ebb & flow - chinatown

The Heidi Duckler Dance Company is a site-specific contemporary and post-modern dance group that performs all around Los Angeles. I attended their annual performance in the park called ebb & flow, this season at the Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown.

There’s something magical about watching dance, especially when it’s not on a traditional stage. For me, it enlivens the potential for bodies in space. I used to perform in public spaces, and I feel nostalgic for moving slowly, gracefully, and sometimes awkwardly. Movements like this are grounding, heavy on the earth, and release tension in the body.

There happened to be a wildfire on the neighboring hill. Rounds of helicopters circled above, dowsing it with water. I could hear the audience murmur “That’s a dance” and I knew that I was among the like-minded. I look around and wonder, what a designated dance is, and how post-modern can we create it? Is that match of Capture the Flag a dance, that husky punting a ball and those kite fliers? Perhaps all gatherings and group photos, lounging book readers, and little dogs greeting each other are all dances of life.

After relaxing and reflecting my thoughts on the dance performances, I wandered into Chinatown and then took the light rail to Little Toyko. Like the variety of dance performances, the culture centers shared their specialties as well as their similarities.

Chinatown

Little Tokyo

Both had Maneki-neko, the good luck cat.

July 2, 2023