Benn Widdey

Tov Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary theater director Rosanna Gamson, whose previous works integrated high tech imagery, high end dancing and lots of collaboration with other media and artists is bringing her latest multi-media exploration to REDCAT for nine performances over the next two weeks. Opening this Thursday, Tov is performed by Ms. Gamson's hometown company of exquisite dancers/performers and the Polish theater group Stowarzyszenie Teatralne CHOREA (CHOREA Theater Association), who have also created the live...

photo credit to Anns v. Koijj. Once again, REDCAT brings the outside world to Los Angeles when it brings Brazilian choreographer Bruno Beltrão and his nine-member, all-male movement powerhouse Grupo de Rua to its theater for five performances this week. With international acclaim celebrating its "raw" and "brilliant" mix of hip hop and contemporary dance (quotes from London's The Guardian), the company will perform H3 here in the City of Angels. Against a quiet...

photo credit to Jerôme Delatour The illustrious downtown theater in the basement of Frank Gehry's iconic Disney Hall, REDCAT is bringing a dance classic onto its stage this week. But NOT ballet, to be sure! This week, the now near ninety year old pioneer Anna Halprin is presenting her 1965 masterpiece parades & changes, replays with an international cast of highly regarded performers and including the work's composer, the legendary electronic music trailblazer, Morton...

Photo credit: Lisa Ffrench Directed by award winning choreographer and filmmaker Lloyd Newson, the internationally renown London-based DV8 Physical Theatre is bringing To Be Straight With You to UCLA's Royce Hall as part of the UCLAlive season this Friday and Saturday nights. In what promotional materials describe as "a poetic but unflinching exploration of tolerance, intolerance, religion and sexuality," the evening length production is based on hours of interviews with dozens of men and...

photo credit to Paul Goode, courtesy of the company MacArthur genius award winner and creative catalyst for this country’s contemporary dance and performance community, Bill T. Jones is bringing his highly acclaimed company to the Barclay Theater in Irvine for one outstanding night of performance this Friday. In one of the only five west coast presentations of the new evening length work—and the only one in the Los Angeles area--the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane...

Born in New Orleans forty-odd years ago, choreographer/performer Meg Stuart came to REDCAT last week with a lot under her belt. After spending her collegiate years at New York University, she danced with Trisha Brown alumnus Randy Warshaw’s company before being offered an opportunity to showcase and develop her own voice in Brussels, Belgium 15 years ago. Since this relocation, she has been afforded state support from the arts-aware nation where she lives, as well as commissions from international funders and collaborating artists and presenters.

Photo credit to Eva Wurdinger. Philipp Gehmacher (foreground) and Niko Hafkenscheid (background). REDCAT is bringing an ex-pat home! New Orleans-born, New York-educated and living in Brussels since 1991, Meg Stuart will be staying in LA this Wednesday through Saturday as she and acclaimed Vienna, Austria-based choreographer Philipp Gehmacher present Maybe Forever in our city's home for the new and different. In front of a large-scale visual installation by artist Janina Audick, the two dance...

The sixth annual three week New Original Works Festival ran its course this past weekend downtown at REDCAT. True to its mission, the series showcased new and emerging artists working in new genres as well as mid-career creators further exploring their art or collaborating with other experimenters in other media. Each of the three separate programs was a shared event and this final triptych went down as promised. To begin the evening, comic performer, writer and alumna of cable TV’s The Daily Show, Lauren Weedman presented Off.

photo of Lauren Weedman by Jeff Swenson For the third and final weekend of the 6th Annual New Original Works Festival at REDCAT, programmers have arranged for humor, incisive comment and other verbal and visual delights to share the stage. Choreographer/performer Meg Wolfe presents a solo dance work accompanied only by composer and ongoing collaborator, Aaron Drake. Calling the piece watch her (not know it now), Lester Horton Award winning Ms. Wolfe has previously...

Pioneering dance innovator Merce Cunningham died of natural causes this past Sunday at his home in New York City. At the age of ninety and having already influenced thousands of dancers and choreographers across the globe, the impact of his artistry will continue to be felt in his absence. The recipient of countless awards and international honors, the always forward-thinking creator only recently announced plans for his legacy to remain true to its origins. His iconoclastic dance technique, related to ballet but tilted, extended and re-imagined beyond ballet’s range, has been documented, codified and disseminated in the teachings of many of his previous company members and the many who trained at his studio in the West Village.