On May 1, 2019, the Center for the Art of Performance, University of California, Los Angeles (CAP UCA) invited press members, UCLA faculty, donors, visiting artists and other friends of the Arts to a 2019-2020 CAP UCLA Season Launch Party on the Royce Hall Terrace. The event was to announce CAP UCLA’s list of incredible performances in music, dance, visual art, opera, theater, literature, performance art and more. The gathering was also to announce the Centennial year for Royce Hall. Originally designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison and completed in 1929, Royce Hall was one of the very first buildings built on the UCLA campus; the other being the Lawrence Clark Powell Library located directly across the courtyard. Building a place to assemble and present ideas, along with a library to preserve history, art and act as a place of research says volumes about the visionaries of UCLA.

After a delicious buffet dinner, catered by Maxine Banks Events, and listening to great Jazz music performed by California Feet Warmers, everyone moved into the West Lobby to hear about what was on the 2019-2020 season. Among the esteemed members present was CAP UCLA’s artist-in-residence Eiko Otake. Since 1972, Eiko and Takashi Koma Otake have worked as co-artistic directors, choreographers, and performers to create a matchless movement theater born out of stillness, shape, light, sound, and time.

The presentation was led by award winning Executive and Artistic Director, Kristy Edmunds, who is one of the major driving forces behind the stunning line up of performances; a line up that she stated reflects how we are racing against the clock for “Human Rights, Gentrification, and human existence”. Like any successful curator, Edmunds is supported by a strong and dedicated staff that includes Deputy Director and Program Manager, Fred Frumberg; Assistant to the Director, Yuko Saegusa; Artist Liaison, Zarina Rico; and Associate Program Manager, Todd McQuade. And, over the years CAP UCLA has built up a solid financial foundation of donors, backers, sponsors, grant awards, and small donations from people who want to see artists continue to have a venue to present their work.

The link to the CAP UCLA website is listed below, but because this is LA Dance Chronicle, I will include the 2019-2020 list of dance performances; a list that also contains opera and theater performances that include dance.

In 2019: On September 19-21 @8:30pm, Sun. Sep. 22 @ 7PM in association with REDCAT Presents, opera, visual art, and dance come together in choreographer Adam Linder’s The Want.  October 6 @ 7pm in Royce Hall, Tokyo based Sankai Juku performs Meguri and on October 18-19 @ 8pm in Royce Hall, Cellist Maya Beiser, ballet dancer Wendy Whelan, modern dance choreographer Lucinda Childs, and prize-winning composer David Lang present The Day. In association with The Ford Theatres, on November 9 @ 8pm in Royce Hall, one of Ireland’s finest dance and theatre-makers, Michael Keegan-Dolan with Teac Damsa presents Loch na Heala, a respectful but alternative take on the classic ballet Swan Lake.

For 2020: On February 15 @8pm in Royce Hall – choreographer Pam Tanowitz, American modernist painter Brice Marden, and legendary Finnish composer, Kaija Saariaho are joined by Tony Award winning actress Kathleen Chalfant in presenting Four Quartets, a poetry cycle masterpiece by T. S. Eliot. February 20 @ 8pm in Royce Hall – Grammy winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo (South African singing and dancing). April 17-18 @ 7:30pm and April 19 @ 2pm Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center in association with CAP UCLA in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion – Tanztheater Wuppertal presents Palermo Palermo by Pina Bausch.

2019-2020 promises to be an exciting year for CAP UCLA audiences.

For information and tickets, click here.