Press Contact: Addie Moore

CulturalDC Activates 14th Street Storefront with Performance Art Exhibition, SOLO FLIGHT by Heidi Latsky

Exhibition Co-produced by Ben Levine Productions and CulturalDC

Our latest exhibit explores connections between isolation, physical abilities, and performance art

SEPTEMBER 10-OCTOBER 30, 2022

GALLERY TIMES

Hours: 7 P.M. - 12 A.M.

Opening Party: September 29, 2022, 8 P.M. -10 P.M.

Washington, D.C. – Washington, D.C. – CulturalDC is proud to present SOLO FLIGHT, a series of “movement portrait” films created by people with and without disabilities. Conceived and directed by Heidi Lansky, this selection of works is co-produced by CulturalDC and Ben Levine Productions. These works disrupt space, dismantle norms, and redefine beauty and virtuosity. SOLO FLIGHT is a pastiche - a compilation of discovered moments through the lens of people intertwined and connected in their isolation.   

Heidi Lasky is an award-winning artist and advocate for diversity and inclusion in performance and dance. In 2020, Heidi Latsky was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to create a film titled SOLO FLIGHT for the 30th anniversary of the American Disabilities Act. She has created a series of ten movement portraits in collaboration with the featured artists. Selections from the series were presented at the American Dance Festival Movies by Movers, Dance Days Chania, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, the International Disability Dance Festival in Greece, and the Astoria Performing Arts Center.  

The featured version of SOLO FLIGHT, co-produced by Ben Levine and CulturalDC, features five films and premieres the films BEN, MARK, and EVE. These moving portraits represent a collaboration between each portrait subject, Heidi Lasky and Ben Levine. Levine, a Washington, DC-based, interdisciplinary artist and producer, appears in one of the films, bringing visibility to people with disabilities in the District. This exhibition will be projected on the storefront of 1831 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20009, allowing free community access and bringing the films out of the gallery and directly into the 14th Street corridor. 

“CulturalDC continues to make space for impactful and timely performance art. We are thrilled to collaborate on SOLO FLIGHT to bring a boundary-pushing body of work that directly engages our community and confronts accessibility conceptually and physically. Not only does this work confront physical ability directly, but it is projected onto the street, breaking any social or personal barrier that separates the general public from the art world,” says Kristi Maiselman, Executive Director of CulturalDC.  

SOLO FLIGHT will be on view from 7 P.M. to 12 A.M., September 10, 2022, through October 30, 2022, in the storefront of 1831 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20009. The artist celebration will be on September 29 from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M.   

This project was supported by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.  

ABOUT CULTURALDC  

Established in 1998, the arts non-profit CulturalDC supports innovative artists across all disciplines and makes their work accessible to diverse audiences. It provides unconventional space for relevant and challenging work essential to nurturing vibrant urban communities. Past 2021-2022 programming includes presentations from Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers) and Andres Serrano. Press kits are at molly.nyc/frohawk and molly.nyc/serrano, respectively.  

Visit www.culturaldc.org  

Facebook: CulturalDC  

Instagram: @cultural_dc  

Twitter: Cultural_DC

ABOUT BEN LEVINE  

Ben Levine (he/they) combines his theater and dance training with his knowledge of technology and a firm mindset that anything is possible to make awesome art. Named “Best Up-For-Anything Technical Director” by the Washington City Paper, Ben works as a theater technician and carpenter, as well as a lighting, scenic, and projection designer for dance and theater. He is currently the Director of Production at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company after having been the Director of Production at Dance Place for 15 years. Since 2014, he has worked as the Production Manager for the National Performance Network. In 2019 he established Extreme Lengths Productions, a non-profit arts collaborative devoted to creating technology-driven, movement-based, unconventional performance experiences. Born with Erbs palsy, he is passionate about the disability arts and is currently engaged in projects with disability dance leaders AXIS Dance Company and Kinetic Light. He holds degrees in Theater Arts and Mathematics from Drew University.   

ABOUT HEIDI LATSKY  

Heidi Latsky is a committed leader in the physically integrated dance field, began Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD) in 2001. The company has toured internationally and been presented at institutions like Peak Performances, Kennedy Center, American Dance Festival, Joyce Theater, Whitney Museum, Cooper Hewitt, National Portrait Gallery, ICA Boston, and multiple years at Lincoln Center since 2015. HLD has received support from funders like NEA, NYSCA, Ford Foundation, Creative Capital and the MAP Foundation. Latsky has presented at TEDxWOMEN, a feature on her work GIMP (2008) was nominated for an Emmy and she has spoken at Harvard University, Maxine Green Institute, Chicago Humanities Festival and the 7th International Conference on Movement and Computing. As HLD is dedicated to disrupting space, dismantling normal and redefining beauty in a broad way, the company has a portfolio of educational toolkits. Latsky was the Head of the Movement Department at the School for Film and Television for 7 years, on faculty at STEPS and American Dance Festival and has served as an adjudicator of dance numerous times. In 2015, she was commissioned by Peak Performances at Montclair State University to create her first film “Soliloquy”.