Early Works

Lucinda Childs is a major name in American postmodern dance and a preeminent figure in the history of contemporary performing arts. Her important choreographic body of work is distinguished by the uniqueness of the language, recognizable in the complex and abstract structure of her pieces and in the vocabulary employed, of restricted movement.
The Early Works are a collection of pieces that cover the period of creative evolution of this seminal choreographer and dancer, spanning from solo work made during her time with the Judson Dance Theater in 1963 to the earliest works she made for her Company, which she founded in 1973.
In these works, rhythm and geometry are highlighted. Through the pure movement vocabulary of walking, running, turning, skipping, and leaping, Childs explores rapid changes of direction and the effects of minimal shifts in movement patterns, displacements that are difficult to execute due to their physical and mental complexity. These geometric and mathematical dances were the precursor to DANCE, her first work choregraphed to music in 1979.