Louise Reichlin & Dancers/Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers

Louise Reichlin &  Dancers, non-profit name – Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers,
has created over 100 works reviewed as “wildly theatrical & fun” and “wonderfully spirited with a zest for life.”

Founded by Reichlin in 1979, Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers creates and presents innovative dance works with imagination, feelings, and communication being the inspiration for every piece. Whether presenting a concert performance or enriching the lives of LA area students through arts education, we believe that our work sparks imagination, creativity, self-discovery, and empowers our diverse audience members to expand their understanding of life.

At this year’s festival, we present two sections of  “The Patchwork Girl of Oz” and “Rodeo.”

“The Patchwork Girl of Oz” began production in 2000 with one act completed each year with intermittent performances, its world premiere in Montana at the Myrna Loy Theatre in 2002, and its CA premier here in Santa Monica at the Miles Playhouse in December that year. Louise was inspired to create the work upon seeing an exhibit of the Wizard of Oz‘s 100th anniversary.

Originally performed and touring as a more technically complex production 30 minutes longer, the present production is a sleek 45 minutes created when a Children’s Festival in North Carolina requested a work that would be shorter and easier to produce, and we have done this version ever since, also adapting it for school residencies both here and eight states. It is based on the L. Frank Baum (author of the Wizard of Oz) book of 1913. In this adapted narrated story, the dance follows characters from the Wizard of Oz and introduce new ones – including the high-spirited title character the Patchwork Girl and Ojo, a sheltered youngster, who sees her Uncle turned into a marble rock, and must make friends and work with others to bring him to life again. Part 1 at the Festival introduces the characters, and Part 2 today takes us into a party at Princess Oz’s where they discover they will have to find “water in a dark well” on their journey to restore the Uncle to life.

“Rodeo” was inspired by an article in the LA Times by Patrick J. McDonnell and Cecilia Sánchez Vidal about the diversity of the American cowboy from many cultures. We revived our choreography, commissioned and performed with the Pasadena Pops in 2003. The music, by Aaron Copland, contains a number recognizable early folk songs.

Dancers: Coree McKee Gonzalez, Emily Mcguire, Carmen Tienda, Sophie Kim,
Mauricio La Fuente, Patrick Fitzsimmons, Makenna Bolton, Zorah Chappel

Company Information:
http://www.LAChoreographersAndDancers.org
http://www.vimeo.com/LouiseReichlin
http://www.youtube.com/LouiseReichlin

Become a friend of Louise
at http://www.facebook.com/louise.reichlin and a fan of the company at  http://www.facebook.com/LACD.Reichlin: http://www.facebook.com/LACD.Reichlin

twitter: @LouiseReichlin
instagram: @lachoreographersanddancers

Email: louisehr@lachoreographersanddancers.org 
Phone: 213-458-3066

The photo is from last year’s festival presentation of “The Tennis Dances.”