Heidi Duckler Dance

Dance Camera West
2021-01-31 20:00 - 21:00, 2021-01-30 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Santa Monica College East Bundy Campus Parking Lot
The Broad Stage is creating a unique DRIVE-IN experience as the closing night of the month-long Dance Camera West film festival screening the finalists and award-winning (tba) films from 2021. Dance films ranging from group dances in remote landscapes, urban spaces and dance studios around the world, to introspective solos that invite us to share space with dancers sheltering at home. Experience the energy, vitality and passion of dance in the context of the challenging times we are living in.
In November 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance performed as part of the international programming in Concepción, Chile. The company arrived at a time of mass protests fueled by the increased cost of living and prevalent inequality in Chile. Despite the rising fear of violence and feelings of trauma coming back from the days of the dictatorship, the festivals moved forward with their programming. Duckler, impacted by the protests, decided to create a film titled, ESCAPE, that reveals the correlation between the Chilean and American experiences. The team traveled and filmed in Valdivia, Concepción, and Los Ángeles, Chile, listening to the stories of local residents, using dance as a tool of expression and resistance. Now as we confront police brutality in America and face a global crisis, the themes of fear, increasing inequality, and unstable leadership feel more relevant than ever and are explored through this cinematic experience.

Screendance Miami Festival
2021-01-19 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Our film ESCAPE has been selected to be screened at Miami Light Project’s Screendance Miami Festival! ScreenDance Miami highlights choreographers and directors who are working with emerging and new concepts in movement and dance on film and dance on camera. The festival has been created to support professionals in this field and to support the development of dance created for the camera. ScreenDance Miami seeks to engage the public and bring to light an understanding of this adventuresome, exciting art form.

About ESCAPE: In November 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance performed as part of the international programming in Concepción, Chile. The company arrived at a time of mass protests fueled by the increased cost of living and prevalent inequality in Chile. Despite the rising fear of violence and feelings of trauma coming back from the days of the dictatorship, the festivals moved forward with their programming. Duckler, impacted by the protests, decided to create a film titled, ESCAPE, that reveals the correlation between the Chilean and American experiences. The team traveled and filmed in Valdivia, Concepción, and Los Ángeles, Chile, listening to the stories of local residents, using dance as a tool of expression and resistance. Now as we confront police brutality in America and face a global crisis, the themes of fear, increasing inequality, and unstable leadership feel more relevant than ever and are explored through this cinematic experience.

Watch THE RE-QUEST
2020-12-10 - 2020-12-20 | Online
Watch back the 2 nights of screenings of Heidi Duckler Dance 35th Anniversary Celebration!
Watch the trailer here!
In October, we embarked on THE QUEST, an exemplary project of 10 premieres in 10 different locations, celebrating 35 years of programming in communities throughout Los Angeles.
We continue the celebration by reliving the experience and memorializing the journey. Each of the 10 nights has a short film in THE RE-QUEST.
THE RE-QUEST took place on December 5th and 6th, we hosted two nights of live virtual screenings of this captivating footage and a live talk-back with the artists. You can watch the screenings back until December 20th! Come share in the joy and support the company so that we can continue to thrive and innovate for many years to come!
Links to watch THE RE-QUEST will be in purchase confirmation email. You can watch it all at once, or divide it you wish!
This project is supported in part by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood.

THE RE-QUEST - Night 2
2020-12-06 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
A Screening of Heidi Duckler Dance 35th Anniversary Celebration in Two Parts
December 5th- Day One through Day 5
December 6th- Day Six though Day 10
In October we embarked on THE QUEST, an exemplary project of 10 premieres in 10 different locations, celebrating 35 years of programming in communities throughout Los Angeles.
We continue the celebration by reliving the experience and memorializing the journey. Each of the 10 performances are chapters in our digital book.
On December 5th and 6th, we invite you to be the first viewers of this captivating footage and a live talk-back with the artists! Come share in the joy and support the company so that we can continue to thrive and innovate for many years to come!

This project is supported in part by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood.

