December 2009 Louise Reichlin & Dancers
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E-NEWSLETTER
Welcome to our December issue.
The link on your left takes you to our complete issue just mailed. If you would like to see it on line, just click below the image.
In our e-news are an excerpt from Fall 2009 issue, a signed statement from the new arts ed consortium, a link to a recent review, and a wish from us for the holiday season.
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WELCOME TO OUR DECEMBER ISSUE
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Our first feature article in the Fall Newsletter (above) is "Growing Up Without Facebook" and begins "I have been thinking about the enormous change in connectivity from when I was growing up and what it is like today - not only for kids, but also for grown-up peers and companies. There were no computers in houses in the 40's and 50's, let along a system like Facebook, which single-handedly has shrunk the world into a room where individuals can walk from corner to corner in conversation. Instead there was a profound sense of isolation coupled with the generation of men in grey flannel suits, and the need to conform and be part of that group. I always had dance; my parents sent me to dance, piano, drama, and religious school classes and choir from age 5 on- (although one of my favorite creative activities was creating glorious mud-pies decorated with natural growths with my brother in the back yard), and I always read as my parents were first generation born in the USA achievers, but along with those parents was the expectation of intellect, popularity, and success. No pressure. Good or bad, I had an epiphany at about age 14 while folding leotard laundry that was my job through a scholarship at the National Music Camp in Interlochen MI and watching the rehearsals of the professional dancer teachers. My moment of clarity was that I didn't need to fit in, or be part of the most popular group, but could use my connection with dance to create a place for myself."
The article traces my pathway through Bennington, then New York, and meeting Alfred Desio in "Fiddler On the Roof" and a subsiquent marriage on stage between shows, and ending up in LA from a show with Katherine Hepburn that closed at the Chandler Pavilion.
It continues on the Facebook/internet theme and why the arts are so important in the growing up/education process: "Although I taught at USC until 2003, I put together programs for K-12 in schools the very first year of the company, now in its 30th year. K-12 had been a time when I had needed the arts most. Even as a kid who was given much of that by my parents, there was still huge isolation, no working Internet for the masses, and certainly no Facebook. In the mid 90's, USC was pushing the Internet, and with an early email and web site I read how this new technology should allow people with the same interests to find each other. Fourteen years later Facebook and YouTube, etc. are succeeding in connecting people and isolation is not so much an issue. Most young people are always connected via their cell phone and computers, and engagement with each other an everyday force. But it does not take the place of experience with real people. And the need for the arts to be an integral part of every young person's life that live artists bring has never been stronger - supplying a motivation for learning, living, and thinking outside the box to become a creative individual.
Cut to 2009 - and huge Cuts (yes, capitol C) to the economy including arts. I have now come out of the shock I was in last year as 165 of our activities had to be cut with the freeze on our LAUSD contracts, and working hard to find new partnerships to both educate and entertain with our recent work The Better To Bite You With. We are looking for medical or dental partnerships where we can provide an educational component, and also seeking corporations interested in starting health/balance programs for their employees using the type of mind body work that I used successfully at USC for so many years. I have a life-long commitment to my art, and to hiring professional dance artists to work with us, and if you have not seen or donated to us recently - and of course especially if you have - please continue or begin to support the work. It helps us define our humanity and ourselves."
We are on Facebook now, and if you haven't yet
become a fan of our company or a friend of our director Louise Reichlin, you are invited
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| A Review for Dance At the Stone House November 18, 2009
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Students from the 3 schools working with us this year (King Jr. Elementary, Stonehurst Elementary, and Rockdale Elementary) yell "timber" after chopping the wood for the base of the building. "Dance at the Stone House" performed by Louise Reichlin & Dancers is a work that uses audience participation to design a dance piece based on the unusual architecture and art that is the Sun Valley Youth Arts Center in Sun Valley, CA. In November 2009, danceinlablogspot.com reviewed this interactive piece presented free for the students and public: "This past Wednesday I witnessed 45 remarkable minutes of dance...and 60 of the performers didn't know the steps when they showed up...Each performance is truly a miraculous achievement in communication, mathematics, spatial organization, time management, community building, education, and most certainly, dance....It all happens in a 45 minute whirlwind of meticulously choreographed activity that culminates in a performance involving five company dancers...and...60 4th- 6th graders." After vividly describing the experience, she concludes " I'm sure
all involved would offer their thanks to Los Angeles Cultural Affairs
and the LA County Arts Commission for making this amazing program
financially feasible in such tough economic times. And of course, thank
you to Louise Reichlin and LA Choreographers & Dancers for modeling
the tremendous collaboration that's possible when professional and
budding artists come together for even three quarters of an hour.(Please see writer Anna Reed's article for the rest.)  At the Dance At the Stone House in November dancers become garden scuptures as the students explore. The newsletter also feature a Time-Line (both good and bad) of the last year, touring our school programs up to San Luis Obispo,
the performance of "The Better To Bite You With" presented by Fontana Arts and sponsored by Target and lots of new photos! *************************************************************************************** In January we will be scheduling schools again. For more about our Arts Community Partnership packages and for our Professional Development packages follow the links. This year LAUSD elementary schools will probably have to use Title I or II funds. We would like to return to your school, or do our programs there for the first time. We are delighted that new arts funds have just gone out to Middle and High Schools in the LAUSD from the Arts Office. |
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| Photo Credits |
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Cover of Fall 2009 Newsletter by Kristi Mathias Design. Photo from The Better To Bite You with by Louise Reichlin, and photos from
Dance At the Stone House: Steve Sobalvarro.
