Heidi Duckler Dances Into 39th Year in the Light of the Harvest Moon

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With immersive magic, Heidi Duckler Dance celebrated its 39th year with a site specific dance perfomance and gala last Saturday with signature impressive original style.

The excitingly innovative dance company is known for site-specific perfromances, and this one, held the the Frank Gehry-designed outdoor space of the Loyola Law School Campus, was stunning. The performance, Dance in the Light of the Harvest Moon was an hour long extravaganza of swirling and galvanizing dance.

 

Featuring live saxophone and cello, dancers in stunning fish head costumes wove from plaza area to ascending stairwells, parking garage ramps, and beside a spectacularly lit purple and green tree. Why fish? Renowned architecht Gehry was known to love fish, and the campus was designed, Gehry himself as said, as a kind of stage set,  “…a little village of buildings around a main plaza…with character and diverse structures.” The buildings served here as a contained aquarium of sorts, aswim with lights, music, and dancers who moved, literally and figuratively “upstream” and circled vibrantly hued buildings.

Along with Duckler’s innovative hand overseeing all,  Madison Olandt, and Aleks Perez choreographed and directed. The
original collaborative piece School of Fish, created by transdisciplinary choreographer Shoji Yamasaki, was a highlight. Skilled visual artist and costume designer Snezana Saraswatic Petrovic created stunning costumes for the event, creating fish heads from plastic zip ties for the dancers, and dressing them in shiny, supple scaly-gloves, fabrics, and sparkly shoes. Costumes, music, and sinuous, ecstatic dance moves all combined with super views of the DTLA skyline for an ecstatic night of dance.

Audience members were treated to charcuterie platters and cocktails, a gala awards ceremony at which Duckler introduced her successsor as artistic director for coming years, Raymond Ejiofor, preceding the dance performance.

The performance moved from plaza to outdoor stairs, from ghostly figures in a kind of underworld to fish-head shimmring swimmers, goddess Diana-like huntresses under illuminated trees, and a final multi-level work that had audience members following the fish-head-wearing dancers up five levels of the school’s parking garage, with costumed saxophonist and bubble machines a part of the delightful finale.

That final piece ended on the rooftop amid the shimmering downtown lights with a silent auction, live band, and buffet tables.  With audience members makng their way home at last to dream of dancing fish and moonlight seranades.

 

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and Jack Burke

 

Invertigo Dance Theatre Offers Rewarding Interior Design

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Always inventive, powerful, and intensely emotional, Invertigo Dance Theatre’s latest production, Interior Design, will be performed Saturday April 20th and Sunday April 21st at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.  Using the vibrance of modern dance and the gift of extraordinary dancers and choreography, the production takes viewers on an interactive and deligthful journey through the relationship of a couple, as they move through moments of love, loss and transformation.  The work takes us into the world of Anna and Carlos, as they move into a new space together, where they are soon “navigating an ocean of boxes, waves of grief, tides of neighborhood drama, and the ultimate challenge in any relationship: assembling Ikea furniture.”

Artistic Director and Invertigo founder Laura Karlin choreographs in her exciting signature narrative style, as dancers
Hyosun Choi and Marco Palomino soar through an emotionally rich and kinetic narrative. The production features music by Diana Lynn Wallace and Eric Mason.

Since its inception in 2007, Invertigo Dance Theatre has presented original, dynamic, and emotional productions as well as programs that are commuinty centered and as joyous as they are interactive and inclusive.

Invertigo has created and performed more than 40 original choreographic works that invite viewers to dive deeply into the joy and wonder of dance. Along with its eclectic, mesmerizing performances Invertigo offers an inspiring community engagement program, Dancing Through Parkinson’s, which uses dance as the medium to connect and inspire those with Parkinson’s Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Invertigo productions are always a pure pleasure to watch – this weekends’ shows will be the fourth production I’ve seen from this company. The talented group offers a vital mix of dance, contemporary music, imaginative costumes and set design sure to bring a fusion of movement and magic to those fortunate enough to view the latest production.

This weekend performances take place at The Kirk Douglas Theatre, located at 9820 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA. Show times are Saturday, April 20 at 8pm and Sunday, April 21 at 5pm, and run 65 minutes without intermission.  Parking is free.

Both performances offer additional experiences: a VIP pre-show reception starts at 6 p.m. on Saturday with music, wine, hors d’oeuvres and a celebration of Invertigo’s past, present, and future productions; on Sunday,  from 3 to 4 p.m., a free workshop experience will be led by Karlin and composer Wallace, titled “A Neighborhood is an Orchestra.”  It will be followed by a meet and greet event.

Learn more about both performances and events, and purchase tickets, here.

And don’t miss the chance to view the art of dance in supple, sinuous, and superb form.

