán on 20 January, and “Trisha Brown Technique and Repertory: Glacial Decoy” for advanced participants, led by Cecily Campbell on 21 January.