Heidi Duckler Dance Presents STAY AWAKE

Heidi Duckler Dance's (HDD) new work Stay Awake, is a part of HDD's MoveWell@MLK artist residency, and will take place on Saturday, August 24 at 7:30 pm at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, Lot A.

In 2018 HDD received the distinction of becoming the first LA dance company to be awarded an NEA Our Town grant towards the development and implementation of MoveWell@MLK a two-year creative place-keeping project that is taking place on the Martin Luther King Jr Community Hospital Campus in Willowbrook, CA. This project will continue through 2021 thanks to the support of the California Arts Council. Heidi Duckler Dance is one of 40 grantees chosen for their Creative California Communities program and will continue the partnership with the office of LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and other local community-based organizations to expand MoveWell@MLK to public spaces in and around the MLK Medical Campus.

Stay Awake is a cross-disciplinary work created on site at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. Choreographed and directed by Heidi Duckler, this new work is inspired by the ecosystems of the new hospital and explores how human interactions influence our health and our community. Choreographed and directed by Heidi Duckler, Stay Awake features HDD company dancers Raymond Ejiorfor, Tess Hewlett, Lenin Fernandez, Roberto Lambaren, Lily Ontiveros, Ryan Walker Page, Rafael Quintas, Jasmine Rafael, Alyse Rockett, Carissa Songhorian, Himerria Wortham, and Luke Zender. NewYork-based experimental percussionist and composer Jessie Cox,will perform an original composition written for this premiere. Large Shiva, a Los Angeles-based improvisational orchestra directed by Justin Bardales, will also perform live for this new work.

This performance is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov

Tickets: Free Admission, RSVP required

RSVP at: hdd_stayawake.eventbrite.com

Initially founded in 1985, HDD 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 audience members and students 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 interesting ways. Over the past 33 years, HDD's Artistic Director, Heidi Duckler, has created over 300 original works locally, nationally and internationally, including in many 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, LA Dept of Cultural Affairs, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Green Foundation, DEW Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. HDD produces over 25 original productions each year, and over 4,000 diverse residents are served annually.

Photo by Sean Deckert