Relative Calm

Two legends reunite at the summit as director Robert Wilson and choreographer Lucinda Childs revive Relative Calm, a fascinating work which grows in magnitude and exuberance more than forty years after its creation.

In 1976, the opera Einstein on the Beach kicked off one of the most successful collaborations of the twentieth century. While Lucinda Childs narrates and dances, Robert Wilson pulls the strings in a hypnotic staging. Five years later, the two icons of the new American scene created Relative Calm, a ballet set to the music of Jon Gibson. It is not so much a revival as a reactivation of the memory of this piece that the two flamboyant octogenarians present today. Repetition and variation are still the driving forces, but the lights, decor and structures are new. A ballet in three acts, danced to the rhythms of Jon Gibson, Igor Stravinsky, and John Adams by the performers of the MP3 Dance Project. Between each act, Lucinda Childs personally reads the extracts of Nijinsky’s journal. Games of (de)synchronization, repetitive motifs, precise movements and video creation are hallmarks of the two legends.

Photo: © Ingo Hoehn