THE RE-QUEST - Night 1
2020-12-05 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
A Screening of Heidi Duckler Dance 35th Anniversary Celebration in Two Parts
December 5th- Day One through Day 5
December 6th- Day Six though Day 10
In October, we embarked on THE QUEST, an exemplary project of 10 premieres in 10 different locations, celebrating 35 years of programming in communities throughout Los Angeles.
We continue the celebration by reliving the experience and memorializing the journey. Each of the 10 performances are chapters in our digital book.
On December 5th and 6th, we invite you to be the first viewers of this captivating footage and a live talk-back with the artists! Come share in the joy and support the company so that we can continue to thrive and innovate for many years to come!

This project is supported in part by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood.

The Boguslaw Schaeffer Livestream Project
2020-11-23 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
Watch the free livestream here!
We were chosen by the bi-continental Warsaw Bauhaus Foundation, as one of three esteemed Los Angeles choreographers to respond creatively alongside experimental performing artists in Poland, to the legacy of maverick Polish composer, musicologist, and graphic artist Bogusław Schaeffer.
Measuring the Sky filmed in the historic Sepulveda Dam and the LA River.
The work touches on distance, scale, and reentry post pandemic. The film takes the viewer on a journey into the natural barriers and habitats that protect them from panic and fear.
Read full announcement here!

LA Dance Shorts Film Festival
2020-11-13 | Online
For the Time Being, a film created by our sister company HDD/Northwest in Portland, is being screened along with other shorts from around the world.

RSVP here

Nature, Art & Habitat Workshop
2020-11-08 09:30 - 10:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
COEXISTENCE in the times of Covid-19
Artistic Director and Founder Heidi Duckler participates in a conversation on coexistence as expressed in contemporary art.
RSVP at info@nahr.it

Kinetoscope International Screendance Film Festival
2020-11-07 - 2020-11-08 | The Roxy Theater, 718 S Higgins Ave, Missoula, MT, 59801, United States
HDD’s film Where We’re Going was selected for the Kinetoscope International Screendance Film Festival 2020!
Where We’re Going: Filmed on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building in the garment district of Los Angeles where Heidi Duckler Dance has its headquarters, this work is choreographed by Heidi Duckler and performed by her dancers, staff and several workers from the building. This short work explores a common feeling in Duckler’s oeuvre – a sense of belonging and how we define family.
Credits:
WHERE WE’RE GOING A Film by Safety Third Productions
Directed by: Katherine Helen Fisher
Creative Direction & Choreography by: Heidi Duckler
Director of Photography: Shimmy Boyle
1st AC: Sinziana Velicescu
Produced by: Raphaelle Ziemba & Caroline Haydon
Edited by: Shimmy Boyle & Katherine Helen Fisher
Music by Joe Cunningham
Graphics by Dan Evans
Costumes by: Debby Weiss
Costume Supervision: Mimi Haddon
Dancers: Raymond Ejiofor, Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, Himerria Wortham, & Ching Ching Wong

Capitol Dance & Cinema Festival
2020-10-10 - 2020-10-11 | Online
Our film ESCAPE was chosen as an official selection at the Capitol Dance & Cinema Festival in Washington, DC!
About ESCAPE: In November 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance performed as part of the international programming at the Centro de Experimentación Escénica in Valdivia and at the LOFT International Dance Festival in Concepción, Chile. The company arrived at a time of mass protests fueled by the increased cost of living and prevalent inequality in Chile. Despite the rising fear of violence and feelings of trauma coming back from the days of the dictatorship, the festivals moved forward with their programming.
Duckler, impacted by the protests, decided to create a film titled, ESCAPE, with HDD Dancers Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, and Himerria Wortham along with Chilean filmmaker Felipe Díaz Galarce and dEUSeXmACHINA Films to develop a powerful work that reveals the correlation between the Chilean and American experiences.
The team traveled and filmed in Valdivia, Concepción, and Los Ángeles, Chile, listening to the stories of local residents, using dance as a tool of expression and resistance. Now as we confront police brutality in America face a global crisis, the themes of fear, increasing inequality, and unstable leadership feel more relevant than ever and are explored through this cinematic experience.

