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 Dance in 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 Hamburger.

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.

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.