Ebb & Flow: Scorched invites artists working across disciplines to respond to the intensifying realities of global warming and climate consciousness. Taking place on June 28 at Vista Hermosa Natural Park, this year’s festival brings together local interdisciplinary artists in a shared landscape shaped by heat, drought, and environmental change. As our planet continues to shift, Scorched highlights work that confronts the urgency, complexity, and emotional weight of climate change.

Audiences will experience works that do not look away, but instead bear witness, provoke, and reimagine our relationship to a planet under pressure.

Joe Brown | Choreographer

JOE BROWN is originally from NYC and has become a full-time creative force on and off camera in Hollywood! Some of Joe’s choreography credits include The Masked Dancer, NBC World of Dance, America’s Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, and GAP. He also choreographed for top artists Lizzo, Khalid and Beyoncé (Netflix: Homecoming)!
Joe is known for his powerful, resonating approach to performances, incorporating his stepping and highly-stylized percussive technique. His keen sense of musicality, geometries, storytelling and rich cultural blends of Stepping, Hip Hop, Dancehall, & African dance have garnered much praise in Hollywood! He founded and manages two business entities: Step/Stroll, an online dance platform and Stroll Groove, an immersive performance crew also centered around his dance style.
While he has a full-time career in entertainment, Joe also holds both bachelor and masters’ degrees in engineering and architecture from MIT and SCI-Arc, respectively. He worked several years in the theme park industry designing attractions and immersive experiences. Today, he continues to filter his dual passions for both the technical fields and performing arts into his work. He also is a dance instructor and collegiate professor educating thousands of dancers in the U.S. and abroad.
Joe is represented by MSA Talent Agency, is a member of SAG-AFTRA, and is a proud brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Erin Cooney | Filmmaker

Erin Cooney is a visual artist and educator whose work explores ecological crisis and environmental justice through the use of video, performance, and community-based artistic practices. She is interested in how embodied, psychological, and cultural perspectives and belief systems shape the worlds we experience and create. Erin is an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of European Languages & Transcultural Studies at UCLA where she teaches experimental arts-based humanities courses in environmental, media, and food studies. Erin has participated in solo and group exhibitions and screenings in North America and Australia. Erin earned an MFA from UCLA in Design Media Arts, studied Graphic Design at Art Center College of Design, and received a BA in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame.

Owen Scarlett | Choreographer

Owen Scarlett is a Los Angeles-based choreographer, creative director, and movement artist whose work sits at the intersection of movement, spatial design, and visual composition. Drawing from a background in contemporary dance and performance, his practice is rooted in intuition, physical research, and emotional precision. Scarlett’s work spans live performance, film, and installation, often exploring how bodies move through architecture, atmosphere, and collective experience. His choreographic voice prioritizes texture, restraint, and intention, allowing movement to speak with clarity and weight.

Genna Moroni | Choreographer

Raised in Los Angeles, Genna’s approach to movement is deeply rooted in authenticity and purpose. During her concert dance career, she performed works by Barak Marshall with BODYTRAFFIC and was a founding member of Ate9 Dance Company. She performed at renowned venues such as Jacob’s Pillow, White Bird Dance, CAP UCLA and The Joyce Theater + many more. Additionally she was trained and was certified in the Gaga movement language. In 2020, Genna embarked on a new path and launched her collective Gorgeous Ugly Movement (G.U.M. Co). She has had her work commissioned and presented by REDCAT, Highways Performance Space, The Odyssey, Yes! Dance Festival, Ballet Florida, CalArts, homeLA and CONGRESS. Genna was honored to be listed in Dance Magazine’s “25 to watch,” showcasing her work in NYC at Mark Morris Dance Center.

Concurrently, Genna has been diving into commercial dance choreographing for top artists including HAIM, One Republic, Dominic Fike, Marina, Carly Rae Jepsen, XAmbassadors, SASAMI, Zella Day, to name a few. More recently, Genna choreographed for upcoming indie films “Drifter” and “Via Negativa” and commercials for Athleta, Evereden and Trolli.

Beyond her choreographic endeavors, Genna is a Dance Church® instructor and shares her passion for movement with Theater students as part-time faculty at CalArts. Above all, Genna’s mission is to cultivate joy and depth through movement, while fostering inclusive and supportive environments for exploration and creativity.

Vanessa Nichole | Aerialist/Choreographer

As an accomplished performer, Vanessa has graced the screen of numerous shows and films, such as “Physical”, “American Song Contest”, “Loot”, “General Hospital”, “TED 2”, “Megalopolis”, “The Academy Awards”, and “The Grammys”. She worked on the animated film “Spellbound” as a reference dancer for character movement and development. With concert company Ezralow Dance, she was featured as a soloist at Lincoln Center, toured the globe, and joined Katy Perry in performances at the Met Gala and Wango Tango. She has had the pleasure of performing in stage shows such as “Frozen: Live at the Hyperion” (Disneyland), “Club Babalu” (Cinereal Productions), “Super Nintendo World” Hollywood (Universal Studios), “Aladdin and his Winter Wish” (Pasadena Playhouse), “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (Garry Marshall Theatre), and “Reefer Madness” (The Whitley). Most recently, Vanessa was found flying high with Andrea Bocelli as an aerialist in his Christmas tour, swinging between dancer and aerialist with Carrie Underwood in her Vegas residency, and dancing at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies in LA. She is proud to be joining Heidi Duckler Dance again for her third season at the Ebb & Flow festival! Follow her journey @ladyvanessanichole

Joanna Lynn-Jacobs | Vocalist

Joanna Lynn-Jacobs is a Los Angeles-based, classically trained vocalist, mover, and performer whose strong foundation in opera blends with folk, jazz, pop, and musical theater. She has performed in groundbreaking works such as The Comet/Poppea (as Poppea) at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar at San Francisco Opera, and the U.S. premiere and tour of …(Iphigenia) by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding. Joanna also starred in the LA Philharmonic’s production of Meredith Monk’s ATLAS, and later toured the U.S. and Europe with Monk’s Cellular Songs.

Joanna is drawn to socially and environmentally conscious work, collaborating with Los Angeles-based groups like Street Symphony and Heidi Duckler Dance. Her performance practice is deeply informed by her lifelong love of movement, rooted in years of social partner dance including swing, salsa, and Argentine tango. She thrives in boundary-pushing productions that fuse music, movement, and multidisciplinary storytelling.

HDD teaching artist Malik Bannister will lead movement workshops throughout the afternoon at 2 & 2:30pm, offering audiences an accessible way to physically engage with the festival’s themes. The Garden School Foundation will also activate the site with an environmental crafts session from 2:00–3:00 PM, focused on sustainability and hands-on ecological learning.