35th Anniversary Celebration | THE QUEST
2020-10-01 - 2020-10-10 | 10 Different Sites
LA’s quintessential dance company invites you to ten days of safely-distanced celebrations, animated by original performances, distinguished honorees, and spectacular views of Los Angeles. This year’s event is THE QUEST, engaging audience participation in a search for truth in our environment, our memory, and the challenging present moment. THE QUEST represents our enduring dedication to inclusiveness and justice in dance, arts education, and our community.
Due to current restrictions in the public health protocols, any live audience members who wish to participate in our 35th anniversary Quest filming are invited to register on a first come first serve basis.
10/1 – Studio City – Drive-up
Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City
12355 Moorpark St, Studio City, CA 91604
Get tickets: 7̶ ̶P̶M̶ SOLD OUT | 7:45 pm
10/2 – Baldwin Hills – Drive-up
Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook
6300 Hetzler Rd, Culver City, CA 90232
Get tickets: 7:30 pm | 8:30 pm
10/3 – Mt. Washington – Drive-up
4533 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90065
*no reservations are being taken at this time
10/4 – DTLA Fashion District – Drive-up
Rooftop Parking Lot
401 E. 12th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015
*no reservations are being taken at this time
10/5 – Koreatown – Screening & Ceremony
Founder’s Church
3281 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020
*no reservations are being taken at this time
10/6 – Boyle Heights
Neighborhood Music School
358 S Boyle Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90033
*no reservations are being taken at this time
10/7 – Culver City
Wende Museum
10808 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230
Get tickets: 6 pm | 6:15 pm | 6:30 pm | 6:45 pm | 7 pm | 7:15 pm
10/8 – Inglewood – Drive-up
St. Mary’s Academy
701 Grace Ave, Inglewood, CA 90301
Get tickets: 7 pm | 7:45 pm
10/9 – Watts/Willowbrook
Watts Labor Community Action Center
10950 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90059
Live stream will be available
Get tickets: 6:30 pm | 7 pm
10/10 – Mystery Surprise Finale – Livestream
Get livestream tickets: 6:30 pm
Support through a sponsorship here!
FOR ANY QUESTIONS ON 35TH CELEBRATION SPONSORSHIPS, PLEASE CONTACT MANAGING DIRECTOR RAPHAELLE ZIEMBA AT raphaelle@heididuckler.org

The Quarantine Kit

Purchase merch items!

Read our Covid-19 health compliance measures here!
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This project is supported in part by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood, the California Arts Council, a state agency, the DEW Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
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Portland Dance Film Fest
2020-10-01 | CA
HDD’s film Where We’re Going was selected for the Portland Dance Film Fest 2020!
Where We’re Going: Filmed on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building in the garment district of Los Angeles where Heidi Duckler has her headquarters, this work is choreographed by Heidi Duckler and performed by her dancers, staff and several workers from the building. This short work explores a common feeling in Duckler’s oeuvre – a sense of belonging and how we define family.
Credits:
WHERE WE’RE GOING A Film by Safety Third Productions
Directed by: Katherine Helen Fisher
Creative Direction & Choreography by: Heidi Duckler
Director of Photography: Shimmy Boyle
1st AC: Sinziana Velicescu
Produced by: Raphaelle Ziemba & Caroline Haydon
Edited by: Shimmy Boyle & Katherine Helen Fisher
Music by Joe Cunningham
Graphics by Dan Evans
Costumes by: Debby Weiss
Costume Supervision: Mimi Haddon
Dancers: Raymond Ejiofor, Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, Himerria Wortham, & Ching Ching Wong

