LUCINDA CHILDS

Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, NYC was a bustling post modern arts mecca. Anyone interested in dance knew they had to make a pilgrimage to Soho, Greenwich and East Village to see cutting edge dance events. And one of the primary draws was Lucinda Childs. 

I migrated to NYC in the late 1970’s for graduate school and stayed. My first Childs’ event, left me a bit flummoxed. Where were the pirouettes and arabesques let alone pointed feet and lyrical arms?

All the traditionall dance technique was subsumed in a pedestrian style walk, run, hop, skip pattern laid out in complex geometric patterns. Over the years, the structural complexity and rigor of her choreography became evident.

So it was an occasion to celebrate when it was announced a revival of Child’s works from the 1970’s would be presented at the Guggenheim Museum.. Performed in the museums’s iconic Fran Lloyd Wright rotunada as part of the ever-evolving Works & Process in partnership with Van Cleef & Arpels Dance Festival series, the audience was buzzed.

Surrounded by the packed audience on three sides, and hanging over the circular ramps, the progression of dances began from Child’s first solo Pastime in 1963 in tandem with Calico Mingling.

What Childs’ early dances dances have in common the way they unites very clear,  simple steps in an orderly development that build into a rich palette of motion. 

By the last dance, Radial Courses, the accumulation of the walks splintering into skip-leaps gets the audience and dancers’ hearts racing. It was enthralling to view the beauty of Childs’ introspective, highly elevated visual and movement aesthetic.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis

*Photos courtesy of .Dance Re�lections by Van Cleef & Arpels:Early Worksby Lucinda Childsat Works & Process atGuggenheim New York,March 14, 2026. FeaturingKatie Dorn.Photo: Works & Process/TitusOgilvie-Laing