Baruch Performing Arts Center Presents Heidi Latsky Dance In The New York City Premiere Of D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D. -

Baruch Performing Arts Center presents Heidi Latsky Dancein the New York City Premiere of D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D. at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (25th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues), NYC on March 8, 9, and 10, 2018 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $21 ($10 for for Students with Student ID) and may be purchased at www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac.

Heidi Latsky transforms her performance installation ON DISPLAY, seen in 40 cities across the globe, to create a new theatrical experience - part dance, part art exhibition. D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D. explores society's obsession with body image, challenges boundaries defining beauty, embodies inclusion through dance, and explores the concept of watching while being watched.

Part gallery of living sculpture, part immersive dance experience, in D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D., Heidi Latsky Dance will experiment with multimedia aspects to enhance an audience's perception of inclusion; the performers themselves represent a wise cross-section of the diversity spectrum. A movement installation devised to disrupt public spaces with a meditative sculpture court of real people now reenters a more traditional venue in D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D.

The evening will include installations throughout the space, transforming the entire venue including all lobby areas. Fellow Canadian Aerialist and double-amputee Erin Ball will be featured in a 30-minute solo, Suspended Disbelief,during which she will perform in and around her wheelchair that is being suspended by the silks. Films by Janet Wong, Associate Artistic Director of New York Live Arts and Paul Galando (HLD's media director) will be screened. Guest appearances by members of the West Coast-based AXIS Dance Company and members of the Baruch College community.

Through a partnership with the NuVu Studio in Massachusetts, middle and high school students have created wearable art pieces designed specifically for designated performers highlighting the importance of body diversity. Fashion designers Anna Kathleen Little, Susan Obrant, and Timothy Westbrook also contribute to the clothing worn by the artists.

Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) with Lord Jamal, HLD longtime collaborator Chris Brierley, jazz musician Stan Harrison, and 4 Wheel City (a duo rap group who are both wheelchair users) all contribute original music to the evening. Music direction and arrangement by Ximena Borges; Lighting design by Susan Hambuger.

We've always been taught not to stare; that if someone "different" catches our eye we've objectified them. Alternatively, should we possess a birthmark, a glorious height or a visible disability, we risk being too noticeable, ostracized. In both scenarios, there is a limitation where one does not see beyond mere physical characteristics and the other cannot be anything but other. How can we create a safe space to really look? How can we nurture people to reveal who they are with fierceness and vulnerability and within the context of high art?

ON DISPLAY has been a deconstructed art exhibit/fashion show and commentary on the body as spectacle and society's obsession with body image, turning a cast of diverse and extreme bodies into a sculpture court where the performers are the art. ON DISPLAY is now a movement, a growing portfolio of works that explore and demonstrate inclusion through art. It has been presented in Times Square, Father Duffy Square; Chinatown, Mott Street; Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1; Bronx Botanical Gardens; Lincoln Center David Rubenstein Atrium (Premiere); Art Director's Club; High Line Park; United Nations General Assembly Lobby; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Prudential Insurance; Hurleyville Arts Centre; NYU Skirball Center Lobby; NYU Tisch Dance; Federal Plaza; City Hall; Monteroni, Italy; Palencia, Spain; and Toronto, Canada and in countries like Indonesia, Chile, Bangladesh, Hungary, Croatia.

"A choreographer and dancer of uncommon intelligence and fluidity."

- The New York Times

This performance of D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D. has been underwritten by the Gerald & Janet Carrus Foundation. D.I.S.P.L.A.Y.E.D. was developed during a yearlong residency at the Hurleyville Arts Centre where it previewed during the fall of 2017. It will be presented at The Wilkins Theater at Kean University in April 2018. Future engagements include the National Portrait Gallery in DC, Snug Harbor and the Ideal School in NYC.