MEXICO CITY VIDEODANCE FESTIVAL
2020-09-10 - 2020-09-13 | Online
Our film ESCAPE was chosen as an official selection at the Mexico City Videodance festival!
About ESCAPE: In November 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance performed as part of the international programming at the Centro de Experimentación Escénica in Valdivia and at the LOFT International Dance Festival in Concepción, Chile. The company arrived at a time of mass protests fueled by the increased cost of living and prevalent inequality in Chile. Despite the rising fear of violence and feelings of trauma coming back from the days of the dictatorship, the festivals moved forward with their programming.
Duckler, impacted by the protests, decided to create a film titled, ESCAPE, with HDD Dancers Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, and Himerria Wortham along with Chilean filmmaker Felipe Díaz Galarce and dEUSeXmACHINA Films to develop a powerful work that reveals the correlation between the Chilean and American experiences.
The team traveled and filmed in Valdivia, Concepción, and Los Ángeles, Chile, listening to the stories of local residents, using dance as a tool of expression and resistance. Now as we confront police brutality in America face a global crisis, the themes of fear, increasing inequality, and unstable leadership feel more relevant than ever and are explored through this cinematic experience.

Bucharest International Dance Film Festival
2020-09-06 21:00 - 22:00 (Europe/Bucharest) | CINÉMA ELVIRE POPESCO, Bulevardul Dacia, București, 020051, Romania
Our film ESCAPE was chosen as an official selection at the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival!
About ESCAPE: In November 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance performed as part of the international programming at the Centro de Experimentación Escénica in Valdivia and at the LOFT International Dance Festival in Concepción, Chile. The company arrived at a time of mass protests fueled by the increased cost of living and prevalent inequality in Chile. Despite the rising fear of violence and feelings of trauma coming back from the days of the dictatorship, the festivals moved forward with their programming.
Duckler, impacted by the protests, decided to create a film titled, ESCAPE, with HDD Dancers Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, and Himerria Wortham along with Chilean filmmaker Felipe Díaz Galarce and dEUSeXmACHINA Films to develop a powerful work that reveals the correlation between the Chilean and American experiences.
The team traveled and filmed in Valdivia, Concepción, and Los Ángeles, Chile, listening to the stories of local residents, using dance as a tool of expression and resistance. Now as we confront police brutality in America face a global crisis, the themes of fear, increasing inequality, and unstable leadership feel more relevant than ever and are explored through this cinematic experience.

What Remains: Online Screening and Discussion with the Wende Museum
2020-09-03 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Join Heidi Duckler Dance and the Wende Museum online for a screening and artist talkback of What Remains, a live experimental production created by HDD and filmed in the Wende Museum’s garden back in December of 2019. Both movement and opera emanated from the female perspective and examined the notion of memory, the idea of forgetting, and the struggle for individuality.
What Remains was a new work created by Heidi Duckler Dance for the Wende Museum garden that focused on the dual stories of Orpheus and Eurydice as imagined by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and the short story What Remains published in German in 1990 by Christa Wolf about the role of the Stasi (secret police) in East Germany. This experimental work included the work of three composers – an opera for four voices by Leaha Maria Villarreal, and music for flute, double-bell trumpet, synthesizers, and sundry electronics composed and performed by Sarah Belle Reid and Justin C. Scheid. Choreography and Direction by Heidi Duckler and inspired by the Wende Museum’s exhibition The Medea Insurrection: Radical Women Artists Behind the Iron Curtain.

