Stearns Wharf 217 Stearns Wharf Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Tuesday, June 16 | 3:00 PM
Free and Open to all. RSVP for event details and updates.
Parking is available on the wharf and along Cabrillo Boulevard.
The performance will take place at the Seaward Finger of the pier, extending toward the open Pacific at the far end of Stearns Wharf.
About Stearns Wharf Completed in 1872 by lumberman John Peck Stearns, Stearns Wharf is California’s oldest working wooden wharf and the first deep‑water pier between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The wharf helped transform Santa Barbara from an isolated coastal town into a growing commercial and cultural center. Today, Stearns Wharf remains an active blend of historic waterfront and contemporary public space, home to working operations, restaurants, shops, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center. Visitors enter at the iconic Dolphin Fountain by artist Bud Bottoms and experience sweeping views of the Santa Ynez Mountains, the harbor, and the city’s palm‑lined shoreline.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
LADP PERFORMS: CITY OF DANCE | STEARNS WHARF, SANTA BARBARA
Grand Avenue Takeover Hosted in collaboration with the Colburn School 200 S Grand Ave Los Angeles, CA 90012
Friday, June 5 | 12:30 PM
Free and Open to all. RSVP for event details and updates.
The Grand Avenue Takeover brings City of Dance into the center of Los Angeles’s cultural corridor. Positioned between the Music Center, the Colburn School, MOCA, and The Broad, this stretch of Grand Avenue has long served as a civic gathering place. It is a place where architecture, performance, and public life intersect.
As with all City of Dance locations, the performance is free and open to the public, and audiences are welcome to stay for as long as they like and move around the performance as it unfolds. RSVP is optional for this location, but recommended for arrival and street closure information on the day of the performance.
Arrival and Parking Information Paid Parking Lots: Convenient public parking options are located near the Colburn campus:
Walt Disney Concert Hall garage, enter on 2nd Street between Grand and Hope, or on Lower Grand Avenue.
Broad Museum garage, enter on 2nd Street between Grand and Hope.
Take Metro to Zipper Hall: Colburn can be reached by multiple Metro lines with stops within two blocks of campus. The B and D Lines serve the Civic Center/Grand Park station at Hill and 1st Streets, and the A and E lines serve the newly opened Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill station at Hope and 2nd Streets. More than 30 bus lines also stop close to campus. Use the LA Metro Trip Planner for routes and schedules.
History Grand Avenue’s evolution mirrors the story of Los Angeles. Once a quiet residential street, it became a focal point of the city’s cultural ambitions in the mid twentieth century. This transformation culminated in the creation of the Music Center in the 1960s and the arrival of world class institutions including MOCA, The Broad, and Walt Disney Concert Hall along the corridor. Today, Grand Avenue represents a living ecosystem of creativity and a place where education, performance, and public space come together.
The Colburn School, founded in 1950 and now a cornerstone of the avenue, anchors this cultural landscape. Its commitment to training, experimentation, and community engagement has shaped generations of artists. The campus is now entering a new chapter with the addition of a major expansion designed by Frank Gehry, which will introduce new performance spaces, rehearsal studios, and public areas. This project strengthens Colburn’s role as a leading center for performing arts education and deepens its connection to the cultural life of Grand Avenue.
Support Support for the street closure on Grand Avenue is provided through the generosity of Terri and Jerry Kohl.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
LADP PERFORMS: CITY OF DANCE | GRAND AVENUE TAKEOVER
Tongva Park in Santa Monica 1615 Ocean Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90401
Sunday, June 7 | 4:00 PM
Free and Open to all. RSVP for event details and updates.
At Tongva Park, City of Dance meets one of Southern California’s most distinctive contemporary landscapes. Designed by James Corner Field Operations, the firm behind New York’s High Line, the park transforms a former parking lot into a sculpted terrain of gardens, overlooks, and winding paths.
City of Dance brings movement into this flowing environment, inviting audiences to experience choreography shaped by ocean light, shifting elevations, and the park’s immersive design.
This performance will be followed by a conversation about land, shoreline, and sovereignty, moderated by Joel Garcia with Dr. Cassie Rauser and Tom Ford.
A Contemporary Landscape for the Coast Tongva Park opened in 2013 as part of Santa Monica’s effort to create a welcoming public space steps from the Pacific Ocean. The park was named in honor of the Tongva people, the Indigenous stewards of the Los Angeles Basin and Southern Channel Islands.
The six‑acre site is organized into a series of sculpted “rooms,” each with its own character and plant palette. Its purpose: a landscape that reconnects the city to the coast and offers room for gathering, rest, and exploration.
Designed by James Corner Field Operations The park was created by James Corner Field Operations, internationally known for transforming urban land into places for people. At Tongva Park, the design is defined by:
Curving pathways and elevated overlooks
Native and drought‑tolerant plantings
Shaded seating areas and open lawns
A landmark fountain that anchors the central plaza
The result is a landscape that feels both intimate and expansive, shaped by the coastal climate and the rhythms of daily life.
