On Monday January 27th, Invertigo celebrated the release of The Optimist’s micro-documentary about Dancing Through Parkinson’s with a packed house at the Electric Lodge studio. The event fostered a lively cross-pollination between a number of Invertigo’s collaborative partners in crime who came for a special DTP class, screening, snacks and post-event discussion. We were joined by dancers from all of our DTP sites across Los Angeles, Director Owen Dubeck of The Optimist, arts leader extraordinaire Laura Zucker and twelve graduate students from her Masters in Arts Management course at Claremont Graduate University, Invertigo’s Artistic Director Laura Karlin and baby Juniper!
First, DTP Teaching Artists Rachel Whiting, Heidi Buehler, Haylee Nichele and Linda Berghoff treated us to a special class where dancers participated in the name game, a tap dance and an interdisciplinary poetry project -- a collaboration between poet Francine Ringold, our DTP dancers, and the audience.
We then screened The Optimist’s mini-documentary on Invertigo featuring DTP dancer Jack Gregory and Teaching Artist Linda Berghoff. Director Owen Dubeck gave a short talk about the inspiring social change mission of the company. Check out the video here: https://vimeo.com/376922726
Clara Kluge, the curator of The Crane Project, also presented the new trailer for a documentary in-progress about the ambitious global PD dance video project which Invertigo is happy to be a part of.
After our celebration, Laura Zucker and her graduate students from Claremont Graduate University participated in a post-event discussion with Invertigo staff about the teaching philosophies and community engagement strategies behind Dancing Through Parkinson’s.
The event was a classic Invertigo happening, with robust, joyful, creative verve rippling through the community. Thank you to our dancers, collaborators and The Optimist for including us in their micro-documentary series!
