By Tara Sheena 

A dance performance seems like a simple equation: one part choreography, two parts proscenium stage, and three parts talented cast. Add a few lights and some great music, maybe even a set piece or two, and you have the perfect show. Easy enough, right? Too easy, it seems, for the Los Angeles-based choreographer Heidi Duckler of Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre. Duckler has made a living creating site-based work in the greater Los Angeles area for over twenty-five years. A “non-traditional” choreographer, as she prefers to call herself, she has run a successful contemporary dance company in an area of California where dance seems to be dominated by commercialization and the persona of Hollywood. However, after speaking with Duckler and her Managing Director, Emily Wanserski, it became clear that this idea of celebrity, privatization, and, conversely, accessibility in the Facebook-era feeds into the company’s overall mission.

“We like the idea of bringing dance to a location versus expecting an audience to come to us [and the dance]”, Wanserski stated. This zeal to reach out to audiences, whether they know they are being an audience or not, has characterized a lot of Duckler’s most notable works, including Laundromatinee, which takes place inside a laundromat, and Expulsion, which always occurs in a vacant lot.

Their newest piece, based on the life of Cleopatra, will premiere in February 2012 on the 51^st floor of the City National Bank Tower building in downtown Los Angeles. As a project Duckler has been longing to do for a while, Cleopatra ~ On the Banks provides “so much untapped opportunity” in the site and the story. The site-specific choreographer sees great challenges in the performance, as it mixes the corporate lifestyle of the 1980s Los Angeles power suit with the elusive feminism of the iconic Cleopatra.  Coming into an extravagant site like the bank tower, which has been abandoned for over ten years, is par for the course for Duckler. “Sometimes when you have an idea, you have to wait until you find the right venue to express it,” Duckler says of her work. Her company almost always rehearses in the site they are performing in, and this creates, what Wanserski refers to as, their aim to “animate the landscape” wherever they are. 

Of L.A., a city she has lived and worked in for almost thirty years, Duckler finds daily muses in the city and its pace which is constantly changing and evolving. She states, “I’ve lived here for 30 years and can still drive down a street that I’ve never been on.” Duckler hardly shies away from the idea of celebrity and media that seem to define the entire city. Instead, she chooses to mirror those ideas through her own artistic viewpoint. In fact, a contributing point of inspiration for the Cleopatra work came from a quote by pop star Macy Gray. Duckler also draws upon the talents of another female artist; author Stacy Schiff, to find ingenuity and inspiration to drive this work. In Schiff’s new book, Cleopatra: A Life, she explores a feministic point of view on the Egyptian queen and exposes how Cleopatra was not only an object of beauty and desire, but how she possessed qualities both cunning and opportunistic.

The parallels between the ancient and the new are reflected in Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre’s mission to challenge the relationship between audience and art through site-specific performance. It is evident that finding connections in our world is inherent to Duckler as both an Artistic/Executive Director and choreographer, for she believes, “on some level, people want to [ultimately] be united.” And this performance will be no exception.

“Cleopatra ~ On the Banks” will have its world premiere in February 2012 in Los Angeles.  Find ‘Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre’ on Twitter, Facebook, and at heididuckler.org.

Photos by Andrei Andreev

Known worldwide for his Emmy nominated work with Madonna , Alex Magno is a highly regarded international director and choreographer for the stage and screen. His diverse resume includes works for Madonna, Yanni, Britney Spears, the Parisian Lido,  Ballet Hispanico, Ringling Brothers, and the Academy Awards, to name a few, as well as his own highly acclaimed dance company With Passion.

Alex took time to share his unique story with Dance Informa.

Tell us about your upbringing in Brazil and the impact it had on you as a dancer and choreographer.

My upbringing has absolutely had a strong influence on the kind of dancer and choreographer I am today.  As a Brazilian, improvisation is part of your DNA, it is entrenched in the culture, the music and the way of life, and I am no exception to that rule.