A Park Rooted in Indigenous History The park’s name honors the Tongva, the Indigenous people whose ancestral lands include present‑day Santa Monica. The naming acknowledges a history that predates the city and affirms the importance of Indigenous presence in this place.
This connection to land and history aligns with City of Dance’s commitment to engaging the stories held within the places where performances unfold.
A Coastal Stage for Movement Tongva Park has become a gathering place for residents and visitors, offering views of the ocean, access to the Santa Monica Pier, and a landscape designed for wandering.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
LADP PERFORMS: CITY OF DANCE | TONGVA PARK, SANTA MONICA
Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center 135 N Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012
Thursday, June 18 | 5:00 PM
Free and Open to all. RSVP for event details and updates.
Following the performance, there will be a panel discussion at The Music Center moderated by Kristin Sakoda.
The conversation explores how Los Angeles is shaped by visible wealth, hidden labor, and the systems that determine who has access to public space. Panelists will consider how parks and plazas function as places of gathering, joy, protest, and everyday encounter, and how collective bodies—activists, workers, artists, and communities—use public space to challenge power and imagine new ways of being together.
Jerry Moss Plaza began as the central courtyard of The Music Center, designed in the 1960s as a civic gathering space linking the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, and Mark Taper Forum. Long envisioned as a cultural commons for Los Angeles, the plaza served for decades as a formal, architectural anchor for the performing arts campus.
In 2019, the plaza was reimagined and reopened as a fully accessible, 48,000‑square‑foot outdoor venue designed for large‑scale public programming. Renamed in 2020 in honor of a major gift from Tina and Jerry Moss, the space now functions as The Music Center’s “fifth venue,” hosting concerts, festivals, screenings, and open‑air performances.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
Photo by Tim Street-Porter for The Music Center.
LADP PERFORMS: CITY OF DANCE | JERRY MOSS PLAZA AT THE MUSIC CENTER
Hollywood Forever 6000 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038
Wednesday, June 17 | Gates open 6PM / Performance 7PM
We are no longer taking RSVPs for this event.
Parking $12 in advance / $15 day of show
Hollywood Forever is one of Los Angeles’s most storied cultural landmarks. Founded in 1899 and home to generations of artists, filmmakers, and musicians, the site has evolved into a place where memory, history, and contemporary culture coexist. Today, it is known as much for its concerts, film screenings, and public gatherings as for its historic grounds.
City of Dance brings movement into a reflective landscape, inviting audiences to experience choreography shaped by the site’s architecture, history, and gardens at dusk.
Getting There Hollywood Forever is accessible by car, rideshare, and Metro bus. Limited street parking is available on nearby blocks, though restrictions vary, so be sure to check street signs. The closest Metro Rail station is Hollywood / Vine on the B Line, approximately a 25–30 minute walk, and several Metro bus lines stop near the entrance, including the 4 and Rapid 704 along Santa Monica Blvd., the 210 on Vine and Gower, and the 217 connecting Hollywood to Mid‑City. The 2 and 302 also stop along Sunset Blvd., a short walk north of the entrance. We encourage ride sharing.
A Landmark of Los Angeles History Hollywood Forever was established at the turn of the twentieth century as one of the first large cemeteries in Los Angeles. Over time, it became intertwined with the history of Hollywood itself, serving as the resting place for actors, directors, writers, and cultural figures who shaped the city’s creative identity.
Its purpose today extends beyond remembrance. It has become a gathering place for community events, performances, and shared experiences.
A Setting Where Architecture and Landscape Meet The grounds of Hollywood Forever unfold across reflecting pools and gardens, historic mausoleums and chapels, and open lawns framed by mature trees, with long views toward the Hollywood Sign and the neighboring Paramount Studios. Together, these elements create an intimate and expansive setting.
A Twilight Stage for Movement The performance at Hollywood Forever unfolds at dusk, allowing the choreography to interact with shifting light and the quiet atmosphere of the grounds.
City of Dance activates this historic site as a stage, inviting audiences to experience movement in a place shaped by memory and the passage of time.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
LADP PERFORMS: CITY OF DANCE | HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036
Sunday, June 21 | 3:00 PM
Free and Open to all.
City of Dance arrives at LACMA as the museum enters a defining moment in its architectural and cultural evolution. Set along the Miracle Mile, the campus has long been a place where art, public space, and the city meet. City of Dance unfolds outdoors on Feathered Changes, the site‑specific artwork by artist and architect Mariana Castillo Deball, inviting audiences to experience movement in dialogue with the museum’s landscape and the surrounding urban environment.
