INTRODANS MODERNE MEISJES
The three ‘grand old ladies’ show the luxuriance and the diversity of the American Modern Dance
CHAIRMAN DANCES
This impressive dance is made by choreographer Lucinda
Childs, set to the composition by John Adams. Childs started
Choreography: Lucinda Childs
her choreographic and dance career at the Judson Dance
Repetitor: Diane Malta
Theater in New York. She is seen as the grande dame of the
Music: John Adam, the chairman
minimalistic dance. Her style can be described as an
...dances from opera Nixon in China
unchangeable abstract and almost mathematic style in which
Stage design: Dominique Drillot
she can create the most complex dances with easy
Costume design: Jean Michel Lainé
movements. This style is also visible in the fourteen-minuteCostume maker: Merlijn Koopman
piece Chairman Dances. It starts with a man dancing trough
Duration : 14 minutes
and with a large iron rectangle. He disappears from stage
and a great group of dancers follow him up. It can be best described as an organized chaos, because
they form pairs and every pair performs a different dance. In the middle of the ‘chaos’ dances a pair that
wears red clothes and stands out from the other dancers. Your vision is drawn from one point of the
stage to another point and it never gets boring.
JUNK DUET
Twyla Twarp has a background of classical dance, but she has
made a unique mix of different styles. She is known for her
creativity, humor and precision, but combined with nonchalance. It
is a duet which is built up as a classic pas de deux (which consists
of an entrée, adagio, two variations and a coda), but it also
deviates a lot from it. Junk Duet is about a dominating wife who
hits and manipulates the man and she tries to make clear that she
must be obeyed. I really enjoyed this piece, because of the
precise technique of the dancers and because the story they try to
depict is very convincing and beautiful.
Cheography: Twyla Twarp
Studying: Stacy Cadell
Repetitor: Kevin Cregan
Music: Donald Knaack
Costume design: Sangto Loquasto
Light design: Jennifer Tipton
Costume maker: Martine Douma
Duration: 10 minutes
KILAR
The music of Kilar derives from a piano concert, executed by
Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra and
Waldemar Malicki. The dance consists of three movements:
Andante con Moto, Corale and Toccata. All the dancers wear
tight black trouser, the women strapless tops and the men black
vests. Dominique Drillot designed the objects for Kilar. The
women move within a skeleton of iron ball dresses and cubes. It
really adds something extra, because the dresses put extra
focus on the women. However, it also forms a disadvantage,
because the dances move less free. The first and the last part of the dance are abstract and characterize
the style of Childs, but the second one is a bit mysterious. Childs herself said that it is ‘semi-abstract’. I
was a bit amazed about this part, because the way that those dancers dances with the heavy iron
dresses on their shoulders was just impressive and showed how strong, disciplined and talented they
are.
Cheography: Lucinda Childs
Repetitor: Diana Matla
Music: Wojciech Kilar
Costume design: Dominique Drillot
Light design: Dominique Drillot
Costume maker: Merlijn Koopman
Duration: 25 minutes
BENCH
Cheography: Jennifer Muller
Studying: Rosie Fiedelman
Repetitor: Kevin Cregan
Music: Jocelyn Pook
Costume design: Stageworks
Light design: Jeff Croitiers
Costume maker: Merlijn Koopman
Audio-visual design: Kevin Harkings
Duration: 32 minutes
Jennifer Muller, choreographer for more than forty years and
with her own Jennifer Muller/The Works, has already more
than hundred creations in her repertoire. She describes her
style as eclectic, never doing the same. Specially for
‘Moderne Meisjes’, she introduced Bench to the dancers. Her
inspiration was the book of Al Gore and the film documentary
The Inconvenient Truth and the dance is a call against the
destruction of the earth and she tries to convince people to