Unsettling Ramona Salon Series: Unsettling Sound
2020-08-27 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Missed it? Watch here!
Heidi Duckler Dance hosts Indigenous artists, activists, scholars, and thought leaders this 3-part series of virtual programs amplifying the histories and contemporary experiences of Native Americans in California through art, music, conversation and a deep dive into the story of Ramona.
These conversations are working towards a retelling of “Ramona,” considered the quintessential Californian novel written in 1884, culminating in a contemporary production at the Southwest Museum. Already performed in 2018, HDD is revisiting “Ramona” a second time around, this time involving more direct Native voices, as we work collaboratively to reimagine and “unsettle” a story that was both important in creating visibility for the issue of Native rights in America and also problematic in that it romanticized California’s history and ultimately failed to create political change.
August 27 – Unsettling Sound with Kristy Martinez, Dr. Theresa Gregor & Esmeralda Pum
Join us for “Unsettling Sound” featuring scholar and CSULB Assistant Professor Dr. Theresa Gregor (Iipai/Yaqui), singer/songwriter and Musicology Ph.D. student Kristy Martinez (Chicanx & Yoeme), and scholar Esmeralda Pum (Mayan-Quiche/K’iche).
Dr. Gregor will share her reading of Ramona, and her insights about how we can decolonize the fabrication of California’s mythical past created by this novel, and shift the conversation to focus on the lived experiences of California Indian women, their struggles, resistance, and survival.
Martinez will be presenting on her archival work of Indigenous punk music and subcultures, as well as her experience in academia and studying punk music. She will also be sharing her band and their song writing process explaining their aim of amplifying Indigenous communities, the land they reside on, and communities of color.
Pum will unpack settler colonialism in regards to California based on the settler colonial mentality of manifest destiny and the erasure (genocide) of Indigenous people through the California arch dream of fantasy escapism, during which Ramona was written and the problems of romanticizing these settler-colonial fantasies.

Unsettling Ramona Salon Series: Unsettling Self
2020-08-20 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Missed it? Watch here!
Heidi Duckler Dance hosts Indigenous artists, activists, scholars, and thought leaders this 3-part series of virtual programs amplifying the histories and contemporary experiences of Native Americans in California through art, music, conversation and a deep dive into the story of Ramona.
These conversations are working towards a retelling of “Ramona,” considered the quintessential Californian novel written in 1884, culminating in a contemporary production at the Southwest Museum. Already performed in 2018, HDD is revisiting “Ramona” a second time around, this time involving more direct Native voices, as we work collaboratively to reimagine and “unsettle” a story that was both important in creating visibility for the issue of Native rights in America and also problematic in that it romanticized California’s history and ultimately failed to create political change.
August 20 – Unsettling Self with Robert I. Mesa, Duane Minard, and DeLanna Studi from Native Voices

Unsettling Ramona Salon Series: Unsettling Story
2020-08-13 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Missed it? Watch here!
Heidi Duckler Dance hosts Indigenous artists, activists, scholars, and thought leaders this 3-part series of virtual programs amplifying the histories and contemporary experiences of Native Americans in California through art, music, conversation and a deep dive into the story of Ramona.
These conversations are working towards a retelling of “Ramona,” considered the quintessential Californian novel written in 1884, culminating in a contemporary production at the Southwest Museum. Already performed in 2018, HDD is revisiting “Ramona” a second time around, this time involving more direct Native voices, as we work collaboratively to reimagine and “unsettle” a story that was both important in creating visibility for the issue of Native rights in America and also problematic in that it romanticized California’s history and ultimately failed to create political change.
August 13 – Unsettling Story with Pamela J. Peters and Dr. Yve Chavez
Heidi Duckler Dance kicks off this salon series with “Unsettling Story” featuring Diné multimedia documentarian Pamela J. Peters, who was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, and scholar and UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor Dr. Yve Chavez, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA as a member of the Tongva tribe.
Peters will explore how Indian representation and removal policies are translated in Hollywood filmmaking and how visual sovereignty through a Native lens can promote the perseverance of Native American/American Indian community populations despite decades of colonial assimilationist policies.
Dr. Chavez will discuss the history of California’s missions and their role in shaping public perception of Spanish colonial legacies and Indigenous experiences in Southern California from the late nineteenth century through today.

HDD/Northwest Cooped Up 3
2020-08-03 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
The third iteration of HDD/Northwest’s online short film festival! We are proud to premiere the company’s film, Body is Home, filmed at Keller Fountain Park, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Nicolas Savignano, composer Jennifer Wright, and Zeljka Carol Kekez from PLACE. Moderated by Andra Georges, President of Heidi Duckler Dance/Northwest!
Body is Home is set in Lawrence Halprin’s Portland Open Space Sequence, the film celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Keller Fountain, formerly the Forecourt Fountain, and honors the 100th birthday of the living choreographer Anna Halprin.
Body is Home is made possible in part by the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) Halprin Landscape Conservancy, Portland Parks & Recreation and PLACE.