I grew up in a small town called Vila Kenned outside Rio De Janeiro, and at an early stage of my life I learned how to cultivate my imagination, to improvise (in life and dance), and  create my own world in which anything was possible, even though the world outside me had infinite roadblocks. I remember every Sunday getting together with the entire family and gathering around in a big circle for an impromptu music and dance jam, with the entire family playing rhythms on whatever was around that could be used as an instrument. This is where I learned not only rhythm, but how to improvise, listen to the music, and let it move me.

I did not grow up taking dance lessons, but I did do Capoeira and two different styles of Karate. In my teens, I put a dance group together called “Old Jazz” and we used to go to different night clubs and perform. I would make up the routines that were influenced by watching different dance videos and films. So I actually began choreographing before I began training as a professional dancer. I ended up getting discovered in one of those clubs and got a scholarship to begin training.

How did you get to LA?

I arrived in LA in 1986 after winning a choreographers competition in Brazil (sponsored by Paramount Pictures) in which the prize was a trip to LA with all the expenses paid for one week.

It was very surreal for me; they had a limo waiting with the driver holding a sign with my last name. This was a far cry from the harsh reality of life in Brazil at that time.

I ended up staying and received scholarship at one of the best dance studios in the US at the time – Dupree Dance Academy. There I took classes with amazing dance teachers such as Doug Caldwell, Hama, Jackie Sleight, Randy Allaire, Rosemary Randy, Tony Cappola, Melinda Cordell, and Vicktor Manoel, amongst others.

You’re known worldwide for your Emmy nominated work for Madonna. Tell us about your experiences with her.

I worked with Madonna on two worlds tours. The first tour was The Girlie Show Tour – a tour that was all about staging, choreography, costume and lighting. It was one of Madonna’s few tours that relied heavily on theater, and the choreography shared an equal spotlight with Madonna herself.

The first thing Madonna told me after I auditioned as a choreographer for her was, “Alex, just so you know, I approach each of my songs from a character point of view. I need you to not take it personally if I don’t like a certain step or if I challenge you to tell me the reason why you’re choreographing this step or that…You are going to be fine as long as you keep those guide lines”.

Lucky for me, that was the way I used to work, in a very theatrical way. All of my movements came out of a character.

There is an interesting story behind me working with her a second time. A few months prior to the Drowned World Tour starting production, there was news that Madonna was going to be touring again, but I had no information on who was to be her next creative team. So I submitted to Madonna’s manager a full tour concept, along with my new choreography reel. It happened, just by coincidence, that some of the concept I sent to her was very similar to the direction that Madonna and her director Jamie were thinking. That synergy was what got me the gig the second time, and eventually the Emmy nomination. This tour was the perfect balance of music, theater and hi-tech production.  It was one of the most challenging tours, because I had to choreograph all different styles of dance, ranging from Martial Arts, to Tango, Flamenco, Contemporary, etc.

Madonna is an artist who is highly intelligent, deeply in tune with herself and always true to what moves her. She makes no excuses for her motivations and beliefs. As an artist, it is inspiring to be able to create alongside someone so bold and fearless. The other great thing about Madonna is that she is always clear – she loves it or she hates it. That may be harsh at times, but in the end you always know that she is truly happy with the final product. She will push until it is perfect.

What was it like to be nominated for an Emmy?

Being nominated for an Emmy, for doing what I love, was an absolute honor. The Drowned World Tour was actually the only one of Madonna’s tours to be recognized with that honor.

You are often called a “story teller” when it comes to your body of work. Why do you think that is?

Because I explore the movement from a character’s point view, from real emotions we all can relate to. Dance is an art that can be both abstract and communicative, but in order for it to be effective, it must provoke emotion.

Most of my work has universal themes that cross frontiers, language, age, culture and gender, but when you apply them to a specific setting they become much more tangible and emotionally effective. I appreciate dance that is about the beauty of the movement, but for me the steps are secondary to the emotion.

In every work I do I try to bring all of the colors of the music to life through the movement, showing the unspoken poem of the song and getting to the core of the music itself. The idea is to have the music translate visually through each body movement.