Dancers: Sung-Yun Park, Steven Nielsen, Danielle Catone, Katya Sussman, Samantha Hoe, Louise Reichlin + students from King Jr, Stonehurst & Rockdale Elementary Schools.
Photo of Alfred Desio by Theodora Litsios.
Photo of Louise Reichlin by Elissa Zimmerman.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz Photo by Sallie DeEtte Mackie.
Dancers: Shanon Schwait, Adrienne Fisher
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"Equity, Access, and Impact for Arts Education"
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They say that every crisis is great birthplace for fresh ideas and literally pulling yourself together. In August this year I was a member of the Wallace Planning Committee for the LAUSD along with a group of about 20 Arts Community Partnership Network company reps and although not the original reason for the meeting, during the week long session, the group finds their voice and later works with Jackie Planeix of Blue Palm, to shape a statement now called "Equity, Access, and Impact for Arts Education", A Statement by the Professional Community of Los Angeles Artists, Arts Organizations, and Cultural Institutions. The statement has been endorsed by 58 of the ACPN members and you can see the original document and companies that have signed it. Besides a first meeting of the group, members of the steering committee that includes Sean Bradley, Leonardo Bravo, Tom Crocker, Linda Johannesen , Shelah Lehrer-Graiwer, Judy Pisarro-Grant, Lorrie Oshatz, Jackie Planeix, Louise Reichlin, Clifford Cohen, Lisa Citron, and Tad Yenawine, are creating a shorter one page version and having multiple meetings before the next full meeting. To reach the steering committee and to be put on a mailing list about the Consortium email: laac_navigators@googlegroups.com
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| New Photo Galleries at LA C&D website & a new album on Facebook
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 A repeat if you missed it in the last issue. There are new photo galleries of Alfred Desio on our brand new website. After 14 years, we finally have menus! And lots of new photo galleries and videos, not only of Alfred, but also many of both his and Louise Reichlin's works through the years. Look under the new History section for this. New solos of Alfred dancing from 1978 have been added to YouTube.com/Alfred Desio. Another new video is on Louise Reichlin's account on YouTube and it is The Better to Bite You With (5' excerpt). Photo of Alfred 90's, of Louise mid-80's.  |
| Southern CA Dance Directory - more than 525 listings
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Yes- this block is always here, and it is one the most "clicked through" sections.
The Southern CA Dance Directory that Reichlin began in 1995 is alive and well with over 526 listings of professional dance companies and related organizations.
This free service is accessed by thousands of people each month, and
I've heard that dance jobs have often come about through the
information! But....if the wrong email or phone number is there, it's
up to you to contact us
and it will be fixed, usually within 24 hours. If you are not there and
would like to be, please email the information in the format that is
there. This is a special project that is a labor of love - no grants
funds involved - so if you want to use it, please help keep it up to date. |
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Special Thanks
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Special thanks to our current government and corporate fundors that certainly deserve our attention. Without them (and many of you who donate to our company) we could not
continue. Last year was especially difficult and we very much need all donations, large and small to keep going. All of these grants are matching grants, and we can't use them without your matches. Thank you again to our individual contributers and for in-kind donations. Please go to our web site and make a donation. No amount is too small! And to help all the arts in our state, consider buying a CA arts license plate. The funds go right into arts companies for their public services and arts in education and there is a new campaign for one million plates for the arts. This E-letter closes with all the links you need to get to our new photo album on FaceBook and videos on YouTube.
  
  
For a complete listing of our supporters for the last 2 years, see our Supporters Page
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BECOME LOUISE REICHLIN'S FRIEND AT FACEBOOK-
BECOME A FAN OF OUR COMPANY (LOTS OF PHOTOS TOO) ON FACEBOOK-
CLICK HERE FOR REICHLIN ON YouTube
CLICK HERE FOR DESIO ON YouTube
CLICK HERE FOR OUR NEWLY DESIGNED LA C&D WEBSITE
Please contact us if you would like more information about anything you see here or in our Fall Newsletter 2009.If you are not on our regular surface mailing list send us an email to sign up.
Have a wonderful holiday season, and look for new announcements and activities in 2010!
Sincerely,
Louise Reichlin, Director
Louise Reichlin & Dancers/
Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers
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