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Event
Empowerment: Edith + Etta Performance / Original Dance & Spoken Word Works
The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Performing Arts Divisions (PERF) EMPOWERMENT project returns for its third year. As a celebration of California women who shift culture, EMPOWERMENT is a six day festival-style week of performances, social action, creative workshops, and documentary screenings.
In 2025, EMPOWERMENT will honor the work of Academy Award winner Edith Head and Grammy Award winner Etta James. Both American born and rooted professionally in Los Angeles, Edith Head is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential costume designers in the film industry while Etta James is an American singer songwriter famous for her deep and earthy voice bridging the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll is considered to be one of the greatest voices of her century.
One of the many events in this year's EMPOWERMENT project, and a crowd favorite, is the EMPOWERMENT: Edith + Etta Performance. Through original dance and spoken word works eight Angelino artists present pieces inspired by the work and art of Edith Head and Etta James. DCA is excited to announce the 2025 Commissioned Artists
Cantilever Collective: A Los Angeles based performing arts group focused on building community through interdisciplinary collaboration and movement-based exchange. The collective works primarily in the contemporary dance realm; using dance as a way to alchemize pain, while also celebrating joy, connection, and love! For Empowerment: Edith + Etta, Cantilever Collective is creating a dance piece that follows the journey of three paper dolls as they explore how genuine expression can transcend barriers, evoke shared humanity, and create impactful connections.
Diamondback Annie: A LA-based dancer, drag artist, and violinist, Diamondback Annie grew up in small-town Utah, where she roped goats in the local rodeo. She utilizes costuming to drive the narrative of her live performances, and her shows often feature historic costume pieces by designers like Bob Mackie, Ret Turner, and Bill Belew. Annies performance for this series is an homage to Edith Heads wardrobe for legendary silent film star Gloria Swanson for the film Sunset Boulevard.
Rio Diaz: A Los Angeles resident, Rio is a writer, poet, curator, and muralist dedicated to amplifying underrepresented stories through art and cultural narratives. Although she has been writing poetry for many years, she has never shared her work publicly, keeping it as a deeply personal aspect of her creative journey. For this commission, she will be creating "The Dance of Resilience." Through a merging of contemporary dance and the imagery of spoken word, metaphorical words and movements will weave a poignant story of resilience, echoing the twists, turns, and leaps of life's journey.
Mélissa Guérin-Torres: A French performer, choreographer, and mixed media artist, she fuses her ballet and contemporary dance background with performative exploration. For Empowerment: Edith + Etta, Mélissa is designing costumes inspired by Edith Head and choreographing a piece that celebrates the bodys resilience, creativity and joy, influenced by the transformative energy of Etta James.
Camille Imperial: A Filipino-American choreographer, originally from the Philippines, and now based in Los Angeles, she specializes in contemporary fusion, blending diverse movement styles. She will be choreographing a contemporary jazz solo that explores the cultural and societal restrictions placed on women, particularly women of color, and the transformative power of music.
Anna Goodman Herrick: A Los Angeles-based poet and author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken to Whole (Monkfish, 2024), she has performed at the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Library of Congress, and in Bloomsday on Broadway, in addition to being a writer for the Oprah Winfrey Network, ABC Family, and MTV. A queer performer with less apparent disability, she creates multisensory spoken word performances that develop pathways for accessibility. She is creating ALL I COULD DO WAS CRY IN GOLD LAMÉ for Empowerment: Edith + Etta, inspired by Etta James iconic song and Edith Heads legendary gold ballgown for Grace Kelly commemorating resilience, style, and humor, celebrating how we keep shining.
Celeste Lanuza: A Latina Los Angeles creative artist, Celeste Lanuza combines original music and spoken word with dance. She is a dancer, teacher, and college Lecturer of dance and her work has been performed at the Korean Cultural Center, Lula Washington Dance Theater, and Debbie Allen Dance Academy to name a few. For this commission, she will be creating a piece inspired by Etta James involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and her song At Last and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.
Clara Auguste Mohagen: A choreographer, educator, data enthusiast, and performance artist originally from Haiti and currently based in Los Angeles, her artistic style bridges the cosmic and corporeal, weaving movement with memory and space. For this project, she will be reinterpreting and embodying a classic piece of music by Édith Piaf, to explore modern resilience, with the hopes of empowering the audience to find strength in their own stories.
The live performances--Saturday, May 3 @ 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, May 4 at 4:00 p.m.--showcasing original dance and spoken word works at EMPOWERMENT is consistently a crowd favorite. Reservations are highly recommended, performances will be presented in our Black Box Theatre.
Join us for the six day celebration of the performing arts at the EMPOWERMENT: Edith + Etta event April 29 through May 4 at the Lankershim Arts center located in the heart of the NoHo Arts District at 5108 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601. All events are free and open to the public. For more information please email us at dca-lankershimtheatre@lacity,org or by phone at (818) 301-6120.
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LocationThe Historic Lankershim Arts Center (View)
5108 Lankershim Boulevard
North Hollywood, CA 91506
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Accessibility
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