The performance of Heidi Duckler Dance’s The Chandelier was scheduled to premiere in the Lovelace Studio Theater & Promenade Terrace at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in mid-April. The performances were cancelled, however, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Fortunately for all, The Wallis just announced that a new shorter version of the performance, titled Illuminating The Chandelier, will take place on Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 5 pm (PST) via a FREE Livestreamed Program with subsequently available on demand viewings (TBA).

As LA dance audiences know, Heidi Duckler, the Artistic Director of Heidi Duckler Dance, is world famous for presenting site-specific works in very unexpected places such as an abandoned Chinese movie theater, on tall ships in the Port of Los Angeles, underneath city bridges and to name only a few. She has created more than 300 original dance works at unique sites in Australia, Germany, Russia, Hong Kong, Cuba, Chile, Canada, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, and throughout Southern California.

Heidi Duckler Dance. Photo by Mae Koo.

Heidi Duckler Dance. Photo by Mae Koo.

The streamed version titled Illuminating The Chandelier is a shortened version of Duckler’s The Chandelier originally scheduled to perform live at The Wallis. It explores social distancing circumstances during this once-in-a-lifetime COVID-19 shutdown. “Illuminating The Chandelier explores a new language of intimacy as people rely on technology to connect to the arts and each other”. Press release – The Wallis.

Through technology, Ducker has taken different movement phrases performed by her company members in the safety of their homes and put them into one cohesive performance that features dancers, musicians, composers, and designers. All of these artists worked together while practicing “physical distancing” to create the livestreamed performance of Illuminating The Chandelier.

Both Illuminating the Chandelier and The Chandelier are based on the novel The Chandelier by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector, recently translated into English from Portuguese. It is a tragic tale told through the lens of a young girl approaching womanhood.

Heidi Duckler Dance - Photo courtesy of HDD.

Heidi Duckler Dance – Photo courtesy of HDD.

While following a similar narrative as the longer live dance piece, Illuminating The Chandelier focuses specifically on the interior monologue of a woman in isolation who experiences dissociated, dreamlike feelings and has trouble connecting to the world around her,” states Artistic Director Heidi Duckler. “Through layers of imagery and acts of repetition, the work explores the contrasting ideas of impermanence and the irrevocable, especially in the context of what we as a society are all going through in this moment.” – Press release, The Wallis.

The FREE Livestreaming Performance of Illuminating The Chandelier by Heidi Duckler Dance takes place on Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 5:00 pm (PST) with subsequently on demand viewings. ($15 suggested donation benefits Heidi Ducker Dance)

TO REGISTER FOR LIVESTREAMING EVENT, click here.  (NOTE: The on demand program will have a separate link to be announced at a later time)

To visit the Heidi Duckler Dance website, click here.

To learn more about the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, click here.

Featured image: Heidi Duckler Dance – Photo courtesy of the company.