New Work Combines Lucinda Childs, Philip Glass and Sol LeWitt at Williams College
Choreographer Merges Music and Art with Dance September 25-26
By: Ken Ross - Sep 23, 2009
A series of notes played again and again.
The same shapes or lines painted in patterns over and over.
Composer Philip Glass and the late artist Sol LeWitt used this method for decades to create ground-breaking, sometimes-beautiful works of art.
LeWitt's art has been the focus of a massive, on-going exhibit at MassMOCA in North Adams. This Friday and Saturday, you can see another side of LeWitt at Williams College. That's because the college is presenting a landmark collaboration between LeWitt, Glass and choreographer Lucinda Childs, whose work simply entitled "Dance" will be performed at 8 p.m. both nights at '62 Center Mainstage, 1000 Main St., Williamstown.
Commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1979, "Dance" consists of three dances, according to a recent announcement released by Williams College about the peformances. Dances #1 and #3 are performed by four men and four women, while the solo, Dance #2, was originally danced by Lucinda Childs.
Glass created the music for the piece. LeWitt created a black and white film which was used as the decor for the piece. The film consists of the three dances. In performance, the film is projected on a transparent scrim downstage of the dancers. The film is synchronized with the live dancers on stage. Watching the dance, the dancers appear to be dancing on stage with larger, ghost-like versions of themselves. So while there might be only two or three real dancers on stage, you feel at times like you're watching a much larger, virtual dance company.selected passages of the choreography from each.
Since 1979, Childs has collaborated with a number of composers and designers, including John Adams and Frank Gehry, on a series of large-scale productions. An original member of the Judson Dance Theater in New York in the 1960s, Childs has also worked extensively with many world-renowned artists and dance companies, earning her a reputation as one of the most experimental and lyrical choreographers in the dance world. This weekend, you can step back in time three decades and see one of Childs' earliest, entertaining pieces.
Tickets are $3 with valid student ID, $10 for all others. For more information, visit http://62center.williams.edu/62center/ For tickets, visit the Williams '62 Center Box Office Tues-Sat, 1-5 pm or call (413) 597-2425. Ken Ross has written professionally about dance for more than a decade. He lives in Western Massachusetts. He can reached at kenrossnow@hotmail.com