April 9, 2025
By: Wendy Lubberding
This season, Introdans presents precisely danced tributes to two absolute masters of minimalist dance. After Krisztina de Châtel, it is now the turn of American choreographer Lucinda Childs, with an impressive program.
If anything characterized Lucinda Childs’ early work—besides the often-praised, extremely minimalist precision that results in punishing counting patterns for the dancers—it was the fact that the dancers hardly touched one another. Her newest work, Notes of Longing, shows how the now 85-year-old ‘queen of minimalism’ has let go of that principle and eagerly embraced touch.
Notes of Longing is one of five pieces by Childs that come together in Introdans’ program ICOON. Composer-pianist Matteo Myderwyk performs the piano accompaniment for this piece live. That’s something to look forward to, especially in contrast to the music-less first piece, Interior Drama.
The other three parts are also performed live, by the Dutch National Youth Orchestra: Kilar, with steel-hooped crinoline skirts for four female dancers; the dreamy Petricor, with ultra-lightly danced duets and rows of dancers shifting in color; and Concerto, where the world becomes a collection of living, constantly shifting patterns.
Interior Drama, created in 1977, was originally intended to be performed outdoors, on flat rooftops in urban settings. Now, for the first time, it is being shown in the Netherlands—though indoors, in large theater halls. That doesn’t make it any less impressive. Five dancers, dressed in tight-fitting white bodysuits, walk a complex pattern of imaginary lines, swirls, and half-circles for 25 minutes, all without music.
Each dancer begins their series of steps and movements at their own moment, with one arm extended at chest height. Their feet create a soft but fast rhythmic soundtrack. Sometimes the individual patterns form a synchronized passage, sometimes the group splits into a pair and a trio, or three soloists and one couple.
Lemon-yellow morning light
Notes of Longing is also beautifully and expressively designed with sculptural white costumes by longtime designer Dominique Drillot. The dancers’ trousers resemble Greek columns—white with vertical pleats that unfold like a Chinese fan when a leg is lifted high. The choreography is set to nine pieces from the piano cycle of the same name by Myderwyk.
Beginning in a circle, the piece feels like a ritual. Against a backdrop that shifts from lemon-yellow morning light to the saturated red of a sunset, duets break off from the circle—sometimes a trio or a quartet. Here, the dancers continually touch one another with gentle arms, lift each other, and slide their torsos closely past one another. Childs seizes the day—with extraordinary lightness and precision.