Available Light

John Adams / Lucinda Childs / Frank Gehry

Dates

Prices

5 — 45 €

Location

Onassis Stegi

Time & Date

Day
Time
Venue
Day
Saturday-Monday
Time
20:30
Venue
Main Stage

Information

Tickets

EARLY BIRD until 6 November:
30% discount for zones A and B

Full price: 15, 18, 25, 36, 45 €
Reduced & Small groups (5-9 people): 11, 14, 20, 29, 36 €
Large groups (10+ people): 9, 12, 18, 27, 34 €
People with disabilities: 5€ - Companions: 10 €
Unemployed: 5 €

Duration

55 minutes

Three living legends of American minimalism revive one of the most pivotal choreographies in the history of modern dance.

Photo: Craig T. Mathew

Three legends of the American avant-garde -the composer John Adams, the choreographer Lucinda Childs and the architect Frank Gehry- have come to the Onassis Stegi to restage a seminal work which set its seal on their first and only collaboration, back in 1983. Borne of an era much taken with experimental collaborations between star artists, “Available Light” reveals the individual artistry of its three creators but also the shared aesthetic that was common to their experimental approaches.

Lucinda Childs, whose Greek debut this is, is a living legend of modern dance. She was a student of that star of the international dance scene, Merce Cunningham, and a key member of the Judson avant-garde dance company which revolutionized modern dance in the early 60s. In 1976, her collaboration as a choreographer and performer with Robert Wilson and Philip Glass on the epic, five-hour opera "Einstein on the Beach" revealed that, as well as being a dancer of rare talent, she could choreograph ground-breaking solos and ensemble pieces for opera with equal ease. Wilson once said that Childs was “so many opposites… soft but hard, natural but unnatural”, while Childs has said that what drew her to Wilson was her “taste for the unusual”. In any case, everyone who got to watch their collaboration on stage spoke of a seminal post-modern performance.

John Adams, the award-winning post-minimalist composer, is equally at home with electronic music –the work he composed for this work, for instance, which is entitled “Light over Water”– and chamber works, soundtracks and contemporary operas.

The architectural star Frank Gehry, well-known for Bilbao’s emblematic Guggenheim Museum, returns here to his childhood love for industrial materials and simple, functional constructions. For the premiere of “Available Light” in 1983, Gehry created a split-level set out of industrial platforms and fencing which placed the audience in banked rows of seats above the stage. Childs danced in the original production; now aged 75, her role will be performed by two dancers.

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Lucinda Childs, one of America's most important modern choreographers, began her career as choreographer and performer in 1963 as an original member of the Judson Dance Theater in New York. After forming her own dance company in 1973, she collaborated with Robert Wilson and Philip Glass on the opera "Einstein on the Beach" (1976), receiving an Obie award, and has appeared since in five of Wilson's major productions.

Since 1979, Lucinda Childs has collaborated with a number of composers and designers, on a series of large-scale productions. The first of these was "Dance" (1979), with music by Philip Glass and a film/decor by Sol LeWitt, which still tours in the United States and Europe and was cited by the "Wall Street Journal" (2011), as "one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century."

Parallel events

After performance talk with Lucinda Childs

Sunday 6 December 2015
Moderated by Nina Alkalai, theorist of dance education

Dance masterclass with Lucinda Childs

6 December 2015

10:00-12:00 | 15 €
In this masterclass Lucinda Childs will teach an excerpt from "Dance" and will demonstrate how the work is constructed with the use of choreographic and musical scores.

Addressed to: Professional dancers and choreographers
Language: English
Reservations:
T: 213 017 8002 | Email: stegi.education@onassis.org

Credits

  • Music

    John Adams

  • Choreography

    Lucinda Childs

  • Stage Design

    Frank O. Gehry

  • Lighting Design

    Beverley Emmons, John Torres

  • Costume Design

    Kasia Walicka Maimone

  • Sound Design

    Mark Grey

  • Performed by

    The Lucinda Childs Dance Company

  • With

    Ty Boomershine, Katie Dorn, Katherine Helen Fisher, Sarah Hillmon, Anne Lewis, Sharon Milanese, Patrick John O’ Neill, Matt Pardo, Lonnie Poupard Jr., Caitlin Scranton, Shakirah Stewart

  • Associate General Manager

    Linsey Bostwick

  • Company Manager

    Katie Ichtertz

  • Production Manager

    Jeremy Lydic

  • Stage Manager

    Jason Kaiser

  • Associate Producer

    Kaleb Kilkenny, Alisa E. Regas

  • Produced by

    Pomegranate Arts, Inc.

  • Executive Producer

    Linda Brumbach

  • The 2015 revival of “Available Light” was commissioned by

    Onassis Stegi (Athens); Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley; Festspielhaus St. Pölten; FringeArts, Philadelphia

  • With the support of

    The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage; Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center and The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association; International Summer Festival Kampnagel, Hamburg; Tanz Im August, Berlin; Théâtre de la Ville - Paris and Festival d'Automne à Paris

  • “Available Light” was developed at

    MASS MoCa (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art)

Available Light” Production

  • Front of House Sound/Sound Supervisor

    Lilly West

  • For Gehry Partners: Design Team

    Leif Halverson, Meaghan Lloyd, David Nam

  • Set Construction

    Tom Carroll Scenery

  • Assistant Costume Designer

    Mary Kokie McNaugher

  • Costume Construction

    Colin Davis Jones Studios, Carelli Costumes

  • LCDC Rehearsal Director

    Ty Boomershine

  • LCDC Company Class Instructors

    Sharon Milanese, Matt Pardo

  • LCDC Alternates

    Josh Christopher, Benny Olk

  • This piece was rehearsed at

    the Mark Morris Dance Center

  • “Light Over” Water by John Adams is used by arrangement with

    Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company, publisher and copyright owner

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