Home Share x Heidi Duckler Dance
2020-07-30 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Art Share L.A.’s Home Share is a weekly variety show showcasing musicians and performers from the extended Art Share family. Hosted by wonderful Mathew Cuban.
HDD joins this Thursday to take you behind the scenes of Illuminating the Chandelier with some of our collaborators. Jessica Emmanuel, Carlo Maghirang, and Isaac Takeuchi will talk about the creative process behind the work.
https://zoom.us/j/9103444651

Move Me x Culver City High School
2020-07-24 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Culver City High School students’ original performance will be showcased at this virtual final performance + talkback with the public. In addition to the student performance, viewers will get a chance to watch a recording of the original “Move Me” piece performed by company dancers Nicole Flores, Alyse Rockett, and Rafael Quintas.
This project is made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commision, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Culver City Arts Foundation.

Look What SHE Did! Artists of Los Angeles Film Screening
2020-07-08 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Heidi Duckler Dance’s salons are intimate gatherings where our artists, collaborators, and partners are given a platform to present their work to the community and cultivate conversation. These events are great ways to show works in progress, highlight emerging artists, and bring different disciplines together. These engagements usually take place at our headquarters at the Bendix Building Rooftop in the Fashion District, but have recently been adapted for virtual spaces in the wake of Covid-19.
As a women founded, women led organization, Heidi Duckler Dance is honored and excited to host Look What SHE Did!, “non-profit organization with the mission of bringing stories of astonishing women, past and present, to the forefront of our culture”, for our next virtual salon.
Look What SHE Did! films women telling stories of remarkable women who have changed the world. Their new series features female artists from the City of Los Angeles speaking about the trailblazing women who have inspired them. Join us for a sneak peak of the series— we’ll be screening three short films and hearing from the artists and filmmakers.
Films featuring:
Heidi Duckler, choreographer (speaking about Clarice Lispector, Ukranian-Brazilian novelist)
Beatriz Eugenia Vasquez, dancer & choreographer (speaking about Teresita Gomez, Colombian concert pianist)
Siana-äiti Moirae, multi-disciplinary artist (speaking about Thelma Johnson Streat, artist, dancer, educator)
In conversation with:
Julie Hébert, executive director & founder of Look What SHE Did!, and
Khanisha Foster, director / writer / actor
This project is funded in part by the California Arts Council and Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Ebb & Flow: Chinatown
2020-06-27 08:00 - 2020-06-30 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA, 90012, United States
We are proud to present our 4th Ebb & Flow festival: Chinatown ~ with a twist.
Instead of our usual festival activities which involve live performances and workshops, this year we are utilizing augmented reality to give you a self-guided, site-specific, socially distant, spectacular experience.
Park goers will go on a journey from Ebb to Flow. In the Ebb section of the park, you will encounter 5 static artworks representing the earth’s elements. With the use of an augmented reality app, you will be able to bring these images to life to watch HDD dancers Himerria Wortham, Keva Walker, Heidi Duckler, Lenin Fernandez, and Luke Dakota Zender.
In the Flow section, you will experience Collateral Damage, an immersive installation designed by Snezana Petrovic that speaks of the damage and harm that we, humans, are causing unintentionally on nature.

Avalon High School Final Performance
2020-06-12 15:30 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Our Avalon High School residency students have their virtual final performance via Zoom. Join us for their performance and a conversation afterwards.

ESCAPE Screening
2020-06-11 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Join us for a virtual screening of the film and talkback with the creators
In November 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance performed as part of the international programming at the Centro de Experimentación Escénica in Valdivia and at the LOFT International Dance Festival in Concepción, Chile.
The company arrived at a time of mass protests fueled by the increased cost of living and prevalent inequality in Chile. Despite the rising fear of violence and feelings of trauma coming back from the days of the dictatorship, the festivals moved forward with their programming.
Duckler, impacted by the protests, decided to create a film titled, ESCAPE, with HDD Dancers Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, and Himerria Wortham along with Chilean filmmaker Felipe Díaz Galarce and dEUSeXmACHINA Films and develop a powerful work that reveals the correlation between the Chilean and American experiences.
The team traveled and filmed in Valdivia, Concepción, and Los Ángeles, Chile, listening to the stories of local residents, and using dance as a tool of expression and resistance. Now, as our own country faces a global crisis, the themes of fear, increasing inequality, and unstable leadership feel more relevant than ever and are explored through this cinematic experience.
Read Himerria Wortham’s journal entries from her experience.

