Dancing Toward Dawn in Curious Times

Live dance returns…to a parking lot, dancing to the moon, re-gifting dance care packages, tapping into kids, week 6 of global dance films, plus online encores, where to submit dance videos, where to take online dance classes, and more SoCal dance this week.

This Week  

Live dance making like the first crocus of spring

The dance performance is live, the tickets are free, but Covid–19 compliant measures will limit how many can enjoy Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company in this outdoor performance. Known for getting dance out of theaters and into libraries, parks and other untraditional venues, Bike and her dancers welcome the audience to a parking lot for this show. After the dancing, company members and the audience can discuss the process of creating and performing in these curious times. Tierra del Sol Foundation parking lot, 9919 Sunland Blvd., Sunland; Sat., Feb. 27, 2 p.m., free but tickets required by e-mail to benita@danceart.org.

Benita Bike’s DanceArt. Photo by Elazar Harel.

Will there be two shows in a Blue Moon?

Last month, choreographer Jay Carlon launched a new series presented or screened on the date of the full moon. Each monthly program offers a a past Carlon project. February’s full moon effort Flex was derived from the choreographer’s family history in the Philippines and their cultural influences including Catholicism. Series membership $7-$33 per month. Sat., Feb. 27, Patreon.

Carlon in “FLEX.” Photo courtesy of the artist.

She’s just asking

Promising a blend of movement, video, and sound, dancer/choreographer Jessica Emmanuel performs ’kwirē/. Filmed onstage at REDCAT, solo is set inside a sculpture installation created by Emmanuel in collaboration with visual artist Trulee Hall. The title seems to refer to a question or query. In the media material, the work is described as the search and gathering of historical and ancestral knowledge that has been largely destroyed in a dystopian world. Thurs.-Fri.,, March 4–5, 8:30 p.m., Sat., March 6, 5 p.m., $15. REDCAT.

Jessica Emmanuel in “‘kwirē/.” Photo by James Mountford.

This week, at least for “正念 – NOW”

After launching the first of the drive-in live dance performances last spring, Jacob Jonas The Company has been busy filming short dance films at locations all over the world. With support from three theaters, The Wallis and The Soraya in SoCal and The Harris in Chicago, Jonas and his dancers worked with more than 150 artists all over the globe to produce dance films for the series, Films.Dance. For 15 weeks that started January 25, one new film per week debuts each Monday until May 3. The films screen for free. Week 6 shifts the focus to China with 正念 – NOW. Choreographed by Gypsy Snider, artistic director of popular acrobatic/dance troupe The 7 Fingers, the latest addition follows Li Kehua (Lico), a dancer with BeijingDance/LDTX company. Shanghai-based Robin Mahieux directed and London-based Rosie Lowe contributed original music. The new film joins Edging Normal with dancer Desmond Richardson and choreography by Jonas, Match bringing five choreographers and 46 dancers drawn from 20 countries in a scene-shifting world tour, Pássaro Distante from Brasil, Toke spotlighting Danish-born dancer Toke Broni Strandby in London locales, and Kaduna filmed in Nigeria. Mon., 9 a.m., free. New additions each Monday to May 3. Info on the full line-up of 15 films and free subscriptions at Films.Dance, The Wallis, The Soraya.

Li Kehua (Lico) in “正念 – NOW”. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Hardly looking its age

A 45-minute online show filled with dance marks the 50th anniversary of the Music Center’s Annual Blue Ribbon Children’s Festival. Despite “children” in the title, the annual event usually brings high school as well as elementary and middle school students to the Music Center for a live performance. This year everything is online as New York’s popular tap troupe Dorrance Dance perform and then invite young viewers and their families into a participatory opportunity. Among the five scheduled dances, look for a duet by Josette Wiggan-Freund and Joseph Wiggan, former grand prize finalists in The Music Center’s Spotlight Program and presently Los Angeles-based artistic associates with Dorrance Dance. Prior to the show date, The Music Center Offstage offers a headstart with access to instructional videos that include an easy-to-learn dance routine that viewers can join in at the end of the program on Tues., March 2, 10:00 a.m. Details and sign-up at The Blue Ribbon Children’s Festival.

