No discussion of women at Introdans, because they have Modern Girls.

Dance pioneer Lucinda Childs is actually the reason I went to Modern Girls went. I am a lover of that. Of her work. But as a bonus, I got Regina van Berkel. With Frozen Echo. Why is it important for Introdans to bring a programme of work by female choreographers only?

Huh?

I got that feeling. At Frozen Echo From Van Berkel. Right from the moment the canvas opens. After all, what you see does not match. A pretty spine of dull Windows computers, a group of teeming dancers and three unusually dressed divas.

Only men like Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk could do their thing in the Netherlands with large, sometimes obscure works that still made you feel you were dealing with important art.

It is also for this reason that I have a review à la Joyce Roodnat write (her I recommend the show). Because the programme is called Modern Girls because three female choreographers are on the programme. Not in a small venue on a workshop night, but simply on the Arnhem-based company's repertoire.

You could call that a statement. Strong women are therefore called 'power women' in the programme brochure.

Promoting dance

What does this programme, featuring two Dutch female choreographers and one American, add to the Dutch art of dance that Introdans claims to promote? Quite a few. Not only is the programme well worth watching, it also gives a good idea of women choreographers who are active internationally.

In England, for example, Didy Veldman - wife also of the director of the Royal Ballet School - is carpentry Christopher Powney - on the road with her company Umanoove. Former soloist with William Forsythe Regina van Berkel is making a career as a choreographer mainly in Germany, and dance pioneer Lucinda Childs manages to find time in her international schedule for new work with Introdans for the third time.

A one-off.

All three have their own signature style. Veldman a seasoned and original movement material, Childs lines and phrases with small steps as pas de bourrée and balancers and Van Berkel an almost museum-like dance theatre. All three create in Modern Girls use of not simple modern music (Elena Kats-Chernin, Ludovico Einaudi, Theo Verbey, respectively).

The difference between these three creators is that one of them has a lasting name, and rightly so. Lucinda Childs' work, even in the beautiful Petricor, imperceptibly unbalance your fixed perceptions by introducing finely tuned patterns and then breaking them.

Dance history in

What makes that only a few see their name chiselled in international dance history? It will help if, at a young age, you make your own sound and act against the odds, pave your way outside tradition and manage to express the message you carry with you again and again. Did I mention childless? There is a difference between those who sacrifice time for their art and those who devote their entire lives to it.

What is still striking is that female choreographers are mostly making a name for themselves in modern dance. Think of (still living) choreographers Crystal Pite, Carolyn Carlson, Maguy Marin, Twyla Tharp, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. And in the Netherlands Conny Janssen, Krisztina de Châtel, and Ann Van Den Broeck, with newcomers such as Katja Heitmann, Cecilia Moisio and Dunja Jocic.

However, this retrospective of a valuable evening is not a lament on missed opportunities but a paean to women's dancing. For much has been written about the need for women to more opportunities to give and about women precisely not to pull ahead just because they are women. Better to let them speak through their dance. Introdans has got that right.

Good to know

Modern Girls can still be seen until 25 January.