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Heidi Duckler Dance partnered with local architect Alex Ward to design and build a 15-foot steel fish sculpture. With each stop, HDD’s core company dancers performed an adventurous, multidisciplinary production exploring water and drought through site-specific choreography in, on, and around the giant stainless steel fish.
2018 – Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
FishEyes returned to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium with HDD dancers Danny Dolan, Himerria Wortham & Amanda MacLeod who opened the performance with three oral stories & original movement inspired by themes of water conservation, climate change, and human connection to our environment. A panel discussion lead by Board President, Jamarah Hayner followed. Panelists Jon Christensen (Professor, UCLA Institute for the Environment and Sustainability), Glen Dake (Landscape Architect) and Gregory Cesena (Janice Hahn deputy) discussed how art can increase environmental awareness. Closing the evening was a performance of FishEyes with live accompaniment of an original score composed by Juhi Bansal with violinist, Israel Heller & pianist, Dave Christensen.
2017 – Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook
After the San Bernardino performance the fish swam to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook for a public performance to inspire awareness of the Ballona Wetlands, an urban-adjacent ecosystem, within the Culver City community. The choreography highlighted the interaction of dancers with the teaching sculpture, encouraging play, investigation, improvisation, and responsiveness as key strategies towards greater environmental awareness. The performance began with students from Culver City HS AVPA and St. Mary’s Academy performing original choreography that they created in workshops with our teaching artists. The evening concluded with HDD dancers Danny Dolan, Lenin Fernandez, and Mollie Wolf performing ‘FishEyes’ along with musicians Andrew Tholl and Nic Gerpe performing an original work by composer Juhi Bansal.
2017 – San Bernardino Valley College
While the Fish was in residence at San Bernardino Valley College Heidi Duckler Dance teaching artists lead site-specific dance workshops for SBVC dance program students. During these workshops the teaching artists explained the basics of site-specific dance and employed water as inspiration for movement. They guided improvisation with The Fish and taught participants how to create original movement inspired by themes of water conservation, climate change, and human connection to our environment. The workshops culminated in a performance with the SBVC students followed by HDD’s FishEyes performance with company dancers Danny Dolan, Lenin Fernandez and Mollie Wolf.