here/there salons: Panel Discussion with HDD Partners
2020-05-14 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Our education vision is rooted in exploration.
Please join us in this virtual discussion to look at the themes of empathy, optimism, and responsibility today.
Panel discussion on the power of art for combating isolation in vulnerable populations, with our partners from Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, St. Mary’s Academy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital.
Panelists:
Tony Chavez, Community Resources Manager, Ventura Youth Correctional Facility
Dr. Jasmine Eugenio, Assistant Professor, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Rubi Fregoso, Coordinator of School Transformation, Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
Cristina Garcia, First Sergeant, U.S. Army, (Retired), Program Coordinator, Women Vets on Point
Christina Muraczewski, Director of Arts Career Path and Arts Department Chairperson, St. Mary’s Academy
May 13th: HDD Teaching Artist Presentations

here/there salons: HDD Teaching Artist Presentation
2020-05-13 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Our education vision is rooted in exploration.
Please join us in this virtual discussion to look at the themes of empathy, optimism, and responsibility today.
HDD’s teaching artists discuss methods for creating, connecting, and educating in today’s virtual spaces.
Presentations by:
Raymond Ejiofor
Rafael Quintas
Himerria Wortham
William Jay YIvisaker
May 14th Salon: Panel Discussion with our Partners

Illuminating The Chandelier
2020-04-30 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Heidi Duckler Dance will present Illuminating the Chandelier, an original digital site-specific performance shared globally through Zoom’s streaming platform. As a precursor to the live performance of The Chandelier, premiering at The Wallis in the Fall of 2020, this new work is based on the interior monologue of a woman in isolation, with dissociated and dreamlike feelings who has trouble connecting to the world around her. HDD’s Artistic Director is connecting with dancers, musicians, composers, and designers, working collaboratively from afar, to create a fully immersive show.

Underway
2020-03-15 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | 7th Street Bridge, S. Santa Fe Avenue and 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90021, United States
Underway is a dance opera directed and choreographed by Heidi Duckler with music created by four composers – an opera for five voices by Leaha Maria Villarreal, an eclectic mix of woodwinds by William Roper, a prepared trumpet installation by Sarah Belle Reid and flute and electronics by Justin Scheid. Underway features HDD company dancers Himerria Wortham, Myles Lavallee, Anthea Young, Rafael Quintas, Lily Ontiveros, Keva Walker, and Santiago Villarreal. Lighting design by Grant Dunn, costume design by Snezana Petrovic and set design by Alex Ward and Tanya Orellana.
Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem “Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes,” which creates a space for Eurydice to be imagined as an independent being, Duckler’s unique choreographic style and Villarreal’s experimental choral music will take the audience on a transformative journey to the Underworld through Eurydice’s perspective. Persephone and Hermes, embodied by HDD dancers, will guide the audience into Hades, situated in the underbelly of LA’s historic 7th Street Bridge, where viewers will sit facing the train tracks. Heidi Duckler Dance is repurposing the 7th Street Bridge underpass into a multidisciplinary public art space open to the public as part of a larger project in the works, titled The Span @ 7th Street Bridge.
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The Underway VIP Ticket Experience will include front row seating for an optimal viewing experience of the dancers underneath the 7th Street Bridge, an urban boat ride around the site, and an exclusive reception of drinks and desserts catered by one of Los Angeles’s premier pastry chefs.
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This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Fundamental, Inc., Linear City, New Music USA, The Aaron Copland, Inc., and the California Arts Council, a state agency. To follow the project as it unfolds, visit our project page: https://www.newmusicusa.org/projects/underway/
