Diavolo Dance Theater Creates TRANSIT SPACE

Diavolo Dance Theater, the Los Angeles based internationally renowned dance company led by artistic director Jacques Heim, will have a residency with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center as part of the 2011-2012 season, to create "Transit Space," a new work inspired by skateboard culture -- a sport and an art form invented in Southern California in the 1950s.

Heim will share with the public the creation process and development of ideas and themes during this Diavolo Residency, which begins in October, and concludes with rehearsals Saturday, November 12th through Monday, November 14th from 11:00am to 4:00pm that are open and free to the public on the Music Center Plaza. The musical collaborators on the project are spoken word artist Steve Connell and music composer Paul James Prendergast.

The Diavolo Residency is a unique co-commission for the Music Center in partnership with The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State and is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, an initiative of the Getty in collaboration with more than 60 cultural institutions across Southern California.

Components include a series of open rehearsals on the Music Center Plaza with invited recreational skateboarders and enthusiasts for exchange/sharing of ideas; four high school skateboarders engaged as "advisors" working with the dancers and Heim; a public screening of Dogtown and Z-Boys, a skateboarding documentary that includes footage from the 1970s and narration by Sean Penn; and a works-in-progress showing of new work in the auditorium of LAUSD's High School #9 for invited students (not open to the public).

Renae Williams Niles, director of programming for Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, said, "this residency is such a thrill in many ways - starting with this being the Music Center's first artist-in-residence kind of activity and also our ability to collaborate with Jacques Heim and Diavolo on this distinct and inventive approach to engaging dance audiences and hopefully a non-dance audience as well. Because Diavolo tours so much across the globe, this project also serves as a reminder to Angelenos of the incredible treasures that we have right here at home.

The dance series has taken pride in presenting projects in all of the Music Center venues, and while this is not our first use of the Music Center Plaza (Co-commissioned and West Coast Premiere of Slow Dancing in 2007), it will involve the public and the Music Center Plaza in a truly unique, informal and unconventional way.

And finally, this residency will provide our community with a unique opportunity to witness and influence the creative process of an internationally acclaimed dance maker. While the Music Center has a history of supporting the development of new works by numerous artists, such as Merce Cunningham and David Michalek, this project allows us to play a more involved role and will focus on engaging audiences in the process."

Diavolo Dance Theater is one of the West Coast's most prominent dance companies touring the globe. Heim's work can be seen in Cirque du Soleil's Ka at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and has been commissioned twice by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and presented with them at the Hollywood Bowl.

Diavolo Dance Theater was founded in 1992 in Los Angeles by Jacques Heim to create large-scale interdisciplinary performances that examine the funny and frightening ways individuals act with their environment. Constantly changing the image presented to the audience, Diavolo has developed a movement vocabulary that creates an almost cinematic experience of powerful images that develop abstract narratives of the human condition. The company is comprised of dancers, gymnasts and actors who create performances collaboratively under the guidance of Heim. The sets created are outrageous and surrealistic and form an intrinsic part of each piece of work. Everyday items such as doors, chairs and stairways provide the backdrop for dramatic movement - leaping, flying, twirling - that creates metaphors for the challenge of relationships, the absurdities of life and the struggle to maintain humanity in an increasingly technological world.

Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980 is an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Initiated through grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time will take place for six months beginning October 2011.

Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980 is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.

About the Music Center

As one of the top performing arts centers in the world, the Music Center is committed to strengthening community through the arts. Set in the heart of Los Angeles' downtown cultural district and home to four internationally renowned resident companies -- LA Phil, Center Theatre Group, LA Opera and Los Angeles Master Chorale -- and the celebrated Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, the Music Center offers the most compelling, highest quality engagements. In its effort to extend the reach and accessibility of the performing arts, the Music Center is a national model for experiences in which people participate directly through its Active Arts® at the Music Center. As well, the Music Center presents special productions, events and festivals for children and families, including World City at the Music Center, and plays a leadership role in advocating for and directly providing arts education in schools throughout the County. The Music Center boasts four venues -- the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall -- as well as a vibrant collection of outdoor theatres, plazas and gardens. For more information, please visit musiccenter.org.

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