Truth or Consequences: Belonging in the World

Join us at the historic Bendix building for the newest installment in our renowned salon series, Truth or Consequences: Belonging in the World. 

Experience the essence of true belonging with us, throughout an evening of performance, an animated interactive installation, complimentary spirits, burritos, and live music!

Cocktail hour starts at 5 pm. Performances begin at 6 pm.

Truth or Consequences: Belonging in the World explores finding a profound connection and acceptance within the intricate tapestry of human existence, where one’s unique identity harmoniously integrates with the diverse threads of shared humanity.

This salon celebrates the way we seek connection as people with multiple perspectives. How do we accept ourselves, how do we extend ourselves to others? Through music, movement, culture, composition, and the sharing of our table, we invest in each other and devise new arrangements to foster human bonds. 

“Discover a world where individuality seamlessly intertwines with the rich fabric of shared humanity—Experience the essence of true belonging with us.”

Heidi Duckler | Founder and Artistic Director

Heidi Duckler is the Founder and Artistic Director of Heidi Duckler Dance in Los Angeles, California, and Heidi Duckler Dance/Northwest in Portland, Oregon. Titled the “reigning queen of site-specific performance” by the LA Times, Duckler is a pioneer of site-specific place-based contemporary practice. Through the use of expanded techniques and a methodology that encourages us to understand how dance, born from our experience, can be a tool for awareness, Duckler has contributed to redefining the field and has created more than 400 dance pieces all over the world.

Duckler was the recipient of the 2021 Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship and most recently, her film “Where We’re Going” has been selected for first prize by the Cinedanza Festival jury amongst 28 films from around the world. “Where We’re Going” was also selected for the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) Digital Media Wall in their new building in downtown Sacramento, scheduled to premiere in 2022. Currently, Duckler is on faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Film and Media Studies Department.

Duckler earned a BS in Dance from the University of Oregon and an MA in Choreography from UCLA, and served as a Board Member of the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance Advancement Council. Awards include the Distinguished Dance Alumna award from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, the Dance/USA and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Engaging Dance Audiences award, and the National Endowment of the Arts American Masterpiece award. Duckler was a recipient of the 2019 Oregon Dance Film Commission and her work received the award for Best Choreography for the Lens at Verve Dance Film Festival.

Raymond Ejiofor | Associate Artistic Director

Raymond Ejiofor began his dance training under Judith Rhodes Calgaro in Arlington, VA and the Dance Theater of Harlem. He has since danced for artists such as Katy Perry, Sia, Pharrell Williams, Dua Lipa, and Daft Punk.

Under the direction of Greer Reed, Ejiofor was a founding member of the August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble. Ejiofor also collaborates with various companies in Los Angeles. In 2023, he was named the Associate Artistic Director of Heidi Duckler Dance after finishing his time as an artist in residence with the company.

As a teaching artist, Ejiofor has been a faculty member/master class instructor at a number of studios and universities in Los Angeles and the Greater Pittsburgh region, including AMDA Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh. A dynamic supporter of the arts, Ejiofor served on the Board of Directors for HDAT in Pittsburgh, PA.

Ejiofor holds a master’s of public health policy from the University of Southern California and is a recipient of the Gates Millennium Fellowship. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in Decision Science and a double minor in engineering studies and technology and policy.

Jiryis Murkus Ballan | Musician

Palestinian composer, Buzuq player, performer, and musical director, Jiryis, grew up in Nazareth in the Galilee region.

Ballan completed his M.A. studies in the music composition program at SUNY Buffalo as a Fulbright Scholar where he studied with composers Jonathan Golove and Cort Lippe AND focused on concert music, and music for modern dance. Jiryis co-directs The Caravan Orchestra and Choir project, an intercultural orchestra of young Palestinian, Jewish and, and German musicians based in Germany. Before joining the Department of Music at UCI, he worked as a research assistant at the Music Department of the University of Haifa, researching The Urban Arab Palestinian Wedding Music in the Galilee region and the maqam-based music. His research was on the inclusion of the synthesizer in traditional Arab Palestinian music wedding ensembles. Currently, Jiryis is a Ph.D. student in the program of Composition, Improvisation, and Technology at The University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on the creation of a virtual Buzuq while using hidden sounds that he discovered with the instrument’s body and soundboard.

