Lucinda Childs Dance Review
Anisah Richardson
Being at the Shubert Theater while a show was going on was nothing like being there when we toured it empty. I swear, it was like being in a completely different place. There were people running around with headsets on, ushers waving lights, people being seated. It was all very exciting, and I was thrilled to actually be watching a show from the audience after touring backstage at my first visit to the Shubert. While I watched the performance I couldn’t help but think about what was going on backstage every time a dancer leaped offstage and it amazed me because every time a dancer returned, it looked as if they had never even stopped dancing, almost like they had continued from the last time they were on stage.
It was very new for me to see these dancers that moved in such a way because I didn’t feel like they danced to the music like most dancers do, but that they were the music. Each foot and arm movement and each twist and turn seemed to exactly match every beat in the song, making it hard for me to look away even though they repeated the same routine throughout the whole performance. It was interesting because as the beat began to build, the pace of the dancers began to build, and I began to think if the dancers stopped moving for just a second that the music just might stop, too.
What I also believed to be eye-catching about the performance was the video. The video seemed to be almost transparent against the dancers on the stage. Not in a million years would I ever think that something like that could be pulled off, but the way the dancers in the video moved exactly with the dancers that were on the live stage was very much equal. It was like the dancers had created this illusion, that even the people who danced in the video were actually the dancers on stage. It was like the video was the reflection of the dancers, and it really added a whole new effect to the performance.
Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs Review by Rodnesha Williams-Green
"Drawing is about seeing, dancing is about moving, poetry is about speaking, music is about listening." These are a few powerful words spoken by Philip Glass at the Ideas panel, A Conversation With Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs on Sunday, June 13th. I found it to be very funny, informing and a great chance to meet a famous dancer/choreographer and a famous musician.
Lucinda Childs spoke of her passion for dance and how when she was younger she didn’t think to even try to be a dancer because she first wanted to be an actress. She explained how she went about choreographing her show (Dance) such as shifting the directions from the dancers projected on screen to the real dancers to make it seem as if it they were going to touch, or to make it seem like there were more than just six real dancers performing. She also spoke about how she not only created the performance but at one time used to perform herself and how she created the piece with music instead of dancing in silence like in her older work.
"When the creator becomes the performer, that is a line that is hard to cross back over". Philip Glass was very funny. He used a lot of quotes and spoke about the values he has learned from being in the business for so long and what he has learned from his experience as a musician. He, unlike Mrs. Childs, stated that he always knew he would be a musical performer. He spoke very well of those he worked with and learned from, those who helped him get as far as he has, and how he uses a collaboration of team members when he works.