Free And For Me

Lula Washington Dance Theater Returns To Wallis Annenberg Center

The last time I saw a performance by the Lula Washington Dance Theatre my son was a toddler.  In a couple of weeks, I will be attending a show with him as a teenager.   I am so excited!

The venerated Los Angeles-based Lula Washington Dance Theatre returns to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate its milestone 40th anniversary with a dynamic and powerful program exploring social and humanitarian issues. The company performs for three nights only, from Thursday, January 30 through Saturday, February 1, 2020, 7:30 pm, in The Wallis’ Bram Goldsmith Theater. The program, which includes three world premieres and a West Coast premiere, celebrates the dance company’s past with some repertory gems and is also decidedly forward-looking, with new works from new voices, some of whom are a generation younger than co-founders Lula and Erwin Washington. Mixing jazz, hip-hop, African movement, ballet, modern, tap and other dance styles, the company has built an international reputation for the vitality, energy, and depth of its repertory and the charisma and interpretive power it brings to each and every performance. Hailed as a major “taste-makers in the dance world” (NPR) and “an expresser of inner-city culture” (Reno-Gazette Journal), the company uses “the art of dance to make a deep impact” (Anchorage Press). A talk-back with members of the company immediately follows the performance on January 30.

For this special event, the dance troupe presents the world premiere of To Lula with Love created for the occasion by celebrated choreographer Christopher Huggins, a former member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and an alum of Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Two other Lula Washington Dance Theatre company alums are also creating new works for the program, including Tamica Washington-Miller, the Associate Director (and Lula Washington’s daughter), whose new piece, Suffering and Smiling, focuses on the struggles families have dealing with the loss of loved ones through violence. Tommie Waheed Evans received a 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Honorarium Grant to create a (currently untitled) work for the 40^th Anniversary that focuses on his experience growing up in Los Angeles and what it meant to him to be a product of that city.

Additionally, the program features two works by company Founder/Artistic Director Lula Washington, Fragments, which she describes as “a reaction to the chaotic times we live in,” and King, about the struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a key moment in his life during the civil rights movement. Other repertoire includes the West Coast premiere of Zayo, a bold, Afro-fusion, dance-theatre work about self-discovery, destiny and personal strength by Esie Mensah, who hails from Toronto, Canada, and Ghana, and Reign, a joyous gospel-fueled work by hip-hop concert pioneer Rennie Harris commissioned by Lula Washington Dance Theatre a decade ago for its 30^th anniversary.

Washington, reflecting on the dance company’s 40^th anniversary, says, “At the same time the company is pushing forward with new groundbreaking work, it is also holding true to its original mission of doing work that is ‘reaching for your soul.’ Our dancing and programming are designed to touch the soul and spirit of people, aiming to move them to a place of humanism and fairness for all.”

“Lula Washington Dance Theatre is among our country’s most important and influential dance companies,” states The Wallis’ Artistic Director Paul Crewes. “The Wallis is honored to celebrate its 40^th Anniversary, a landmark occasion for dance locally and internationally.”

The Wallis’ 2019/2020 dance programming features Los Angeles-based companies exclusively, marking the first time a major Southern California performing arts venue has presented an all-local dance line-up during a single season. Dance @ The Wallis is sponsored, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Lula Washington Dance Theatre, a repertoire dance ensemble founded in 1980 by Lula and Erwin Washington in the inner city area of South Los Angeles, has risen to become one of the most admired African-American contemporary dance companies in the world. It is known for its powerful, high-energy dancing and innovative and provocative choreography primarily by Lula Washington along with other established and emerging choreographers. The company, which tours internationally, has steadfastly focused on using dance to explore social issues, including the aspect of African-American history and culture.

Tickets, $29 to $79, are on sale now. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 or visit TheWallis.org/Lula. 

I am looking forward to attending this event with my son.  He has been wanting to see more shows with black people.  It will be interesting to see how this show will educate him about our culture through the world of dance.