Variety to Be the Spice of Series

Occidental College goes interactive with “Feet Speak,” a four-part summer dance series to be inaugurated July 25 through 27 with performances by Premier Cru, a seven-member consortium from some of Europe’s most prestigious contemporary ensembles.

“Feet Speak” was created in the wake of the cancellation--due to too much red ink--of the Occidental summer theater series, an Eagle Rock institution since 1960. It showcases improvisational local dancers in “Structured/Unstructured,” Aug. 1-2; those who make their own kind of music in “Percussion Jam,” Aug. 8-9; experimental choreography in “Mixed Directions,” Aug. 15-16.

“We’re doing it on a shoestring and expect to make back all our expenses,” says Ellen Ketchum, Oxy’s director of performing arts. It will be the college’s first summer dance series, one that she hopes becomes an annual event.

According to Ketchum, each program will feature new and sometimes unplanned collaborations among the various performers.

“We thought it would be great fun for artists to present their work and also to interact with one another,” she said.

All performances take place in the dance-friendly 400-seat Keck Theater. For a complete schedule and information, call (213) 259-2922.

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BUCKS FOR BUTOH: The Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Arts Partners Program has awarded $24,871 to California Plaza downtown, to be used to plan a residency for locally based butoh artists Oguri and Renzoku, working with the Illustrious Theatre Orchestra.

Under terms of the grant, California Plaza will ask downtown businesses and arts professionals for recommendations on using its free, multidisciplinary summer series for long-term audience development.