You’re an avid dance educator in addition to being an award winning choreographer. Why are you so passionate about teaching?

Because it keeps the flame of dance alive. I had some amazing teachers that inspired me to be what I am today, so I feel that is part of my job to pass that on.  It is also what keeps me artistically alive. It is my “creative workshop” where I create the castles out of “playing cards”, it is a place where I see magic being created.  I learn from my students, they teach me to become a better teacher, choreographer and director.

What is next for you?

I am currently directing, choreographing and producing Benise’s The Spanish Guitar world tour. I am also in development for a new dance multimedia show starring actress/dancer Jenna Elfman, as well as shooting a series of dance short films.

Alex Magno is represented by The Movement / A Dance Management Company
www.MovementMGMT.com

Nvitational Artistic Director, Dee Caspary, whose company is appearing with Hysterica July 29-31

After 10 years of hosting a variety of dance companies and performances, El Portal Directors Pegge Forrest and Jay Irwin wanted to create a unique dance event that would celebrate the incredibly high level of talent and versatility in the Los Angeles dance community.   They approached choreographer Dee Caspary with the idea of a dance invitational/festival.  Based on Caspary’s successful creative background at El Portal with his IV Dance Company and his national exposure on shows such as So You Think You Can Dance, they decided to team up and focus the spotlight onto this 21^st century, vibrant, and artistically energizing dance population!

The Nvitational will be a series of collaborative events featuring dance from America’s best, boldest, edgiest, and fiercest choreographers including the festival’s Artistic Director, Dee Caspary and notables Marty Kudelka, Mandy Moore, Kitty McNamee, Ryan Heffington, Bubba Carr, Peter Chu, Tabitha and Napoleon, Tovaris Wilson, Kevin Maher, Eddie Garcia, Justin Giles, Scott Hislop, Terry Beeman, Jennifer Hamilton, Dana Wilson, Adam Parson, Nina McNeely, Helene Phillips, Erica Sobol, David Moore, Tessandra Chavez, Mark Meismer, Amanda Leise, Gustovo Vargas, CJ Salvador, Kim DelGrosso, Wes Veldink, and more to be announced.

These choreographers and their work have been seen worldwide on music videos and concert tours; on stage for operas and musical theatre; and the hit American television shows So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, and America’s Best Dance Crew.  For the first time, these choreographers will collaborate on world premiere dance pieces with each other, featuring dancers from their own companies as well as 75 hand-picked dancers from across the country. 

These 75 dancers are the “invited” artists culled from dance workshops, intensives, master classes, and competitions throughout North America.  Each choreographer has been given a limited number of invitations to offer to top dancers the opportunity to participate in this first-of-its-kind event.  These selected artists will work with the star choreographers in group classes and individually every day, fully immersing themselves in each specialized dance style.  In the afternoons the dancers will study with acting teachers, talent managers, photographers, and image consultants to prepare themselves for the professional life of a dancer.  On the weekends, the dancers will then display their technique, artistry, and talent onstage as featured performers in the El Portal Theatre MainStage collaborative performances. 

Hysterica Dance Company, choreographer Kitty McNamee appearing July 29-31 on the MainStage

Additionally, the festival will host RARE one-hour “pre-show” performances in the intimate Forum Theatre by the choreographers themselves.   For the first time, you can see the dances performed by the people who created them.  Weekday performances in the Forum, titled A Night at the Piano, will feature a live pianist in the center of the room with the choreographers improvising in their respective styles to the live music.  Because of the unique nature of these performances and the limited seating (99), we anticipate that these performances will sell out very quickly.  The artistic vibe will spill over to the Skyy Vodka Lounge in the lobbies, where live musicians, fashion designers, and artists will share ideas, libations, and fun!

Information and tickets are available online at www.elportaltheatre.com and www.thenvitational.com or by calling 818-508-4200 or 866-811-4111.

Dance Informa is a proud sponsor of The Nvitational.

