V zadnjih dveh desetletjih smo bili priča številnim ponovnim postavitvam, rekonstrukcijam ali zgodovinskim odrskim študijam repertoarja iz različnih faz sodobnega plesa. Nekatere so postavljali avtorice in avtorji sami, druge tisti, ki so jih umetniška dela tako ali drugače nagovorila. Vrnitve k umetniškim opusom so bile v tem času bolj ali manj odmevne, a med uspešnejše sodijo prav gotovo koreografska dela ameriške koreografinje Lucinde Childs. Ta so v zadnjih desetletjih vzbudila izjemno zanimanje pri generacijah umetnic in umetnikov, ki v času njihovega nastanka nemara še sploh niso bili rojeni. Ker se jih občinstva na različnih koncih sveta nikoli ne prenasitijo in ker so za plesalke in plesalce vselej velik izziv, se dela iz opusa Lucinde Childs vztrajno vračajo na svetovne odre in na novo rojevajo.


Koreografija: Lucinda Childs
Odrska postavitev: Ty Boomershine
Izmenična zasedba: Ty Boomershine, Anna Herrmann, Emma Lewis, Gesine Moog, Omagbitse Omagbemi, Lia Witjes-Poole, Alba Barral Fernandez, Javier Arozena
Kostumografija: Alexandra Sebbag
Oblikovanje svetlobe: Martin Beeretz
Zvok: Mattef Kuhlmey
Kostumografija: Alexandra Sebbag
Produkcija: Dance On/DIEHL+RITTER
Koprodukcija: STUK. House for Dance, Image and Sound/Münchner Kammerspiele
S podporo: Doppelpass Fund of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Doppelpass Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation), Ministrstvo za javno upravo
Predstavitev v okviru DANCE ON PASS ON DREAM ON z delno podporo Ustvarjalne Evrope, mehanizma Evropske unije
Organizacija v Ljubljani: Nomad Dance Academy Slovnija in Kino Šiška (CoFestival)


Leta 2018 smo na CoFestivalu gostili koreografinjino nečakinjo Ruth Childs, ki je s svojim ansamblom predstavila nekatera od koreografinjinih najzgodnejših del pod skupnim naslovom Zgodnja dela Lucinde Childs. Tokrat serijo del, ki jih je koreografinja ustvarila v sedemdesetih letih, predstavlja Dance On Ensemble, na oder pa jih je postavil nekdanji koreografinjin asistent, plesalec in umetniški vodja ansambla Dance On Ty Boomershine. Večer nosi naslov Dela v tišini (Works In Silence), od klasičnih del ameriškega postmodernega plesa pa bomo tokrat pri nas prvič videli Nenaslovljeni trio I (Untitled Trio I, 1968, 1973), Kongerije na robovih za dvajset poševnic (Congeries on Edges for 20 Obliques, 1975), Nenaslovljeni trio II (Untitled Trio II, 1973) in Radialne poti (Radial Courses, 1976). Solo Katema (1978)  si bomo po letu 2018 ponovno ogledali, tokrat v drugačni izvedbi.


O ansablu Dance On
Dance On Ensemble je nastal leta 2015 kot projekt berlinske ne-profitne organizacije Diehl+Ritter, njegov nastanek pa je povezan z ugotovitvijo, da kulturni plesni sistemi na Zahodu plesalce izločajo po starostnih kriterijih in da je mladost v teh sistemih ekskluziven in precenjen kriterij. Njegova zasedba, sestavljena iz zvenečih imen sodobnega plesa in baleta ter vrste osebnih odločitev, da je za plesno upokojitev še nekoliko prezgodaj, se z leti širi, repertoar pa kaže, da si plesalci poleg kanoniziranih del sodobnoplesnega repertoarja želijo tudi drznih eksperimentalnih pristopov k plesu in koreografiji. Zaradi tega je sestavljanka koreografskih in umetniških imen, ki so se v sedmih letih zvrstila na repertoarju Dance On Ensembla, izstopajoče raznorodna: Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Lucinda Childs, William Forsythe, Deborah Hay, Ivana Müller, Jan Martens, Rabih Mroué, Mathilde Monnier, Tim Etchells, Ivo Dimchev idr. Umetniški vodja ansambla Ty Boomershine, ki ga med drugim poznamo kot nekdanjega plesalca ansambla Lucinde Childs, pri katerem je leta delal tudi kot koreografinjin asistent, ansambelski repertoar kurira z jagodnim izborom del, ki so prelamljala zgodovino ameriškega in evropskega sodobnega plesa, mu zagotavljala svežino in neobičajne izzive, in k sodelovanju vabi ustvarjalce, ki to počnejo danes. Na ta način sodobnoplesni sedanjosti zagotavlja njen razširjeni javni čas, ki je karakterističen tudi za druge projekte organizacije Diehl+Ritter, med drugimi tudi evropski projekt DANCE ON PASS ON DREAM ON. Dance On Ensemble je v Sloveniji prvič nastopil na CoFestivalu 2018 z duetom Slon (Elephant, 2018), ki ga je s plesalci ustvaril znani libanonski umetnik Rabih Mroué, že maja 2023 pa se bo v Cankarjevem domu predstavil s koreografijo Jana Martensa vsak poskus se bo končal z zdrobljenimi telesi in zlomljenimi kostmi (any attempt will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones).