Tong Guan | Filmmaker & Architect

Tong Guan is a trained Architect, who has worked in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. In 2017 she worked for Jean Paul Gaultier’s fashion studio, designing interiors and fashion stage design in Paris.

In 2022 Tong moved to Los Angeles, to study for a postgraduate Fiction and Entertainment degree at Sci-Arc. For her thesis, she created a surrealistic 3D animated film titled, “Paper Dream: The Surreal Shores of Belonging”, which tells the story of a young girl’s search for adventure and belonging.

In the future, Tong wants to combine digital visual design and spatial design to create special immersive experiences as she continues her interest in intertwining the themes of adventure, belonging, identity, and destiny. In all her works, as an architect, artist, and digital designer, Tong strives to develop her own unique aesthetics in finding poetic solutions that soothe our souls while giving us the courage to continue exploration.

Adrian Hoffman | Artist

Adrian Hoffman was born and raised in Cambridge, MA, where they began their training as a martial artist at Davis Sq. Martial Arts. After receiving their Black Belt, they transitioned to dance in high school at the Cambridge School of Weston. They went on to graduate from The Ailey School/Fordham University with a BFA in Dance and a double minor in Philosophy and Math while also pioneering a study abroad exchange with Israel’s Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company.

Adrian is the Artistic Facilitator and founder of Cantankerous Creatures, a Boston-based dance project seeking to strengthen the dance community with kindness and active audience engagement. They currently live in Los Angeles working as a dancer and choreographer. Previously they have been a company member of Whim W’Him, a guest dancer with Alvin Ailey and BODYTRAFFIC, danced in music videos for Blink-182 and Justin Beiber among others, freelanced on stage, TV, and film, and appeared as a featured dancer in Greta Gerwig’s recent remake of Little Women.

Mawusi Nenonene | Artist

MawusiSarah is a dance artist based in Los Angeles. Her work is driven by the timeless relationship between movement, human nature, and the living earth.

She recently completed her MFA in Choreography at the University of Ghana, after receiving her BA in Dance Medicine & Management from Baldwin Wallace University. Throughout her career, she has performed with Cleveland Inner City Ballet, North Pointe Ballet,  and Zbu Entertainment. She has also presented her work at the Cleveland Dance Festival, American Dance Festival’s Student Showcase, and Ballet Inc. The Series: IV Showcase, and The Ghana Dance Festival. She is extremely thankful for this opportunity and excited to participate in this collaborative experience.

Alejandro Perez | Artist

Alejandro Perez is a first-generation Mexican-American from Los Angeles. Alejandro received a full scholarship to be a part of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training program in 2016. After his first year at Lines, he was announced the full scholarship recipient for the 85th Gala Anniversary at the Jacobs Pillow 2017 Ballet Summer Program. In recent years Alejandro has performed for several companies as well as freelancing in concert and commercial work getting to work with and meet other talented artists.

Zhihan Yang | Artist

Los Angeles-based choreographer, dancer and educator Zhihan Yang received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts and BFA from Beijing Dance Academy.  She is dedicated to researching the relationship between movement, installation, and multimedia. Yang also explores the different forms of the body on camera and the reflection of identity between communities in different contexts.

Yang has been active in theater, media, film, and education in recent years, working with companies such as the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, the Yaya Dance Academy, and the San Musae Cultural Center. Her recent works include the orchestral trio choreography “THEA MUSGRAVE: Pierrot” (2023), the dance theater “Am I Susan” (2022), the physical theater “XXX” (2022), the quintet “Gladiola” (2021), and the dance films “Question” (2022), “Rush” (2021), “Refresh” (2021) and “Retrospect” (2021).