March 29–30, 2013
Friday–Saturday at 8:30pm
Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles
1238 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026
“Amplified by an uncanny theatricality that fluctuates between gothic horror and the primal, moving body.” —The New York Times
“Downtown’s wildchild from Uruguay, Luciana Achugar…deliberately treads the line between dance and ritual.” —Dance Magazine
Los Angeles Premiere
In her Bessie Award-winning evening-length duet PURO DESEO, choreographer luciana achugar embraces the cavernous darkness of the black box to create a riveting performance ritual that invokes the power and mystery of the theater itself. Drawing on paranormal phenomena, the occult and Gothic representations of monstrosity, achugar and collaborator Michael Mahalchick generate an eerily tangible force in this visceral incantation built from sound, movement and the conflicting presences of light and dark.
Conceived and directed by luciana achugar
Created and performed by luciana achugar and Michael Mahalchick
Lighting design by Madeline Best
Costume design by Walter Dundervill
Presented with generous support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
luciana achugar is a Brooklyn-based choreographer originally from Montevideo, Uruguay. She makes dances to be FELT as they are SEEN and as an occasion for communion. achugar developed her voice as an artist in close dialogue with the NY and Montevideo contemporary dance communities. Her work is concerned with the post-colonial world, searching for an undoing of this abuse of power from the inside out. She began making work collaboratively with Levi Gonzalez in 1999, and in 2002 she started working independently. Since then she has created eight works that have been presented at dance venues throughout New York City, as well as atMOMA’s PS1; at the Green Street Studios in Cambridge, MA; at the Walker Art Center and The Southern Theater in Minneapolis; at Portland’s Institute of Contemporary Art during their Time-Based Art Festival; and in Uruguay at the Festival Iberoamericano de Danza, Teatro Solis and the Centro Cultural de España en Montevideo.
Photo by Michael Mahalchick.
Show Box L.A. 