By Deborah Searle.

If you’re planning to take class in LA, then you’re bound to go to EDGE Performing Arts Center.  And if you don’t have EDGE on your list of must dos, you should.  EDGE is world renowned as a professional training facility for commercial dance.  Established in 1992, EDGE offers beginning through professional open classes 7 days a week, 350 days a year.  Class styles include Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Hip Hop, Jazz Funk, Contemporary Jazz, Modern Fusion, Theatre Dance, Cabaret, Breakin’, Movement for Actors, Turns, Salsa, Belly Dancing, and Yoga.

EDGE is home to a who’s who roster of industry choreographers, teachers and performers.  They have worked with entertainers including Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake among others.  Their choreography has been featured in countless music videos, commercials, television shows, films, concerts and stage productions.  They have also appeared with the American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Cleveland Ballet and the Tokyo Ballet.

Bill Prudich

Executive Director Bill Prudich is a pillar of the industry and the LA dance scene. “I’ve been here since 81, we opened in 92 and honestly there are so many great people whose careers we’ve been involved in and introduced to the LA scene through EDGE – like Tabitha and Napoleon. We showed them off first”, he explains. “There’s this sense of community in LA that’s bloomed from EDGE. I’m really proud of it. I don’t talk a lot about it but at the end of the day the dancers and choreographers are out there doing the talking. Carol, Randy and I are proud of this place”, he says, referring to his co-Directors Carol Connors and Randall Allaire.

So what makes EDGE so successful? “Our aim is education – preparing dancers to transition from high school or college to their professional careers. EDGE provides an opportunity for students to come and work directly with our teachers, such as Mandy Moore, Sonya Tayeh, Tabitha and Napoleon, Tovaris Wilson and Bobby Newberry, where they can develop a relationship with these teachers. And it gives those teachers a chance to choreograph from their heart”, Bill explains. “It’s a great place for both sides of the equation – not just for a student to come, but for teachers to teach.”

And EDGE isn’t only for the drop in student, but also for the highly dedicated dancer, striving to take their training to the next level.  EDGE provides a world renowned scholarship program with a long history of successful graduates. “We give away 20 full time scholarships a year to dancers from completely divergent backgrounds from all over the country”, explains Bill. “They are fully directed programs. We look at each student and determine their strengths and then really spend the time on their weaknesses.” Bill justifies why they focus on their students’ weaknesses; “there’s always going to be somebody who’s a little prettier, or who can kick a little higher, or turn a little more, so you cannot rest on your laurels or be really good at only one thing.”

Kevin Maher teaching at EDGE

With 17 classes a week, plus three two and a half hour workshop classes exclusively for the lucky scholarship students, EDGE provides an intense and holistic training program. “In the workshop classes we’ll do anything from injury prevention, to improvisation, acting, voice, dance history, or partnering.  The program covers the whole shebang though all different styles and it goes for 1 year,” adds Bill.

But what happens to the students after this intense year at EDGE? “The studio performs a showcase at the end of July. Many industry professionals and all the agencies attend. After the show the agencies come in and work with the dancers and then sign them.  All 20 kids got signed this year. The percentage is always really high”, he boasts.

And boast he should, as EDGE under Bill, Carol and Randall’s careful eye has truly made a mark on the LA dance scene and the world’s dance stage, thanks to the team’s hard work and dedication.  “I am a true believer that the person who works hard and stays focused will find their place”, Bill shares. “It may not be what they imagined, but you just have to be open to see where you belong, as much as where you want to be. Mandy Moore is a perfect example. Mandy auditioned for scholarship and didn’t get in, but she stayed here and worked with us. She started out working out on the conventions selling t-shirts and then unveiled this tremendous gift for teaching and choreographing. Then the next thing I knew she was teaching and choreographing!”

EDGE Performing Arts Center provides a platform where you can find your place in the industry. As a dancer, the variety of classes, caliber of faculty, and friendly non-competitive atmosphere, puts EDGE at the top of my studio list.

www.edgepac.com