Produced and curated by the incomparable Deborah Brockus and funded in part by a grant for the City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs, the 11th Annual Los Angeles Dance Festival (LADF) will take place over three weekends beginning Friday, April 14 through Sunday, April 30, 2023 at the Brockus Project Studios. The festival will include a documentary film, several short dance films, performances by independent dance artists and LA based dance companies, master classes, discussion groups and more. Tickets are on sale now.
When asked how it felt to be producing the 11th year of LADF, Brockus, “It’s been interesting. The last few years have been odd with COVID. We had such a phenomenal 2019 that it was going to be hard to top, but we then switched into our online versions, which changed it incredibly. The LA scene has done some moving and shifting during the past three years. We came back for our 10th year at the Luckman with a tribute to two major LA women (Lula Washington and Bella Lewitzky) and the people who are part of their network now have their own careers.” That 10th LADF at the Luckman Theater also included youth performances titled “Dance & Dialogue”. The festival went on to present the FINGE showcases at the Brockus Project Studios.
Bella Lewitzky – Screenshot for documentary BELLA by Bridget Murnane (Courtesy of LADF)
“Those two women not only taught people how to dance, but how to tour, how to perform, how to create a space, and how to survive in the industry,” Brockus stated. “Both were underdogs in some way but with a love of life, love of dance, and fighters.”
Brockus explained that it has been fun to watch the LA Dance Festival grow and to watch the community shift, adjust, and develop while remaining strong throughout these turbulent times. As with many of those who love LA dance, Brockus said that she is looking forward to seeing what dance artists have produced as a result of this current climate in Los Angeles. “I have seen some of the dance films already as we continue to curate and choose which ones we put into the festival,” she said. “I’m seeing different tones and tenors and focuses. It’s interesting to watch LA dance as a reflection of our times in society.”
How Los Angeles dance artists respond to the ever-changing crises was one of the impetuses that drove Brockus to begin producing LADF and the numerous other dance festivals she has curated over the years. Over the years she has attended many booking conferences across the county to help create work for her company, BrockusRED. Seeing the many ways different regions create dance works, she began to truly understand her own city and to see how different LA dance is from other cities in the nation.
“This year we are opening with a tribute to one of the people that created that change,” Brockus stated. “We’re honoring Bella Lewitzky. She was a Lester Horton dancer, an activists, a woman artist during a time when it was hard to be a working woman and she had a company (Bella Lewitzky Dance Company). Lester Horton had the first integrated company in America and she continued that tradition.” Lewitzky was again ahead of her time when she created a dance titled Spaces Between (1974) whose final section featured dancers performing on a platform that was suspended above the stage floor while swinging from side to side.
Leah Hamel – Photo courtesy of LADF
Brockus feels that young artists should try to think introspectively about their work in its place in time and history, that just because something is happening to them, that it is not the first time it has occurred. In other words, like the phrase “don’t reinvent the wheel”. What is it, she asks, that we can do to keep things moving forward. Brockus feels that Los Angeles lacks enough of an infrastructure that allows its artist to respond immediately. “The really good dances about AIDS did not happen during the AIDS pandemic, but after a bit.” She added. “Sometimes it is too hot to make in the time period, but how do we digest what is going on in the world and respond to it in such a way that it moves the audience to a different place.”
Again, Lewitzky was a very powerful force during her era. She was an activist and a speaker of truth to the times. “And that’s what I’m sensing coming out of the artists given the disruptions that we’ve had with COVID and social justice, and environmental issues and political unrest,” Brockus said. “We’re living in a similar time as to when Bella lived and started her creations if you think about the turbulent times that she went through and found her voice to be for good. I think that it helps to look back so that we have guideposts to move forward. I’m trying to voice and space to those creations; not just by the creations by the choreographers but by the audiences in how they interact with them.”
Brockus thinks of the first weekend of LADF, April 14-16, as Looking Back, Looking Forward and she is opening the festival with the award winning documentary BELLA (2022), produced and directed by Bridget Murnane; written by Alex Bushe and Pat Verducci; and includes interviews with former company members, Sean Greene, Diana McNeil, Walter Kennedy, musician and composer Larry Attaway, and others. It includes interviews with Bella Lewitzky’s colleagues, dance writers; and dance legend Carmen De Lavallade. The film will be followed by a discussion and reception so that LA dance artists can sit and chat about their dance mentors, ancestors and heritage.
As a prequel to the film, at 12 noon on Friday, April 14th, Walter Kennedy, who was also a associate producer of BELLA, will teach a master class with live music. That evenings there will be a master class by current choreographer Hannah Millar who has a work showing on the final weekend.