Dorrance Dance. Photo by Hayim Heron.

They have a good thing going

What started as a one-time response to Mother’s Day last spring was so successful, Invertigo Dance Theatre extended its Digital Dance Care Packages in response to inquiries for something similar for graduations, birthdays or just an expression of caring in the isolated quarantine of the pandemic. Created by Invertigo dancers with the choreography inspired by three or four prompts, the trove of 90 short films have been assembled into a four-part, micro film festival series dubbed Care Package Cinema. Curated into a quartet of hour-long screenings, the festival opener Family Stories last week included the endearing result of the three-prompt challenge of “Shakespeare, wizards, and sushi.” Program 2, On Location (2/24) hosts films making full use of SoCal outdoor settings from Japanese gardens to the beach. Among the films included in Arthouse (3/3), look for the unexpected choreographic potential in a closet shelf. A highlight in the finale, Holiday Special (3/10) is a delightful couch-centered Father’s Day tribute. Details at Invertigo Dance. Wed., Feb. 24, Mar., 3 & 10, 7 p.m., free with reservation. Eventbrite.  

Invertigo Dance Theatre. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Undeterrable   

Ten months ago, Pasadena-based Nancy Evans Dance Theatre’s scheduled premiere Figures of Speech was among the many live performances cancelled or postponed because of the pandemic. Disappointed but undeterred, NEDT artistic director Nancy Evans and the company reconsidered the program as their first on-demand presentation showcasing a series of solos inspired by literature authored by women. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Rose Macaulay’s What Not: A Prophetic Comedy, and Trina Paulus’ hope for the flowers provided source material. Company members creating and dancing include Ashleigh Doede, Noel Dilworth, Jen Hunter, Jenn Logan, and Evans Doede. Details and tickets at Nancy Evans Dance Theatre. Zoom link will be provided with ticket order. After the zoom premiere last weekend, the show is on-demand with ticket thru Sat., Feb. 27, 4 p.m. (PST), $25 per household.

Nancy Evans Dance Theatre. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Livestreamed “visions”

In past years, the annual February showcase demonstrated why the UC Irvine Dance Department is recognized as one of the nation’s best. While live performance remains something for the future, this year’s livestream concert Dance Visions 2021 includes works of ballet, jazz, modern, and hip hop. Contributing choreographers include Lindsay Gilmour, Chad Michael Hall, Ariyan Johnson, Lar Lubovitch, Vitor Luiz, Molly Lynch, Lisa Naugle, S. Ama Wray collaborating with Alan Terricciano. Thurs.-Fri., Feb. 25-26, Sat., Feb. 27, 2 & 8 p.m., free with reservation at https://today.uci.edu/event/dance_visions_2021#.YDVMYsVKh-U.

Online Encores

Romantic duets

Populated by some of L.A.’s best freelance ballet dancers, the young contemporary company Freaks With Lines streams Trilogy of Relations, three pas de deux with observations on three different types of love. Hannah Keene with AJ Abrams, Sadie Black and Ottavio Taddei and creative director/choreographer Susan Vishmid paired with Adam Bloodgood, portray the three couples. Since the premiere, access continues with tickets allowing access for 30 days. $17.95-$24.95. https://linktr.ee/FWL

Freaks With Lines. Photo by M. Chalifour.

Live music, virtual dance

Dance continues to be part of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 20-21 online season, this week with dancer/choreographer Shauna Davis in the premiere of composer/musician Derrick Spiva Jr.’s two part work Mind The Rhythm. LACO’s music director Jaime Martin conducts. A 6 p.m. pre-performance conversation includes Davis and the composer. Link to performance at https://www.laco.org/close-quarters/

Shauna Davis. Photo by Chris Emile

Taking to the air(waves)

The Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) annually gathers dance companies and other performing arts organizations for a convention with workshops and panels in addition to live performances showcasing its members’ work that can lead to bookings and tours. This year, Covid-19 has shifted the event online, including the performances.  The SoCal aerial company Luminario Ballet has posted links to its three APAP showcase performances and also announced that later this month it shoots a dance film (more on that when the film is done). Links to the three APAP performances and more Luminario. Free, YouTube.