O Lucindi Childs
Lucinda Childs (1940) sodi med generacijo koreografinj in koreografov, ki so ameriški sodobni ples dvajsetega stoletja pripeljali do vrhunca. Z močno izkušnjo neoavantgardnega plesnega eksperimenta šestdesetih let, ki ga je soustvarjala v okviru emblematičnega kolektiva Judson Dance Theater, in z znanji, ki jih sredi dvajsetega stoletja nikjer ni bilo možno učinkoviteje pridobiti in razviti kot v New Yorku, je Lucinda Childs v sedemdesetih letih razvila serijo koreografskih kompozicij, ki so zaradi svoje sežetosti, abstraktnosti in kompleksnosti še danes učinkovite, sveže in vselej znova presenetljive. Prav z ničimer ne kažejo, da so stare petdeset let. Ker niso zgrajene iz ničesar drugega kot iz najbolj temeljnih plesnih gradiv, gibanja človeških teles, in ker so izjemno izborna pri rabi drugih spektakelskih elementov, delujejo danes enako sveže kot v sedemdesetih letih.

Med ameriškimi postmodernimi koreografinjami in koreografi je bila Lucinda Childs prva, ki ji je kmalu po koncu šestdesetih let s svojimi deli uspel prehod iz eksperimentalnih prostorov na velike gledališke odre ter nenazadnje prodor v Evropo, kjer je v zadnjih desetletjih ustvarila glavnino svojih del. A koreografinja je prav v sedemdesetih letih s svojim kinetičnim jezikom ustvarila destilat plesnega časa, abstrakt plesne umetnosti, saj njena dela s svojo modernistično kinetično arhitekturo vsebujejo obsežno količino baročne kompozicijske matematike: abstrakt telesa plesne umetnosti. Morda se prav zaradi vsega tega koreografskih del Lucinde Childs plesno občinstvo po svetu nikoli ne naveliča.


Lucinda Childs, iz intervjuja z Erickom Franckom (1978)
»Moja kariera se je začela v 60. letih s skupino Judson Dance Theatre, ki sta jo ustanovila dva moja sodobnika Yvonne Rainer in Steve Paxton. Ta skupina si je prizadevala razširiti besednjak plesa onstran tega, kar si človek običajno predstavlja s plesnim besednjakom, z drugimi besedami: v ples smo si prizadevali vključiti gibe iz vsakdanjega življenja. Koreografije, ki sem jih takrat ustvarila so bile – vsaj tako bi sama rekla – popolnoma konceptualne. Zasnovane npr. s kakšnim govorjenim besedilom, gibi so se kontekstu govora približevali in se od njega oddaljevali, uporabljala sem tudi predmete. Danes v svojih delih ne uporabljam več niti besedil niti predmetov, rekla bi, da sem naredila ogromen preobrat, v smislu, da so reči v mojem delu precej bolj preproste. Kakorkoli: gibanje, ki ga vidimo v mojih sedanjih delih, izvira iz tega zgodnjega obdobja. Gledamo hojo, gledamo zelo preprosto gibanje. Vsekakor je vanje še vedno vpletena plesna tehnika, saj sem profesionalno šolana plesalka v tehnikah modernega plesa, vendar si  iz svojih sedanjih del prizadevam izključiti vsakršen razvoj vsebine [zgodbe]. Zanimajo me izjemno preprosta gibalna gradiva in načini, kako bi se jih dalo urediti tako, da bi jih lahko gledalec v vsakem trenutku zagledal z drugega zornega kota. Gre za vprašanje, kako preprečiti gledalcu, da bi karkoli gledal na en sam in izključno en način. Ta ali ona plesna fraza se zelo postopno spreminja. Tako da ne prihaja do zelo močnih kontrastov v gibanju, pač pa do komaj zaznavnih. Tako v teh koreografskih delih ostajamo v zelo omejenem vsebinskem okviru, hkrati pa lahko zaradi tega doživimo mnoštvo premen. V smislu rabe časa in prostora.

