Introdans

Choreographer Lucinda Childs is the queen of minimalist dance. In 2025, she will turn 85, and Introdans is celebrating this milestone with the focus program Icoon, a tribute to the 'grand old lady' of American dance.

You'll experience a (time) journey this evening, beginning with Interior Drama from 1977, new to the Dutch audience, passing through the pieces Kilar, Petricor, and Concerto, which Introdans has performed frequently, and ending with a world premiere of her latest work. Childs' movement language is entirely unique: she creates the most complex masterpieces with relatively simple ballet and athletic movements in an abstract, almost mathematical manner. The bond between Childs and Introdans can also be considered unique; there is no other company in the world that performs as much of her work. Introdans has a rich repertoire of existing and new works by Lucinda Childs. With ICOON, it underscores this special bond.

Introdans director Roel Voorintholt on ICOON: "How special is it that we, as a small Dutch company, have been able to build this intensive relationship with this American 'icon.' For me, Childs' masterpieces are truly the 'showpiece' of Introdans. Her work is meditative, extremely aesthetic, and incomparable to that of any other choreographer. You are naturally drawn into it and enchanted by it, and I often hear from audience members that it makes them very calm and relaxed—which is also nice in these chaotic times."

Interior Drama 
Interior Drama is one of Childs' early works. The choreography premiered in 1977 at the renowned Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and has since been performed at various indoor and outdoor locations in the city—especially on large, flat rooftops. You could call the work, performed entirely in silence, a study of minimal repetitive movement, but this small gem transcends such investigation as an end in itself. While geometry, spatial relationships, timing, speed, and variable repetition are central to the 'mathematical' choreography, the result is primarily hypnotic and enchanting.

Kilar
Kilar is the first work that Lucinda Childs created specifically for Introdans in 2013. The choreography is an ingenious interaction with the Piano Concerto by (film) composer Wojciech Kilar. Childs impresses in Kilar—as in most of her creations—with sparkling, abstract, and complex dance patterns, but the choreographer also challenged herself in the middle section by having the dancers dance in crinolines (hoop skirts) and with cubes of steel wire. This not only produces many beautiful images but also gives her work a romantic 'touch.'

Petricor
Petricor ('the scent that is released when rain falls on dry ground') is the third work that the 'queen of minimal dance' created for Introdans in 2018. Childs drew inspiration for this creation from the eponymous composition by Ludovico Einaudi, known for his music for the French film hit Intouchables. The result is a complex yet crystal-clear choreography of repetitive, classical dance steps placed lightly as a feather in space. The ingenious mathematical patterns that Childs creates are also visible in a drawn version on the set by French artist Dominique Drillot. Abstract artworks that further underscore the genius of the choreography.

Concerto
An electrifying work that rushes past you like a whirlwind. That's how Lucinda Childs' Concerto was received at its Dutch premiere in 2007. In this perhaps most 'balletic' choreography of the American 'queen of minimal dance,' she drives seven dancers in continuously changing formations across the stage to the propelling music of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. With extremely small variations and shifts, Childs creates a kaleidoscopic jewel: seemingly very simple at first glance, but oh so refined and masterful.

• With free introduction at 7:15 PM.