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In Silver Lake: 'It’s kind of an American Apparel ad come to life'
You can thank Terence McFarland, the executive director of the Los Angeles Stage Alliance, for that fantastic quote about Sweaty Sundays (and Wet Wednesdays), a popular updated Richard Simmons dance exercise class " to a soundtrack of indie rock, techno, and 1980s new wave hits new wave" in Silver Lake. The New York Times takes an interest--"Silver Lake, a hipster neighborhood in Los Angeles"--while Gawker ponders if Williamsburg hipsters in Brooklyn can step up to the challenge.
Leading the class is Ryan Heffington, aka Sir Heffington, who is a regular in anything in performance art-movement related in Los Angeles it seems (Hysterica Dance Company, Fingered, etc). The whole hipster connotation can get a lot people all riled up, but because this is Heffington, take heed, he's a truly amazing artist from what we've witnessed around town.
Heffinton does teach professionally (and designs clothes that Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani wear), but at the amateur level, his friends were not finding something suitable for their dancing needs. So it began in May 2008 and today it still goes on strong at Foresight Studios on Sunset Blvd. “People were so excited to see dance wasn’t this high art form that was unreachable,” he told the New York Times.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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