Luminario Ballet. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Mask breathing

Since March when the scheduled premiere of her first full length contemporary ballet Memoryhouse was cancelled with the statewide coronavirus shutdown, choreographer Melissa Barak and her contemporary Barak Ballet shifted online with the premiere of Breathe In, a short ballet filmed at the grounds at the Holocaust Museum in what formerly was known as Pan Pacific Park in the Fairfax district. The film features Peter Chursin with Andrew Brader, Lucia Connolly, Jessica Gadzinski, Chasen Greenwood, Stephanie Kim, and with choreography by Barak.  Some of the films are free at https://barakballet.org/and https://www.instagram.com/barakballet/ 

Barak Ballet. Photo courtesy of the artists.

A show of force

One of the most powerful filmed efforts from last year remains painfully true as military veterans who now are first responders confront what it means to be a warrior on the front lines of a pandemic. In This is Me – Letters from the Front Lines, the vets gymnastically inhabit a world of pipes and moving structures while articulating the personal and professional realities of being on the front line of Covid-19. Since 2016 when artistic director Jacques Heim and Diavolo Architecture in Motion launched their Veterans Project, more than 500 SoCal veterans have participated in the company’s gymnastic approach to movement to restore physical, mental and emotional strengths. Along the way, the project developed stunning performance works, one of which was part of Diavolo’s day-long 25th anniversary celebration at the Soroya which hosted this event as part of the theater’s Fridays at 4 series. The powerful film bears multiple viewing as it continues on the Diavolo website along with other filmed Diavolo performances. https://www.diavolo.org/thisismefilm

Diavolo Veterans Project. Photo by George Simian.

Locking it up

Early on, the street dance troupe Versa-Style Dance Company seemed to take naturally to online streaming of performances and classes. It’s most recent, Ending The Year With Hope, is online. The company also has a segment filmed at the beach as part of the Music Center series. The company’s YouTube channel hosts performance videos and videos on a range of life-skills subjects geared to young adults, but with pointers for all ages. Info at https://versastyledance.org/. Videos on YouTube and https://versastyledance.org/media/

Versa-Style Dance. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Post-grad dancing

Performances by Santa Monica College’s two dance resident dance Synapse Contemporary Dance Theater and Global Motion World Dance Company stream for free at SMC.

Synapse Contemporary Dance Theater. Photo courtesy of the artists.

The past comes present

Among the subtle and not so subtle changes of new management by the LA Phil, what used to be the Ford Theater is now The Ford and while the theatre itself remains closed, four digital series were announced through the end of the year. A quartet of festivals was mostly about music, but included Movement / Matters focused on Black street and club dance. Co-curator Tyree Boyd-Pates surveys dance from TV’s Soul Train to the present as a source of connection, care, power and potential. Lula Washington is among the notables participating in this decade by decade exploration. Other Ford efforts showcasing dance include the Saturday morning family classes and videos of past concert performances that reflect how the beloved al fresco venue functioned as an informal summer dance festival. Those past performances capture the energy and diversity in SoCal dance including contemporary from Lula Washington Dance Theatre, street dance from Versa-Style Dance, Brazilian from Viver Brasil, plus traditional and contemporary folkloric dance from Grandeza Mexicano Folk Ballet Company, Pacifico Dance Company, the LA Phil’s exploration of Tovaangar Today with dancer Ba’ac Garcia, and contemporary South Asian, Bollywood and Bhangra dance from Achinta S. McDaniel and her Blue13. All free. Complete calendar and information at The Ford.

Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Photo courtesy of the artists.

An international dozen

A dozen dancers working remotely from three continents developed a series of short videos presented by Nancy Evans Dance Theatre under the banner The Channels. The contributors include Karina Francis Jones and Riki Campos Freire, Jenn Logan and Marcos Novais, Jen Hunter and Irupé Sarmiento, Noel Dilworth and Jiwon Doede, Katrina Amerine and Shori Yamamoto, Ashleigh Doede and Nikolaos Doede. Nancy Evans Dance Theatre

Nancy Evans Dance Theatre. Photo by Shana Skelton.

