Dance (Lucinda Childs)

New Haven's 15th Annual International Festival of Arts and Ideas opened with this sublime performance of Dance, a 1979 multi-media collaboration between choreographer Lucinda Childs, Composer Philip Glass, and artist/filmmaker Sol LeWitt. I was not surprised at all by the delicate interplay between Glass' music and Childs' choreography; however, I was profoundly moved by how much LeWitt's film added to the performance. Projected on a scrim at the front of the stage where dancers performed live, the film featured performances of Dance shot over 30 years ago. It seemed to me that LeWitt must have shot the dancers at a slow film speed, for their movements did not have the illusion of fluidity, rather they seemed to be broken into their constituent parts, thereby mimicking/commenting on both Glass's compositional style and Child's choreography. Oftentimes, the film placed the two-dimensional dancers at the top of the scrim, making them appear to be floating over the live dancers.
Simply labeled Dance I, Dance II, and Dance III, the three dances provided a wonderful visual introduction, even instruction for understanding, minimalism.

Highly recommend.