Mislim, da začetek tega umetniškega gibanja izvira iz začetka 20. stoletja, saj je avantgardna umetnost prišla v New York prav takrat. Plesno gibanje, ki ga omenjam, pa se je začelo v 60. letih. Danes svojega dela ne razumem več kot avantgardnega, sem samo koreografinja med mnogimi. Zame v tem trenutku ni več pomembno, da bi me ljudje sprejemali kot umetnico, ki odstopa od tradicije. Danes preprosto ustvarjam plese in ne privlači me preveč nobena umetniška oznaka, s katero bi si želela svoja dela označiti. Želela bi si, da bi jih ljudje razumeli kot plese, saj niso prav nič drugega. Niso namenjena niti didaktiki niti nimajo težnje, da bi odstopala od kakršnekoli akademske tradicije, ki bi nam bila v tem trenutku znana. Če sem odkrita, se meni sami zdijo prav malček klasična [sramežljivi namešek].«

In the last two decades we have witnessed numerous re-stagings, reconstructions or historical stage studies of repertoire from different phases of contemporary dance. Some of these were placed by the artists themselves, others by those who were in one way or another addressed by these works. Returns to artistic oeuvres have been more or less resounding during this period, but one of the most successful is certainly the choreographic works of the American choreographer Lucinda Childs. In recent decades, they have attracted the interest of generations of artists who may not even have been born at the time of their creation. Because audiences in different parts of the world can never get enough of them, and because they are always a challenge for dancers, the works of Lucinda Childs keep returning to the world stages and are born anew.


Choreography: Lucinda Childs
Staging: Ty Boomershine
Alternating Cast: Ty Boomershine, Anna Herrmann, Emma Lewis, Gesine Moog, Omagbitse Omagbemi, Lia Witjes-Poole, Alba Barral Fernandez, Javier Arozena
Costumes: Alexandra Sebbag
Lighting: Martin Beeretz
Sound: Mattef Kuhlmey
Production: Dance On/DIEHL+RITTER Co-production: STUK. House for Dance, Image and Sound/Münchner Kammerspiele
Lighting on tour: Vito Walter
Touring: Simone Graf/Hélène Philippot
Distributing producers: Danila-Freitag Agency for the Performing Arts
Funded by: Doppelpass Fund of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Doppelpass Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation) and Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia
The performance is organized within the project: DANCE ON PASS ON DREAM ON project, Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
Organization in Ljubljana: Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia and Kino Šiška (CoFestival)


In 2018, CoFestival hosted her niece Ruth Childs, who presented some of the choreographer’s earliest works under the collective title Early Works of Lucinda Childs. This time, Dance On Ensemble presents a series of works created by the choreographer in the 1970s, choreographed by her former assistant, dancer and artistic director of Dance On Ensemble Ty Boomershine. The evening is entitled Works in Silence, and among the classic works of American postmodern dance we will see Untitled Trio I (1968, 1973), Congeries on Edges for 20 Obliques (1975), Untitled Trio II (1973) and Radial Courses (1976) for the first time. We will see the solo Katema (1978) again after 2018, this time in a different rendition.


