Reading practice 20

          Lucinda Childs's spare and orderly dances have both mystified and mesmerized audiences for more than a decade. Like other so-called "postmodern" choreographers. Childs sees dance as pure form Her dances are mathematical explorations of geometric shapes, and her dancers are expressionless, genderless instruments who etch intricate patterns on the floor in precisely timed. repetitive sequences of relatively simple steps. The development of Childs's career, from its beginning in the now legendary Judson Dance Theater. paralleled the development of minimalist art, although the choreographer herself has taken issue with those critics who describe her work as minimalist. In her view, each of her dances is simply "an intense experience of intense looking and listening," in addition to performing with her troupe, the Lucinda Childs Dance Company. Childs has appeared in the avant-garde opera Einstein on the Beach, in two of Broadway plays, and in the films Jeonne d'Iman by Marie Jimenez and 21:12 Piano Bor.

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