Tempo Vicino

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TEMPO VICINO
Choreography : Lucinda CHILDS

Music: “Son of Chamber Symphony” by John ADAMS Lighting design: Philippe GROSPERRIN Costume design: Lucinda CHILDS, Nicole MURRU & Aurélia LYON Costumes made by: Danièle MEROPE GARDENIER

The first time I worked with John Adams was on Available Light, a commission from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles which had been redesigned by the architect Frank Gehry. I’ve gone on to work with him on Chairman Dances for the Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 2000, and more recently on his new opera Dr Atomic. I gained inspiration for this work by analysing the score of Adams’ music in detail. Each phrase of the choreography can be identified by reading the score, and the role of each dancer is determined by the music’s structure. It’s the precision in the execution of movements that creates the relationship between the dancers and time and space. The choreography is abstract : eight boys and girls are on stage, sometimes in groups, sometimes in couples, and the vivacious relationship between them is down to the music. The atmosphere at the start of the second movement is somewhat “restrained” and although their movements are coordinated, the dancers evolve in the space without any common ground. Then “suddenly”, without any apparent transition taking place, they seem to embark on a new choreography only to return to the initial codes. The third and last movement is a new starting point, a new game… and the journey goes on. Lucinda Childs

Tempo Vicino is a very beautiful work in a serene, majestic way, with the dancers appearing and disappearing in line with subtle proportioning, moved by continual motion. Raphaël de Gubernatis, Le Nouvel Observateur