Lucinda Childs is one of America's most important modern choreographers. She 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, Childs collaborated with Robert Wilson and Philip Glass on the opera Einstein on the Beach in 1976, participating as principal performer and solo choreographer for which she received an Obie award. Beginning in 1979, Childs collaborated with a number of composers and designers on a series of large-scale productions. The first of these was Dance, choreographed in 1979 with music by Philip Glass, and a film/decor by Sol LeWitt, which continues to tour extensively 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." Available Light (1983), with music by John Adams and split-level set designed by Frank Gehry, will be revived as a centerpiece of the 2015 Fringe Festival, presented by FringeArts, in Philadelphia, supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
Since 1981, Childs has received a number of commissions from major ballet companies and has choreographed and directed several opera productions. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the NEA/NEFA American Masterpiece Award, and, in 2004, she was elevated from the rank of Officer to Commander in France's Order of Arts and Letters.