About the Dance On Ensemble
Dance On Ensemble was founded in 2015 as a project of the Berlin-based non-profit organisation Diehl+Ritter, and its creation is linked to the observation that cultural dance systems in the West exclude dancers on the basis of age, and that youth is an exclusive and overrated criterion in these systems. Its cast, made up of some of the biggest names in contemporary dance and ballet and a series of personal decisions that it was a bit early to retire from dance, has been expanding over the years, and the repertoire shows that the dancers are keen to take bold experimental approaches to dance and choreography alongside the canonised works of the contemporary dance repertoire. This makes the mix of choreographic and artistic names that have appeared in Dance On Ensemble’s repertoire over the past seven years unique and very diverse: Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Lucinda Childs, William Forsythe, Deborah Hay, Ivana Müller, Jan Martens, Rabih Mroué, Mathilde Monnier, Tim Etchells, Ivo Dimchev and others. Artistic director of the ensemble, Ty Boomershine, best known as a former dancer with Lucinda Childs, where he also worked for years as the choreographer’s assistant, curates the repertoire with a delightful selection of works that have broken with the history of American and European contemporary dance, providing freshness and unusual challenges, and invites artists who are doing it today to collaborate with the ensemble. In this way, it provides the contemporary dance present with its extended public time, which is also characteristic of other Diehl+Ritter projects, including the European project DANCE ON PASS ON DREAM ON. Dance On Ensemble made its debut in Slovenia at CoFestival 2018 with the duet Elephant (2018), created with the dancers by the well-known Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué, and in May 2023 it will be presented at Cankarjev dom with a choreography by Jan Martens entitled Any Attempt Will End in Crushed Bodies and Shattered Bones.


About Lucinda Childs
Lucinda Childs (1940) is one of a generation of choreographers who brought twentieth-century American contemporary dance to its peak. With a strong background in the neo-avant-garde dance experiment of the 1960s, which she co-created as part of the emblematic Judson Dance Theater collective, and with skills that could not have been acquired and developed more effectively anywhere else in the mid-twentieth century than in New York, Lucinda Childs developed in the 1970s a series of choreographic compositions that, because of their reach, abstraction and complexity, are still effective, fresh and surprising today. There is nothing in them to suggest that they are 50 years old. Because they are composed of nothing but the most basic of dance materials, the locomotion of human bodies, and because they are extremely selective in their use of other spectacular elements, they are as fresh today as they were in the 1970s.

Among American postmodern choreographers, Lucinda Childs was the first to make the transition from experimental spaces to the big stage shortly after the end of the 1960s, and finally to Europe, where she has made the bulk of her work in recent decades. But it was in the 1970s that the choreographer, with her kinetic language, created the distillate of the dance time, an abstract of dance art, because her works, with their modernist kinetic architecture, contain a vast amount of baroque compositional mathematics: they’re an abstract of the body of dance art. Perhaps this is why dance audiences around the world never tire of her choreographic works.


Lucinda Childs – Interview with Erick Franck (1978)
»My career began in the 60s with the group called Judson Dance Theater which was formed by Yvonne Rainer and Steve Paxton, two of my contemporaries. The main purpose of JDT was to expand the vocabulary of dance beyond what you would traditionally consider vocabulary in the sense of traditional dance. In other words, to include movements of everyday life. And the dances that I made at that time were – what I would call – totally conceptual, totally based on an idea of a spoken text of some kind. The movements that you saw would drift in and out of the context of what you were hearing. I used objects at that time and also a text. At this point in my work, I don’t use anything like that anymore. I use no object at all and no text. And there’s a rather enormous shift in that is much simpler now. However, the movements that you see in the dance derive from that early period. You see walking, you see very simple movements and there’s certainly technique still involved. I’m professionally trained dancer in modern dance. But the emphasis in my work now is really to de-emphasize building up [of/a] content. It’s really to take very very simple material and to re-arrange it in such a way that you constantly presented with material from a different point of view. The idea being that you essentially dislodge the audience from perceiving anything from any one way. And one phrase and another shift very gradually, so that you don’t have very strong contrasts in movement but very slight ones. As a result, the experience of the dance is really to stay in a very restricted framework of content but experience the multitude of shifts in terms of the use of time and space.

I think the beginning of this whole movement really stems from the early 20th century because the avant-garde came to New York in the early 20th century and the movement in dance began in the 60s. And now we’re in period when we’re really no longer dealing … I don’t consider myself properly as a part of avant-garde. I really consider myself a choreographer among many others. I don’t at this point care whether or not people perceive me as having departed from tradition. I simply make dances now and I don’t particularly feel strongly attracted to any particular label to describe them. I prefer that people just look at them as dances because that’s what they are. They are not intended for didactic or academic departure from any tradition that we know right now. In fact, I find them a little bit classical ...«
(Source: https://vimeo.com/111709949)