- On Nov 8 we culminated our 4th residency at Fairgrove Academy in the LaPuente Hacienda Heights Unified School District. The students performed 5 world dances we worked with them on and the entire company performed the first act of our developing work A Jewish Child's Story. See their photo group portrait above. Teachers were Louise Reichlin, Kistina Pressler, Tonya Vivian, and Liza Barskaya. Our dancers are shown bowing below at the San Pedro ♥ Festival of the Arts. Besides Louise, Kistina, and Liza, they included Jessica Clemmons, Linnea Snyderman, Rebecca Reaney, Devin Ziel, Nathan Ortiz, and Glenn Rodreguez.
- We currently have an after school program at the All People's Community Center, with Nathan and Devin teaching, and the teachers for the NASA curriculum residency are Kistina and Devin.
- We are excited that through the LA Stage Advance we are donated a studio space at the Nate Holden Theater to work on our new pieces and for our culmination performances for our educational residency with the New Academy of Science & Art (NASA) 2nd graders in December.
***********************************************************************************************************
- In December we are donated the Madrid Theater, 21622 Sherman Way, Canoga,.3 for a week, where we will do video and photo shoots on our newest work, A Jewish Child's Story and Call From the Afterlife, and have an open rehearsal performance on Wednesday evening, Dec 21, at 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to this free event which includes a conversation with the audience (that's you- so please come) about these works. Despite the title, this new work is not particularly for children, and will have a strong holocaust multimedia section added to the lighter Part I. Both of these theater residencies are funded in part by The National Endowment for the Arts and The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. A Jewish Child's Story is supported by a Bruce Geller Memorial Prize, a program supported through a generous Cutting Edge Grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles. These prizes are made possible by the late Jeanette Geller in memory of her husband Bruce. See more about these developing works on our website news page.
 

 

We met many of you when we showcased and had a booth at WAA in Los Angeles in August, and at the Performing Arts Exchange in Orlando in September. We have dates available for the works shown there (Invasion and Call From the Afterlife) as well as our Family Programs (The Patchwork Girl of Oz and The Better To Bite You With). Both have unusual residency activities, and the family programs can include parts for young people in two of the dances.

 

From "Invasion"  Photo: Steve Shea. Linked to video of complete work

Louise Reichlin & Dancers burst into the public eye in 1979 with their first performance at the Anson Ford Theatre when "Reichlin created a sensation with "The Tennis Dances" (Dance News). Over the years she has continued to examine our society from its most primitive nature to the emergence of the information age with "The E-mail Dances"

 

Most recently we created a shorter version of "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" that we toured with and performed here in Los Angeles. Our newest works are "Invasion" (begins the video at top of page and linked to "Invasion" photo above) and "Call From the Afterlife". Last year we did a complete revival of "The Tennis Dances" and added new material to  "Tap Dance Widows Club" at the Bootleg Theater. (both also in that top video) We currently have a master contract with the LA Unified, and have many performances and residencies at schools in the Los Angeles area, both curriculum based and after school. The company, a performing unit of Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers, was founded by Louise Reichlin.

This year we have 2 matching grants from our Cultural Affairs Dept for curriculum residencies in the Valley, and we have a new Master Contract with the LAUSD where they will pay the expenses so we can offer them for FREE. However, the Arts Office has a policy to bring up the entire district so all the schools have more quality arts, and these will go to those with the lowest arts index rating. If your school is rated 1 or 2 in the "index quartile" you will probably get priority on their free offer. But we urge all schools that want more art (and specifically our award winning dance residencies) to look at our approved educational packages, and contact the LAUSD for a PO regardless of how much arts you have. There are other factors also. For the DCA matching grants, you must be in Council Districts 2, 3, 6, 7 and/or 12 and the Arts Index does not matter. Call me with any questions about either residency.