To us, democratic dance means dancing at age 6 or 65. Democratic dance means dancing in your bathroom, in a laundromat, in a bridge underpass. Democratic dance means using movement as a tool for survival, resistance, healing, and growth. We use movement to address intersectional topics affecting our society, especially its vulnerable populations.
Our educational vision is rooted in exploration. We have served thousands of underserved youth and families across Los Angeles. With several unique education programs for schools, after school programs, seniors, veterans, and correctional facilities, we seek to be a vehicle for self-expression, confidence, inclusion, and collaboration.
Our practice of spatial justice involves activating space through dance and increasing accessibility to these spaces. Using the body as a vehicle, we believe dance drives discovery. In an effort to make Los Angeles a more animated and equitable city, HDD’s artistic offerings reveal truths about historic landmarks, reawaken abandoned places, and turn the spaces we seemingly know well on their heads.
Land Acknowledgment
Heidi Duckler Dance recognizes and acknowledges the first people of this ancestral and unceded territory. With respect to their elders, past and present, and future generations we recognize the Chumash, Gabrieleño Tongva, and Fernandeño Tataviam—who are still here—and honor, with gratitude, the land itself and those who have stewarded it throughout the generations. We honor and respect the many indigenous peoples still connected to this land on which we gather, and we commit our work in service to and in alignment with these values.