Imprints Dance Company in Hannah Millar’s “Let Us Bleed, Then Heal” – Photo by Tucker Maxfield
“We are In challenging times, but we live in learning from our ancestors and the people who blaze the past before us to help us navigate today’s waters starting with the master class from the past, a master class from the current, the Bella film, and concluding with the discussion at 2 pm on Sunday the 16th about where the direction LA Dance is headed.” Brockus added.
The 11th Annual Los Angeles Dance Festival Schedule
Opening our 11th year of the festival with a weekend dedicated to a leading women in LA dance – Bella Lewitzky. Showing a documentary film by Producer/Director Bridget Murnane, Walter Kennedy, Associate Producer and Alex Bushe, Co-Writer, Editor.
Weekend #1: Friday – Sunday, April 14-16
All Shows $15
Master Classes $10
Friday, April 14 PREVIEW for the Festival
Master class 12:00-1:45 with WALTER Kennedy with live music former – Kennedy is a former Bella Lewitzky Dancer and co-producer of the film BELLA and a professor at University of Oregon
Tickets: $15 note this class venmmo@brockusprojectstudios or cash at the door.
Master class 7:30-9:00 pm with Hannah Millar, Artistic Direct of Imprints Dance Company ( showing work weekend #3)
Tickets: $15 note this class venmmo@brockusprojectstudios or cash at the door.Friday – Sunday, April 14 – 16
BELLA – Documentary by Bridget Murnane (courtesy of LADF)
Saturday, April 15
Master class time TBA Sean Greene former Lewitzky dancer, college professor and cover of Dance Magazine
Tickets: $15 Note this class venmmo@brockusprojectstudios or cash at the door.
Film Screening of Bridget Murnane’s BELLA at 7:00 pm
Reception follows.
Tickets: $15 seating is limited. venmmo@brockusprojectstudios or cash at the door.
Sunday, April 16
Master class 12:00-1:45 WALTER Kennedy with live music former Bella Lewitsky Dancer and co-director of the film and professor at University of Oregon
Tickets: $15 note this class venmmo@brockusprojectstudios or cash at the door.
TownHall – Where is LA Dance Heading?
2:00-4:00 pm – Free
Charlotte Katherine – Photo courtesy of LADF
Weekend #2: Friday – Sunday, April 21-23
Friday April 21 at 8:30pm
Short dance films by Kitty McNamee; Robin Bisio; Jacob Taylor; Spenser Stroud; Olivia Mia Orozco; Sing Yiun Ng; Rena Kamariotakis; Madison VanDerlinde; Jamal Kamau White; John Castagna; Luminario Ballet; Roberto Ekholm; Margaret Canady; Vannia Ibarguen; and Shenandoah Harris.
Tickets: $14
Saturday, April 22 at 8:30 pm
Live performances featuring works by Benita Bike’s DanceArt, Inc.; Jack – Ironstone Dance; Brynn M. Bodair & Sarah – X2 DANCE COLLECTIVE; Leah Hamel; Deb Rosen- Deborah Rosen and Dancers; Queala Clancy – The Dance Narrative Project; Ken Morris- Ken Morris Project; Tashara Gavin-Moorehead; and Megan and Mamie – Volta.
Tickets: $15
MASTER CLASSES: $10
Sunday, April 23 – Combined Auditions – 3:30-5:30 free – no registration for dancers just companies
Ken Morris Project – Photo by Denise Leitner
Weekend #3: Friday – Sunday, April 28-30
Friday and Saturday, April 28 & 29 at 8:30 pm
Live performances featuring works by Re:borN Dance Interactive; Maura Townsend; Hannah Millar – Imprints Dance Company; James MahKween (4/28 only); Bernard Brown – bbMoves; Deborah Brockus- BrockusRED; Celeste Lanuza; Charlotte Smith (4/29 only); and Mallory Fabian.
Announcement of the next cohort of SHIFT/west Choreography Residents following the final showcase.
Re:BorN Interactive Dance Company – Boroka Nagy – Photo by Skye Schmidt
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WHAT: The 11th Annual Los Angeles Dance Festival
WHEN: Three consecutive weekends – Fridays – Sundays, April 15 – 30, 2023.
WHERE: Brockus Project Studios, 618 B Moulton Ave LA CA 90031
TICKETS: NOTE what you are paying for
Venmo@brockusprojectstudios
Paypal donation button on www.LAdanceFEST.org main page
Cash at the door.
For further information please contact:
ladancefestival@gmail.com
562-412-7429
For further information please contact:
ladancefestival@gmail.com
562-412-7429
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Director: Deborah Brockus
LADF is funded in part by a grant for the City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs.
LADF is produced by Deborah Brockus, Brockus Project Dance Company director a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: BrockusRED – Mara Hancock, Hannah Joo, Stephanie Mizrahi, Julienne Mackey in JONAH – Photo by Denise Leitner