  • Genie Davis; images provided courtesy of Invertigo Dance Theatre

Froggy Becomes Is Fabulous, Edgy Fun

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Coming of age never looked this filled with magical realism. Offering a funny, sharp commentary on growing up rough with an ogre of a father and a mother in love with the family priest, A Froggy Becomes is a fast-moving 75-minute play that offers a smart gut punch along with its belly laughs.

A powerhouse Sandra Kate Burck (above, post-performance) is middler schooler Bumpy Diggs, living in the material world – as the Madonna soundtrack excerpts imply – in the 1980s. Her father (Peter Breitmayer) inhabits his ogre costume while Bumpy tries to shape her misbegotten frog-based science project, her friends tease her, the prettiest mean girl is dating Bumpy’s main crush, and her mother carries on a secret affair with a cowardly but sexually enthralled priest.

As written by Becky Wahlstrom and directed by Pat Towne, the play vibrates with wit and poignancy. Colorful sets contrast with an ominous sense of the mysterious goings on in the woods near Bumpy’s home, her crush’s callous desires,  and her father’s brutality. Her resillience is the key to her success with both her mocked science project, and as viewers can see, her plucky survival.

Wahlstrom’s vivid emotional palette fits with the bright set design intentionally, the writer says “Puberty is a time when colors,
smells, words, and kisses are vividly electric. I think that kind of passion is still there. We just need to wake it up every once in a while.”

It’s a jubilant play, one filled with hope and the strong belief that carrying on is what we must do. “Bumpy chooses life no matter what, and she wants you to join her,” Wahlstrom says.

The exuberance of Burck’s lead portrayal engages and defines the play, which is expertly performed all around. Smart, fast-moving dialog propels the action forward, and the play’s single act moves so dynamically that viewers can’t help but be swept up in the highly fraught fun and vicissitudes that make up Bumpy’s life. A Froggy Becomes is a fine light shining in those dark woods that grow near everyone’s adolescent home.

The Open Fist Theatre Company performs the play runs through April 13 at Atwater Village Theater Fridays and
Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. General admission to all performances is $30,  with $25 tickets available for seniors and veterans, and $20 tickets are available to those under 30.  Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039.

  • Genie Davis, photos: Genie Davis and courtesy of Open First.

Carols By Candlelight – Pacific Chorale Offers Stunning Music and Setting

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Held at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach, the Pacific Chorale’s performance of Carols By Candlelight was the perfect embodiment of all that is beautiful about this holiday season.

Under the skilled guidance of artistic director and conductor Robert Istad and assistant conductor Kibsaim Escarcega, the twenty-four members of the Chorale presented a lovely, moving, and ambitious program that did not disappoint. Musical accompaniment by Jung-A Lee on the church’s magnificent organ and David Clemensen on piano were both perfect.

The 75-minute concert began with the Chorale positioned in the church center and side aisles, with the prelude “In dulci jubilo” and a medley of “Away in the Manger,” before moving to the performance space in the front of the altar.  From start to finish, the voices soared and spun their acoustic magic.

Live Performance

With the enormous organ pipes and soaring church ceiling as a backdrop, the chorale proceeded through a wonderfully varied set that included several musical choices that allowed audience sing-along on certain verses, including “The First Nowell” and “Silent Night.”

Live Performance

Among the many highlights were a delightful version of the traditional Scottish folk melody “Auld Lang Syne (1788),” featuring mezzo-soprano Emily Border, and a fabulously moving, serene piece Taylor Scott Davis’ “Solstice (2020)” followed by the haunting “Come Healing,” featuring sopranos Rebecca Hasquet and Joslyn Sarshad, mezzo-soprano Denean R. Dyson, and David Clemensen on piano.

The concluding “Dona Nobis Pacem,” featuring mezzo-soprano Stephanie Shepson and baritone Matthew Kellaway was truly memorable, soaring, emotional, and profound. The audience was appropriately reverent when listening to such a graceful rendition of a lustrous work.

While singling out these beautiful works, that is not to give short shrift to the rest of the fine program that included the joy of watching the entire program by candlelight; several works accompanied by Chorale members on guitar; and a bevy of musical works that also included Herbert Howells’ “A Spotless Rose,” a moving arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard On High” by Benjamin Harlan, Nico Muhly’s “Magnificat from First Service,” and Peter Phillips’ “Christmas motet O Beatum et Sacrosanctum Diem.” The entire program was a true delight to hear and see. The Chorale is both beautifully voiced and exudes palpable joy when performing the music.

Coming up this coming Monday the 18th, you have another quite different chance to see the Chorale perform this time a family-friendly program, Tis the Season! at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Joining the choir for this performance will be the Southern California Children’s Chorus, members of Pacific Symphony, and The Man in Red himself, Santa Claus.

Carols By Candlight was an enormously uplifting and joyous evening of great music and visual beauty. Be sure to add this annual event to your must-do list in the future, and take in the Pacifc Chorale’s rich vocal oeuvre whenever and wherever you’re able.

  • Genie Davis; photos in gallery, Genie Davis; images throughout the story provided Courtesy of Pacific Chorale