The back cover of a 2021 issue of the French newspaper Libération featured a full-page portrait of the American dancer and choreographer entitled “Lucinda Childs, la divine.” She studied dance with Merce Cunningham, founded the Lucinda Childs Dance Company in 1973, performed and choreographed for the legendary Einstein on the Beach with Robert Wilson and Philip Glass, and Dance, with Glass and visual artist Sol Lewitt. She has collaborated with John Adams for Dr. Atomic and with Frank Gehry and John Adams for Available Light as well as with Robert Mapplethorpe and Michael Nyman for Portraits in Reflection. Childs is unquestionably a seminal figure in contemporary dance.
In 2021, at age 82, she directed Glass’s Akhnaten for the Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur, was featured in Paris’s Festival d’automne for 6 Bach Solos and I was sitting on my patio this guy appeared I thought I was hallucinating, both in collaboration with Wilson, and directed the dancers of the Vienna Staatsoper in her choreography “Concerto.” Ms. Childs holds a Lifetime Achievement Bessie Award and the 2017 Venice Dance Biennial’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2018 was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Dance in the U.S. In France, she is Commandeur de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres and Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Légion d’honneur. ,br.
At 18:30, we will screen the film Lucinda Childs by Patrick Bensard / 2010 / 53’ / production Arte / Lieurac.
Starting at 19:30, Ms. Childs will be in conversation with Arts Arena Founder and Artistic Director Margery Arent Safir.
A champagne reception will follow, if the Covid-19 situation permits.
Open to the public and free of charge.
Reservations are required: rsvp@artsarena.org
A valid vaccinal pass must be presented to enter the building. Masks must be worn at all times except during the reception.
Pictured: Jennifer Koh on violin and Lucinda Childs in 6 Bach Solo, Festival d’automne, Paris, September 2021. Photo: Lucie Jansch