Modern dance enthusiasts and novices alike are invited to attend a free performance by Benita Bike’s DanceArt Company at Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC) in Sylmar at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10.
The presentation at the Arts, Media and Performance (AMP) Theatre at LAMC will be “an interactive experience” for audience members, according to Bike, choreographer and artistic director for Benita Bike’s DanceArt, a five-member dance company that she founded in 1980.
“Most of the time when people go to a concert dance performance, there’s no talking or explaining,” Bike told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol. “If something mystifies you … there’s no way to really express that. And that’s what’s really unique about these [interactive] shows.”
During the program, the participating dance artists will tell the audience about the dances they will present, perform the dances and then engage them in conversation about what they saw.
“We answer any questions they have, because many of them have not been exposed to modern dance or concert dance, and especially live,” explained Bike. “It’s like they’re being invited to a rehearsal, except that it’s very much a real performance. … Based on the evaluations we get, and the comments we hear from people while we’re doing the show, people really seem to love it.”
The upcoming performance will feature “Schoenfield Dances,” which combines popular dance styles with classical movements, and “Aspects of Me,” a series of solo and duet dances. The company will also perform a segment from a forthcoming project that is currently in progress.
The upcoming free performance is supported by the city of LA’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the AMP Department at LAMC and the college’s Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS) Honor Society.
“We’ve been funded for about 20 or 25 years to do this sort of programming at [venues] across the Northeast Valley, and it’s always like going home to perform at Mission College,” said Bike.
The AMP Theatre is located at 13356 Eldridge Ave. on the LAMC campus. Free parking is available in the parking structure next to the circular driveway, across from the AMP building.
For more information about the program, call (818) 470-5734 or go to www.danceart.org.