Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers Presents Four Streamed Pieces from Louise Reichlin & Dancers

Louise Reichlin & Dancers, a performing company of Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers, will be streaming three reimagined sections of her critically acclaimed 1990-92 work "Urban and Tribal Dances" recorded for this at the Ivy Substation in Culver City plus a new filmic version of Alone 2020.

Although live audiences are still not allowed, these four will be shown FREE on the company's channel Vimeo.com/showcase/urbanandtribaldances.

Louise Reichlin is Director/Choreographer, with costumes by Linda Borough and media created by Audri Phillips when Remembrance was revised in 2012. Lighting is by Bosco Flanagan, Videography by Devin Schiro, and Editing by Andrew Zutta and Louise Reichlin. Dancers include Jill Elaine Collins, Coree McKee Gonzalez, Corrina Gemignani, Eve Metsäranta, Danny Guerrero, Katelyn Martin, and Kohl Lewis. Each section will be updated, and although the work was highly praised when first done, each work has added elements that make the whole timely, current, controversial, and moving. Besides the four dances, a section of conversations with the artists about the pieces are also part of the showing.

When first created in 1990-1992, reviews of the original work by Reichlin included:

"The most interesting example of her current work was found in Urban and Tribal Dances, which was further enhanced by an intriguing score of ethnic sounds gathered from around the world. ...Costumed in surreal headdresses and makeup, the dancers conveyed the interconnectedness of human existence, juxtaposed with the isolation experienced even in the midst of society." VARIETY

"Reichlin's "Urban and Tribal Dances" is a wonderful vehicle for her talent for evoking mysterious, primitive imagery. ...In "Batida", Linda Borough's eccentric hats graced the heads of several dancers in black who criss-crossed the stage like so many cultures converging ... "Alone"... a deft interweaving of mythical, primitive and biological images... "Together" challenged gender differentiation by putting all the dancers, including the men, in skirts. Reichlin used simple folk dance figures in this section, reemphasizing the earth, universal quality of "Urban and Tribal Dances" as a whole." LA DAILY NEWS

LA Dance Chronicle described the new Alone 2020 "For the festival, Reichlin has taken a recording of ...the performing of an earlier solo titled Alone and with the aid of technology, cleverly superimposed three other similar solos to create Alone 2020. The work features four women living alone in separate tents. It is a work with multiple layers of meaning considering the homeless situation throughout this country, the separation we all feel during the pandemic and the dependency we have to our telephones."

The first and last dances reveal an ever-present communal or tribal theme that lies below the surface. Alone is just the opposite, bleak and isolated. Although choreographed in 1990, it foreshadows our dependence on our phones, but at this time by the attached line. When it breaks, the dancer is deaf and blind. The review above describes the new one. The new version was created with the choreographer and dancers each sequestered alone, with all direction by Reichlin and editing by Andrew Zutta created using Zoom. Alone 2020 was introduced in progress in the San Pedro Festival of the Arts in September and premiered at the Los Angeles Dance Festival in October 2020 (both streaming festivals).

Remembrance has been reimagined in a number of Reichlin's works. The multimedia content for Remembrance,an animation background by Audri Phillips to the dance, was added through a Facebook campaign in which users were encouraged to share photos and stories about lost loved ones. It was part of The Baggage Project dedicated to the death of Reichlin's husband and creative partner, Alfred Desio. The original Remembrance was positioned immediately about a section called War, both inspired by the Gulf War at that time, and yet another version was in Reichlin's E-Mail Dances in the mid-nineties adding an introduction section about her relatives killed during the holocaust. This was recalled during her A Jewish Child's Story, now part of the section called "Yellow Star". It is now reimagined once again along withBatida and Together observing where our country is with the current Pandemic and political divisions.

Now moving into its 41st year, Louise Reichlin & Dancers was founded in 1979, using the nonprofit base of Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers. LA C&D has presented both Reichlin's company and Zapped TapsTM/Alfred Desio and has a long history of creating works for families, as well as educating children and youth. The company tours to many schools, and is a founding member of the LAUSD Arts Community Partnership Network. Some of Reichlin's other well-known works include The Tennis Dances, Celtic Suite, the multimedia The E-Mail Dances, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, A Jewish Child's Story and the choreography from the cirque-music show Dream Scapes. Reichlin is also the Executive Producer and Dance Director for the San Pedro Festival of the Arts, this year featuring 17 professional companies and schools.

Louise Reichlin has created over one hundred works for the company, at first pure dance as she had done in earlier musicals and operas, and beginning to write, create, and collaborate with multimedia artists in the late 80's, some with members of the audience on stage participating. Some of her individual awards include Milestone Dance Co. Horton Award, National Performance Network Artist, Choreographer of the Year, runner-up- the Beverly Hills Outlook, Gary Bates Service Award by the Horton Awards Committee for creativity, sustained professional achievement, and service to the community, Multiple Horton choreography nominations, $14,000 Faculty Research/ Innovation Fund Grant for choreography and performance project from USC for the development of Celtic Suite for her company,EZTV/CyberSpace Media Access Award for Production/Collaboration for The E-Mail Dances, an ARC Completion grant for Innovation, a WORD Artist Grant, the Bruce Geller Memorial Prize, which aided the creation of A Jewish Child's Story.

This is the company's 5th performance created for Culver City, with The Better to Bite You With, premiered at the Jazz Bakery, The Patchwork Girl of Oz presented with local students guesting at the Ivy Substation, and A Jewish Child's Story and Tap Dance Widows Club presented the last two years at the Culver City Senior Center. This project is made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Culver City Arts Foundation. Additional funding is from the California Arts Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture from their Organizational Grants Program and the recent COVID-19 Arts Relief Fund.

For information contact Louise Reichlin at louisehr@lachoreographersanddancers.org, 213-385-1171, and the company web site www.LAChoreographersAndDancers.org.

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