Lucinda Childs

Lucinda Childs’ career as a dancer and choreographer started 1963 at the Judson Dance Theater in New York. Ten years later she founded the Lucinda Childs Dance Company and has created over 50 works since then. 1976 she worked for the first time as a choreographer and dancer with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson for their opera »Einstein on the Beach«. Further collaborations followed with Robert Wilson, in whose works she regularly performed, such as in »I was sitting on my Patio this Guy appeared I thought I was hallucinating«, Heiner Müller’s »Quartett«, Philip Glass’ opera »White Raven«, the film project »Video 50« and alongside Michel Piccoli in »Maladie de la Mort« by Marguerite Duras. In 2015, she was part of Wilson’s production of Arvo Pärt’s »Adam’s Passion« and choreographed for his work »Letter to a Man«, which was interpreted by Mikhail Baryshnikov. For Baryshnikov she created furthermore the pieces »Opus One« and »Largo«. In 1979, one of Lucinda Childs’ most successful works, »Dance«, was created to the music by Philip Glass and with a décor by the concept artist Sol LeWitt. The piece is part of the repertory of the Lucinda Childs Dance Company until today and performed at many international tours. In addition, several European companies have included »Dance« in their programs, including the Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon. Lucinda Childs’ works are danced by numerous renowned ballet companies, including Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, Staatsballett Berlin, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo as well as Boston Ballet, Ballet de l’Opéra du Rhin Strasbourg and Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. In 2019, Lucinda Childs created a solo evening for dancer Wendy Whelan in collaboration with cellist Maya Beiser to music by David Lang, which premiered at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

Since 1992, Lucinda Childs has also devoted herself more intensively to the genre of opera. She has collaborated with Peter Stein on »Moses und Aaron« at the Nederlandse Opera and with Luc Bondy, for whose production of Richard Strauss’ »Salome« at the Salzburg Festival she developed the choreography. As an opera director, she has staged Gluck’s »Orfeo ed Euridice« at Scottish Opera and Los Angeles Opera, »Zaide« by Mozart for La Monnaie in Brussels, John Adams’ »Doctor Atomic« at Opéra du Rhin, and Jean Baptiste Lully’s »Atys« and »Scylla and Galucus« by Jean-Marie Leclaire at the Kiel Opera.

In 2016, an exhibition at the Thaddeus Ropac Gallery in collaboration with the Centre Nationale de la Danse was dedicated to her dance notations. Lucinda Childs has received numerous awards for her artistic work such as the Golden Lion Award at the Biennale di Venezia 2017 and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement. She was also named Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2004 and inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. In 2006, the French-German television channel ARTE produced a documentary by Patrick Bensard about Lucinda Childs entitled »Lucinda«.