House dancing

Pasadena’s iconic Gamble House was the site for a collaboration with dancers from Lineage for this year’s ArtNight. The performance, appropriately called Lineage x Gable House, streams for free for a limited period. The pandemic interrupted the company’s planned move into a new facility, but the studio and performance space are completed although for now classes and performance must continue online. Lineage.

Lineage Dance. Photo courtesy of the artists.

More Taylor

Choreographer Micaela Taylor pairs with TL Collective dancer Matt Luck in Love Struck, streaming on FLTPK, the online streaming service from choreographer Trey McIntyre. Subscription is a monthly pledge of $1 to $9 to support this and other films. Access to the service’s website varies with the level of pledged support starting at $2 per month. Patreon

Micaela Taylor. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Unexpected curriculum addition

The challenges of creating dance while observing social distancing and other Covid–19 safety protocols is a new curriculum addition for dance departments as well as dance companies. Under the direction of assistant professor Becca Lemme, Cal State University Long Beach dance students observed strict protocols in creating two different programs of dances for its live-streamed Fall Dance Festival. Those performances and more are now available on CSULB’s YouTube Channel. Free at https://www.youtube.com/user/CSULBDance

CSULB Fall Dance Concert. Photo by Gregory RR Crosby.

Alone with others watching

The site specific performance ensemble Heidi Duckler Dance continues to celebrate HDD’s 35th anniversary with an array of films including two of HDD’s signature site specific performances. At the outset of the March 2020 pandemic sequestering, Duckler based The Chandelier on a work by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector about a woman experiencing isolation and trying to connect. Performers include Himerria Wortham, Rafael Quintas, Myles Lavallee, Nicole Flores, Maureen Asic, Magdalena Edwards, Jessica Emmanuel, Jaeme Velez, David Guerra, and Paula Rebelo. Free online at Vimeo. For What Remains, a tale of life behind the iron curtain, Duckler took inspiration from the travails of Orpheus and Eurydice as well as from East German author Christa Wolf’s short story about being under surveillance by the Stasi police. Staged in the garden of a museum dedicated to the cold war, the work was presented in conjunction with the museum’s exhibit The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain. The online screening includes a discussion with the museum’s chief curator Joes Segal. Wende Museum. Info on these and more films at https://heididuckler.org/reelsfilms/.

Heidi Duckler Dance. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Dancing around LA

In the absence of touring companies inside its theaters, the Music Center is giving a little love and attention to LA’s dance companies. Among the recent additions look for movement artist Brianna Mims performing her original choreography set in Leimert Park as part of The Music Center’s For The Love Of L.A. Mims’ contribution joins six performances by other SoCal companies set around L.A. Versa-Style Dance Company sent its street dancers to the beach, folkloric troupe Pacifico Dance Company had nine dancers at different locations representing different areas of Mexico, the tap group Syncopated Ladies took an existing routine to a rooftop, five members of Malathi Iyengar’s Rangoli Dance Company premiered a work celebrating a South Asian goddess, Albertossy Espinoza’s LA Fusion Dance Theater offered a Flamenco fusion duet, and Pat Taylor’s Jazz Antiqua Dance & Music Ensemble sent its dancers in parks, alleys, an empty business street, and other sites spread for their solos. After their premiere on Instagram, all the films now are available for viewing at Music Center.

Versa-Style Dance. Photo courtesy of the artists.

The Moms have it

The same week that memorialized the late civil rights leader congressman John Lewis was the week Emmett Till would have been 79 years old had he not been lynched at age 14 because of his skin. In 2010, Kevin Spicer curated The Emmett Till Project at Highways Performance Space. Choreographer Pat Taylor’s contribution A Kindred Woe receives a timely encore. The work focuses on how mothers whose children have been murdered “take on the mantle” in the fight against racism and justice. The JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble performers include Terrice Banks Tillmon, Keisha Clark-Booth, Rayne Duronslet, Kacy Keys and Shari Washington Rhone. http://www.jazzantiqua.org/javideoclips.html and https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jazz+antiqua+dance+ensemble

