In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Northridge earthquake – a 6.7-magnitude temblor that rocked the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities on Jan. 17, 1994 – The Soraya theater at Cal State Northridge will host two dance performances this week.
“DIAVOLO: Existencia, 30 Years After the Northridge Earthquake” will be performed the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 17, and Friday, Jan. 19. It will feature performers from DIAVOLO Architecture in Motion, a creative movement production company, along with original music by the jazz duo Thana Alexa and Antonio Sánchez and aerial movements choreographed by the dance company BANDALOOP and performed by founder Amelia Rudolph.
Existencia was produced and commissioned by The Soraya to commemorate what is believed to be the worst natural disaster to hit a public university in U.S. history.
The show will include collapsing towers, skateboard ramps and aerial choreography. Thor Steingraber, executive and artistic director at The Soraya, had asked DIAVOLO founder Jacques Heim to work on the project. DIAVALO was a fairly new dance company based in Northridge when the earthquake hit in 1994.
“When I considered this particular anniversary, I immediately reached out to … Heim,” Steingraber said in a statement. “His personal relationship with the 1994 Northridge earthquake in many ways mirrors that of the beginnings of The Soraya which arose from the rubble created by that disaster.”
Tickets to the show start at $39. They can be purchased at TheSoraya.org or by calling 818-677-3000. Performances will begin at 8 p.m. on both nights.
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