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 Donna Sternberg & Dancers presents Thriving Nov 8 & 9, 2025 Culver City, CA October 16, 2025 Celebrating its 40th year anniversary, Donna Sternberg & Dancers presents Thriving, a performance honoring mature choreographers and dancers who have made a significant contribution to the greater Los Angeles dance community. Thriving celebrates the artistry of elders and dispels stereotypes of aging. The performance is an antidote to preconceived notions of aging by portraying the depth of experience, artistry and vitality that each choreographer/dancer brings. While not the same dancers as in their youth, age has brought a different but no less arresting richness to their dancing. Thriving testifies to the wonders of the human body, to the endurance of the human spirit and to the humanity that binds us together. The performance will be followed by a discussion and audience participation with the artists. The participants come from diverse cultural backgrounds and dance forms, reflecting the greater Los Angeles area. They include: Ramya Harishankar, Artistic Director and founder of Arpana Dance Company, specializing in Bharatanatyam dance. Jeff Slayton, co-founder of LA Dance Chronicle danced for renowned modern dance companies Merce Cunningham and Viola Farber as well as his own company, Jeff Slayton & Dancers. Oguri, the founder of Body Weather Lab Los Angeles, specializes in the Japanese dance form of butoh. The connection of the human body to nature is the foundation of his art. Donna Sternberg, a contemporary choreographer, danced with several companies including with Donald Byrd before founding DS&D in 1985. DS&Ds younger dancers will explore what aging means to them, in a career where youth is prized. Thriving will be presented November 8 at 8:00 PM and November 9 at 3:00 PM at the Helms Bakery Complex, 8745 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232. Free parking is available at the complex. Tickets are $25 general admission and $20 for students, seniors, and can be purchased at eventbrite.com. This performance is made possible in part by the City of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission, with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles Arts Commission.  Ramya Harishankar is the Artistic Director of the Arpana Dance Company (ADC) now in its 42nd year. Named 'legacy artist' by the California Arts Council with an Individual Artist Fellowship (2023). A 'Distinguished citizen'/Wall of recognition honoree (2022) of the city of Irvine, she is also the recipient of the Kala Seva Bharathi (India 2012) and the Helene Modjeska Cultural Legacy award (Arts Orange County 2007). Her solo career has taken her all over the world, performing and conducting master classes extensively in India, Asia, Europe, Australia, and N. America. Recipient of several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the California Arts Council (CAC) and Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). Oguri, a native of Japan and a resident of Venice, California, formed Body Weather Laboratory Los Angeles with Roxanne Steinberg. Since 1990, Oguri has been teaching, creating, and producing dance and multimedia works that incorporate his large-scale set/sculpture installations in both formal theater settings and site-specific venues worldwide. He continues to investigate the relationship between dance and the environment, as well as the boundaries between performer and audience. Oguri has developed collaborative projects with dancers, musicians, sculptors, painters, and poets, using literature, daily life imagery, and simple materials to transform space and time through dance. He actively brings dance to the wider community. Jeff Slayton performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Viola Farber Dance Company, and Jeff Slayton & Dancers. He has choreographed for several dance companies throughout world, numerous dance festivals, university and college dance students throughout the United States, Europe, South America and Korea. He was on the faculty of the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC from 1988 to 1996 and the Dance Department at CSULB from 1978 to 1999. He is the author of The Prickly Rose: A Biography of Viola Farber (2006, AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN.) and Dancing Toward Sanity (2014, Dorrance Publishing Company, Pittsburgh, PA). Jeff is the Co-founder of and writer at LA Dance Chronicle, an online dance magazine. Donna Sternberg, Artistic Director of Donna Sternberg & Dancers, has premiered over 100 works, presented performances, educational programs, and taught throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Mexico, including at the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture. In 1985 she founded DS&D, collaborating with scientists and artists across disciplines. Her work has been commissioned by the California Science Center, SIGGRAPH, Skirball Center, Mondavid Center for the Performing Arts and showcased in theaters, site-specific locations, and alternative venues. She was featured in the documentary LA Woman, on PBS and published in Leonardo (MIT Press). Sternberg has received numerous grants and awards, including the Artist-in-Community award and grants from the NEA and CAC, choreographic fellowships and several artist residencies. |