JazzAntiqua Dance & Music Ensemble. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Silver screen shifting

After discovering their admiration for the others work was mutual, LA Contemporary Dance Company and Vitamin String Quartet’s planned collaboration for a live performance was put on hold by the pandemic shutdown. The effort took a different turn to film, two films so far with the first now streaming. That initial release, The Box, managed to adhere to CDC guidelines while putting two dancers (Jamila Glass and Angel Tyson) and four musicians (Elizabeth Baba, Amanda Lo, Filip Pogády, Caleigh Drane) in the historic Heritage Square Museum. The roughly three-minute film streams on YouTube. Now a second collaboration has been added with Blinding Light with dancers Christian Beasley, Hyosun Choi, Jamila Glass, Nicole Hagen, Tess Hewlett, Malachi Middleton, JM Rodriguez, Ryan Ruiz, and Angel Tyson. An earlier LACDC collaboration, this time with filmmaker Nathan Kim continues to stream. The seven-minute film BLINK, was choreographed by artistic director Genevieve Carson in collaboration with the LACDC dancers. An official selection in the Hollyshorts Film Festival 2019, Cucalorus Festival 2019, and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2019, BLINK features dancer Hyosun Choi with Christian Beasley, Kate Coleman, Tess Hewlett, Ryan Ruiz, Drea Sobke, and Tiffany Sweat. The two films and information on other LACDC virtual programming on their website and https://vimeo.com/showcase/7051881

LA Contemporary Dance Company. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Feel like screaming?

Originally developed as a stage piece by choreographer Sophia and the dancers of Iris Company, the creators in 2018 presciently reworked Screaming Shapes! into a film. After a year on the festival circuit including SoCal’s Dance Camera West, the company has released the work online. The performers include Bryanna Brock, Hyosun Choi, Cat Cogliandro, Casey Gonzalez, Kristen Holleyman, Amanda MacLeod, Joan H. Padeo, Shane Raiford, and Jamal Wade. Iris Company.

Iris Company. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Multi-screens

Adding to its trove of streaming options, Viver Brasil adds a weekly spotlight on past performances. The Afro-Brazilian dance and live music ensemble offer journeys to Salvador, Bahia to explore royal orixá dances, high-flying capoeira, and samba from a Bahian Carnaval. Current and past spotlight events now available. Viver Brasil also was among the SoCal artists selected for KCET’s Southland Sessions, reworking its popular family show Celebrating Samba for the small screen with company members performing from their homes. But through the power of Afro-Brazilian dance and live music they promise a cultural journey to Salvador, Bahia to explore royal orixá dances, high-flying capoeira, and samba from a Bahian Carnaval. Streaming at KCET.

Viver Brasil. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Is it a question?

Filmed during the initial Covid–19 shutdown, Emily Mast and Yehuda Duenyas’ project HOW ARE WE, collected 15 solos, each 90-seconds including from LA choreographers. The possibilities of a plant, the bed sheets, or the corner of a room are among the starting points. Armed with a tennis racket, Carlon contributed Anesthetized, admitting that he wanted a socially acceptable reason to scream or grunt like Serena Williams or John McEnroe without looking like nut. Other contributors include Shannon Hafez, Jessica Emmanuel, Stacy Dawson Stearns, Jenny Marytai Liu, Constance Hockaday & Faye Driscoll, Barnett Cohen, Hana Van Der Kolk, Darrian O’Reilly, David Arian Freeland Jr., Heyward Bracey, Mireya Lucio, Dorothy Dubrule, Terrence Luke Johnson, and Mast & Duenyas. Info at How Are We. Stream on Vimeo.

Carlon. Photo courtesy of the artists.

More in the lunchbox

In June, Dohee Lee’s scheduled REDCAT performance was cancelled. The venue hopes one day to reschedule a live performance. In the meanwhile, the Korean artist whose skills span dance, drumming, singing and musical composition joins the line-up of prior dance performances from artists including Austyn Rich, Genna Moroni, Tzong-Han Wu, and Rosanna Gamson/World Wide. Info at https://www.redcat.org/. Videos at Instagram Channel.