HEIDI LATSKY (Artistic Director/Choreographer/ Performer), originally from Montreal, first received recognition as a celebrated principal dancer for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (1987-1993). Her experience there profoundly influenced her style and her philosophy of dance as she developed a reputation in her own right as a choreographer for stage, theater, and film. In 1993, she received a commission from the Cannes International Dance Festival. Three years later, she was chosen to represent Canada at the Suzanne Dellal International Dance Competition in Tel Aviv and at Danse a Lille in France. Since then, Latsky has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe with her own company and as part of Goldhuber & Latsky (with former partner Lawrence Goldhuber) [1996-2000]. Latsky headed the Movement Department at The School for Film and Television from 1998-2005, where she developed her teaching practice: The Latsky Method. She has taught internationally throughout her career and her "Movement Portraits in Action" program has been implemented at the AIDS Service Center and The Creative Center in NYC. While working with Theater Director Mary Fulham, she received two Innovative Theater Award nominations. She served as choreographer on Academy Award nominated Katja Esson's film "A Season of Madness" and as director and choreographer on Susan Murphy's GIRL/GROUP at the Marquee, NYC (2003). In 2001, she founded her own company, Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD). During the fall of 2006, Latsky began an intensive period of creation with bi-lateral amputee, Lisa Bufano. This marked a significant shift of focus for HLD and a period of immense growth, during which she more fully developed the company's mission and vision. HLD received an ARC grant through Pentacle that included mentoring Latsky for a period of 18 months, and in 2009 she was chosen by Creative Capital Foundation as one of four choreographers nationally to receive a three-year award for her evening-length work, GIMP. In 2014, she was selected as the first participant in "Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University," a three-year short film series underwritten by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The film premiered as part of the company's live show at Peak Performances in April 2015. Her range of work is as varied as guest lecturing at Harvard University, performing with other Bill T Jones' alumni in "SUMMER REUNION," restaging a piece of Arnie Zane's at the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee, creating a work at the Aaron Academy for high school students with learning disabilities, directing workshops in performance skills, performing in 2012's TEDxWomen, and developing new works for her contemporaries like Li Chiao Ping as featured in several films by Douglas Rosenberg, including Seven Solos in 2012. Latsky is an advocate for disability rights and serves actively on the Disability Task Force for Dance/NYC. As a core part of its mission and work, HLD is committed to reflecting the diversity that it serves and actively follows the disability rights movement by embracing 'nothing without us'-that is, its practice in choreography and performance and its composition of board leadership and staff has the representation and full, direct involvement of disabled people. She has sustained partnerships with Commissioner Victor Calise of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities and the NY Academy of Medicine. Latsky has continued her work as an adjudicator of the American College Dance Festival Association's (ACDFA) and serves on the Artist Advisory Board of Danspace Project. She has a BA in Psychology with Honors from Carleton University (1979), receiving the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement and The Ottawa Ladies College Scholarship.

Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD) was founded in 2001 and began integrating its works with people with disabilities after visual artist and bilateral amputee Lisa Bufano commissioned a solo from Artistic Director Heidi Latsky in 2006. GIMP (2008) was its first evening-length work featuring a physically integrated cast, toured internationally, and garnered praise for its provocative investigation of inclusion: Dance Magazine called the piece a milestone in contemporary dance and a news feature on the work was nominated for an Emmy. IF (2010) and TRIPTYCH (2015) followed as inclusive in concert pieces. In 2014, Latsky was named the first participant in "Dance for Film On Location at Montclair State University" a program orchestrated by Peak Performances at Montclair State University and underwritten by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Soliloquy premiered within TRIPTYCH at Peak Performances and has screened at American Dance Festival, Festival de Marseille, The ReelAbilities Film Festival, Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center, Miami Screendance, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and The Whitney Museum. Currently, Latsky is creating and directing ON DISPLAY, a portfolio of art works for public spaces that started in 2015 at the request of The Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. ON DISPLAY has since been performed in over 40 cities worldwide through an annual initiative called ON DISPLAY GLOBAL in honor of UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities every December 3. The UN and NYU/Tisch School of the Arts are committed partnered sponsors of ON DISPLAY GLOBAL in NYC with continued support from The Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. The HLD company has also performed iterations involving local community members in Austin, TX and Boston, MA, the American Dance Festival and the Stavros Niachros Foundation Cultural Center in Athens with over 50 Greek volunteers. Support for ON DISPLAY includes NEA, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, O'Donnell-Green Music & Dance Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Dance/NYC's Disability. Dance. Artistry Fund and Dance Advancement Fund, provided by the Ford Foundation with additional support from the Merz-Gilmore Foundation.

Baruch Performing Arts Center is an acclaimed performing arts presence. Located in the heart of Manhattan just east of Chelsea and the famed flatiron building, BPAC presents renowned classical music, opera, jazz, theater, dance, discussion, film, and innovative cross-genre programming. BPAC has presented over 1,000 cultural programs in its 5 spaces since 2003. Its curated season of 40 programs annually emphasizes new work experienced in intimate settings, the diversity of American culture as exemplified by Baruch students (who come from 130 different countries), and work that lives at the confluence of art and social justice.

Past presentations have included theatre companies such as the National Asian American Theatre Company, Folksbiene, New Georges, The Acting Company, Aquilla and MCC. Dance companies such as Dzul Dance, José Limón, and Urban Bush Women. BPAC is the New York home of the Alexander String Quartet and presents a rich chamber music season including ensembles such as the Israeli Chamber Project, Cantata Profana, and pianists Sara Davis Buechner and 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist, Michael Brown. BPAC offers a jazz series named for bassist and faculty member Milt Hinton, which has featured artists such as Grammy-Award winner Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. Discussion program have included writers Teju Cole, Colum McCann and Amitav Ghosh, actress Linda Lavin, and thought leaders such as Gloria Steinem and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Visit www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac for complete and up-to-date information on the 2017-18 season.

Heidi Latsky Dance's residency at Baruch Performing Arts Center is part of the CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), a residency program that opens the doors of CUNY campuses to professional choreographers and dance companies. CDIreceives major support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. CDI is spearheaded and administered by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative