DuoFest: LA’s Most Fearless Fusions
Jul 8-jul 15
Introducing DuoFest! For the first time, Boston Court reimagines its summer music series as a weeklong festival, featuring collaborations from some of LA’s most exciting contemporary performers. Each evening will feature two or more artists, performing separately and together, showcasing new or rarely performed work. DuoFest celebrates collaboration in unexpected and adventurous ways, like only Boston Court can.
Opening Night: Beauty and the Beast or The Enormous Wound
Saturday, July 8 @ 8pm
Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre
Dancer Teresa Barcelo is featured in the world premiere of a new work based on the Portuguese story “A bela e a fera ou A ferida grande demais” about a beauty who embraces her inner beast. Set to original music, recorded by noted saxophonist Joe Berry and narrator Paula Rebelo, experience a modern story told through the pairing of dance and music, as well as English and Portuguese.
Founded in 1985 by Artistic/Executive Director and choreographer Heidi Duckler, Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre has created memorable dance experiences in extraordinary locations for over two decades.
DuoFest: LA’s Most Fearless Fusions
Introducing DuoFest! For the first time, Boston Court reimagines its summer music series as a weeklong festival, featuring collaborations from some of LA’s most exciting contemporary performers. Each evening will feature two or more artists, performing separately and together, showcasing new or rarely performed work, and mixing things up along the way. From bold musical couplings to a new piece by the Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre to the special finale performance of Mauricio Kagel’s Ludwig van (featuring the week’s artists, plus a few special guests), DuoFest celebrates collaboration in our signature Boston Court style—unexpectedly, adventurously, and intimately.
Originally named Collage Dance Theatre, they began their site-specific work with Laundromatinee, a piece staged in a local laundromat. As dancers performed alongside whirring washers and dryers, Laundromatinee captured the Dance Theatre’s collage ethos, mixing art, movement, pop culture, and interactivity in found spaces.
Drawing from the success of Laundromatinee, they continued to create small and witty site-specific works. Experimenting with the outdoor environment as a theatre, Duckler animated locations ranging from a baseball diamond (Stealing Home, 1993) to an empty swimming pool (Life in the Lap Lane, 1994) and the concreted Los Angeles River (Mother Ditch, 1995). Duckler also began creating immersive experiences that included viewers as adventurous, mobile participants.
Their recent performances at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf and the Brisbane Festival in Austrialia (both in 2014) serve as testaments to Duckler’s constant new experimentation in site. As they look forward to animating new locations within the vast landscape, one thing is certain—expect them in unexpected places.