Dohee Lee. Photo by Pak Han.

Moving Offstage

The Music Center Offstage continues to stream new and encore video clips and performances from Swing 2020, Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Jung Im Lee Korean Dance Academy, Kayamanan Ng Lahi Philippine Folk Arts, Infinite Flow, and Spotlight classical and non-classical dance finalists Jacob Jovanni Alvarado, Ashley Lew, Maya Alvarez-Coyne and Bergundi Loyd. https://www.musiccenter.org/tmc-offstage/.

Ballet Hispanico. Photo by Paula Lobo.

When one was not enough

Instead of its usual annual live performances from Black and Latinx choreographers at the Bootleg Theater, the BlakTinx Dance Festival returned with a viral format in late June. For those who missed that live stream of Dancing on the Edge, the show now continues on-line in four parts with works from Nancy Rivera Gomez, Shantel Ureña, Anthony Aceves, Bernard Brown, Joshua Estrada-Romero, Keilah Lomotey, Michelle Funderburk, Primera Generación, Vannia Ibargüen, Marina Magalhães, Regina Ferguson, Rubi Morales, Amber Morales, Alan Perez, Dorcas Román, Yarrow Perea, Andrea Ordaz, Eluza Santos, Briseyda Zárate, and Sadie Yarrington. With many of the works recently created, the pandemic and the streets were subjects and five pieces from earlier festivals that focused on Black Lives Matter were last minute additions. More info at https://www.blaktinafestival.com/. View all four programs on YouTube.

BlakTinx. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Knock twice & tell them Jacob sent you

Reminiscent of what one did to enter a speakeasy in the 1920s or a Cold War spy meet-up, a select, paying audience was given the address of a Santa Monica airport parking lot with strict instructions on arriving in their cars, remaining in the cars wearing face masks, and turning on their headlights when cued. In perhaps the first “drive in” dance event, Jacob Jonas and his eponymous Jacob Jonas The Company performed Parked with those vehicles encircling the “stage,” their headlights illuminating the socially spaced dancers performing to live music by Anibal Sandoval. The one-night only event was filmed by Ivan Cash and Daniel Addelson. With the five minute final cut covering interviews with the choreographer and dancers, the actual performance footage is brief, but if the cars flashing their headlights at bows was a kind of applause, the experiment garnered a vehicular standing ovation from the audience. Hopefully, the performance itself will have a separate streaming life. Info at http://jacobjonas.com/. Film on Vimeo.

Jacob Jonas The Company. Photo courtesy of the artists.

From the streets to the sheets

This past November, Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber were performing live in a downtown parking lot as part of LA Dance Project’s Drive-in Dance series. The former Batsheva dancers end the year with the streaming release of Aviva, a film directed by Boaz Yakin and choreographed by Smith. She and Schreiber join dancers Zina Zinchenko and Tyler Phillips to portray different aspects of two lovers who move from an online to in-person romance, bringing along other sides of their persona. An official selection of the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, the reviews of the theater release promise an art film approach to online dating, courtship, frequently unclothed bodies, plus dancing in the streets and sheets. Streaming info at https://strandreleasing.com/films/aviva/.

Aviva. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Platforms to Submit Video Dance

Dare Dancing

With cautions about staying safe while filming, organizers Sarah Elgart and Cultural Weekly announced round 4 of Dare to Dance in Public with the theme of Pandemania, meaning a hyper energized state. Info on the judges, prior winners, plus rules and regulations for submission at Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival. The group’s other film endeavor Six Foot Dances is still accepting one-minute films. Current submissions on Dare to Dance in Public.

Dare to Dance. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Online Dance Classes

Pandemic exhaustion? Get thee to a dance class!

On-line dance classes continue on zoom, instagram and other on-line platforms, many classes free, low cost or suggesting a donation. One central, constantly updated source on dance classes and in-depth reporting on SoCal dance, LA Dance Chronicle lists on-line dance classes including any cost and contact info. Grab a chair or clear off a corner of the room and use this time to dance. LA Dance Chronicle

Dance classes listed on LA Dance Chronicle.

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