Heidi Duckler Dance Presents The Escape 2019 Chile Tour

Heidi Duckler Dance (HDD) will be touring in Chile in November 2019. The company will be performing as part of the international programming at the Centro de Experimentación Escénica in Valdivia on November 9th and at the LOFT International Dance Festival in Concepción on November 15.

Heidi Duckler Dance will be making its second visit to Chile after a successful tour in 2018 when they performed at the Festival de Ideas in Valparaíso. The performances will be created on site upon arrival in Chile, and will feature three HDD dancers, Tess Hewlett, Ryan Walker Page, and Himerria Wortham, plus live music from local artists and set design by Chilean native Maria Fernanda Videla Urra.

HDD will be traveling to Chile during a troubling time of crisis in the country. Ever since the rise in Metro fair prices in Santigo, there have been ongoing civil protests in response to 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 will still be happening. As art is often a form of resistance and tool for raising awareness, HDD is ready to continue this work during this time.

Duckler hopes to further the cultural exchange that was developed during the company's first visit. This work explores the physical and psychological borders that are developed between societies. It also acknowledges that both Chile and the United States are facing similarities when it comes to immigration policy, conservative leadership, and ever increasing inequality. By returning to this exchange, Heidi Duckler Dance aims to bring light to such experiences through the power of performance.

"Many choreographers intermittently offer site specific work in L.A., but when it comes to Heidi Duckler Dance, nobody does it better." ~ LA Weekly, Best of L.A. Arts: Heidi Duckler Dance by Ann Haskins

This engagement is supported in part by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in Partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

What: Heidi Duckler Dance Presents The Escape 2019 Chile Tour

Who: Heidi Duckler Dance

When: November 5 - 15, 2019

Where: Valdivia and Concepción, Chile

Heidi Duckler Dance creates place-based performances that transform non-traditional spaces, providing learning opportunities and engaging diverse communities, in the belief that the arts can change our vision of the world and of ourselves.

Heidi Duckler Dance is a pioneer in producing interdisciplinary performances. The company develops and rehearses each multi-sensory experience in the site where the work is performed. HDD advances social equity in under-resourced communities by providing opportunities for audiences to interact with meaningful spaces, both public and private, that they may not otherwise have access to. These innovative experiences allow participants to view these places, and their communities, in new and transformative ways. Over the past 34 years, HDD's Artistic Director, Heidi Duckler, has created over 400 original works locally, nationally and internationally, including LA neighborhoods such as: Downtown LA (the Historic Core, Arts District, Produce District and Fashion District), Boyle Heights, Koreatown, Studio City, Van Nuys, Hollywood, Venice, San Pedro and South LA. Duckler's work has been internationally recognized in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Urban Arts Festival 2007), Russia (Link Vostok International East-West Arts Exchange 2010), Montreal (Transatlantique Quartier 2013), Germany (Tanzmesse, 2014 and 2018), Australia (Brisbane Festival 2014), Cuba (Ciudad en Movimiento 2016) and Chile (Puerto de Ideas 2018). This year HDD was awarded grants for upcoming performances and arts education initiatives including; LA County Arts Commission, Dance/USA and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and awards from the California Community Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Green Foundation, DEW Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. HDD produces over 25 original productions and serves over 4,000 diverse residents annually. Currently, HDD is artist in residence at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Willowbrook, CA

Heidi Duckler is the Artistic Director and founder 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 has created more than 400 dance pieces all over the world. Duckler earned a BS in Dance from the University of Oregon and an MA in Choreography from UCLA, and is currently 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. Currently, Duckler was chosen as a recipient of the 2019 Oregon Dance Film Commission.

María Videla is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes theater scenography, directing and art installation. Her work reflects on the reciprocity between the play, the space, and the audience as the essential trinity of theater. Her impulse as a creator, is to design experiences that can't avoid political reflection, understanding that we live in a social context and we are political in every decision we make.

María studied acting at PUC Theater School in Chile and obtained an MFA in Scenic Design at CalArts. She founded "La Doña" theater company in Chile, where she worked as an actress, director and designer on selections including: "Der Herr in den Nebeln"(2009), "El bar de Nelly" (2010), "Apocalisis When?"(2012) and "Antares después de la luz"(2014). As a Scenographer, she worked with several emerging Chilean companies: La Letra Rota, Tres son Multitud, and the National Theater production "Aquí no se ha enterrado nada"(2013). Her design work for "Villa + Discurso"(2011) from the chilean director and dramaturg Guillermo Calderón, toured internationally. In 2016 she founded the art collective Goodwill to create performances based on a community donation, since then they presented their first performance in "The night market" in L.A, and the residency of collaborative art in Pichidangui, Chile. In 2017 she designed (scenographer) the New York production of Guillermo Calderón's "Villa". Currently, María is developing a piece called "The table game" a teleperformance of imaginary social change and revolution, to be played/performed simultaneously from two different communities in the world.

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