A Museum Shaped by Los Angeles LACMA was founded in 1961 as an independent art museum for the city, and over the decades it has grown into the largest art museum in the western United States. Its campus has continually evolved, reflecting the changing identity of Los Angeles itself. The museum’s current transformation, anchored by the David Geffen Galleries, reimagines how art and architecture meet on Wilshire Boulevard and signals a new chapter in the institution’s history.
A Campus in Transition The LACMA campus today is a blend of iconic artworks, open plazas, and new construction. Chris Burden’s Urban Light has become one of the most recognizable landmarks in Los Angeles, while the surrounding grounds offer shifting views of the museum’s architecture, the La Brea Tar Pits, and the broader Miracle Mile. The presence of Feathered Changes adds another layer to the site, grounding the performance in a work that reflects the geological and cultural histories of the region. A Site for Contemporary Culture LACMA has long been a center for contemporary art and interdisciplinary programming. Its outdoor spaces have hosted installations, concerts, and public events that invite audiences to experience art beyond the gallery walls. This openness to experimentation aligns with City of Dance’s commitment to bringing choreography into the shared spaces of Los Angeles.
The museum’s position at the heart of the city makes it an ideal site for our capstone performance of City of Dance, a work that reflects on urban life, community, and the stories held within the built environment.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
Century Park in Century City 2000 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles, CA 90067
Tuesday, June 2 | 12:30 PM Wednesday, June 3 | 12:30 PM Thursday, June 4 | 12:30 PM
Free and Open to all. RSVP for event details and updates.
LA Dance Project’s City of Dance meets Los Angeles’s most iconic commercial landscapes as part of The Century Park Edit — a cultural series bringing dance, art, music, and discourse into the heart of Century City’s Power Corridor.
Led by Bess Wyrick, Director of Marketing at CBRE, The Edit reflects a broader shift in how people engage with office environments — not simply as places to sit at a desk, but as curated spaces that inspire connection, creativity, and community. Through thoughtful cultural programming, the series activates the park as an open platform woven into the rhythm of Los Angeles itself.
Framed by the skyline-defining Century Park, LA Dance Project invites Angelenos to experience movement and contemporary culture within one of LA’s most commanding and recognizable urban settings.
Information on arrival and parking at Century Park: Paid Parking at Century Park Each 12 minutes: $5.15 Daily maximum: $43.25
Guests should enter the parking structure off Constellation Blvd, between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East. From there, take the elevator to the lobby level; the performance will be located in the lower park between the towers.
Alternative Parking: One hour of free parking is available at Westfield Century City, which is approximately a five-minute walk from the Century Park entrance at 2000 Avenue of the Stars.
City of Dance uses the building’s central plaza as a stage, allowing movement to interact with the site’s scale, geometry, and daily flow.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park 4800 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027
Saturday, June 6 | 4:00 PM* Saturday, June 20 | 11:00 AM
Free and Open to all. RSVP for event details and updates.
At Hollyhock House and Barnsdall Art Park, City of Dance meets a century‑old vision for art in public life. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for arts patron Aline Barnsdall, this UNESCO World Heritage Site was conceived as a radical experiment in community, creativity, and shared space.
Today, City of Dance brings movement back to Olive Hill, honoring the site’s history while inviting Angelenos to experience dance woven into its architecture.
*The June 6th performance will be followed by a conversation about architecture, landscape, and civic balance, moderated by Frances Anderton in conversation with artist Kim Abeles.
The Vision on the Hill Barnsdall Art Park sits atop Olive Hill, purchased in 1919 by Aline Barnsdall, an oil heiress, radical arts patron, and early champion of experimental theater. She envisioned the site as a 36‑acre arts campus for performance, education, and community.
Her ambition: art should be public, accessible, and part of everyday life.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s First L.A. Commission
Barnsdall hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design the complex. Between 1919–1921, he created Hollyhock House, named for Barnsdall’s favorite flower and adorned with stylized hollyhock motifs throughout the architecture.
The house blends prairie style and Mayan revival influences with early California modernism, and became a harbinger of modern architecture in Los Angeles.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site In 2019, Hollyhock House became Los Angeles’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized as part of The 20th‑Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, the first modern architecture designation in the U.S. This places Olive Hill in the company of Fallingwater, Taliesin, and the Guggenheim. From Private Vision to Public Park In 1927, Barnsdall donated the house and surrounding land to the City of Los Angeles, ensuring it would remain a public cultural resource. Today, Barnsdall Art Park includes:
Hollyhock House
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) — one of the city’s largest publicly funded contemporary art spaces
Barnsdall Junior Arts Center Gallery — a community‑focused exhibition space
Community arts programs and classes
Open lawns with panoramic views of the city
Together, these spaces continue Barnsdall’s original vision of Olive Hill as a public arts campus, where creativity, architecture, and community life converge.
Hollyhock House embodies the idea that art belongs in public life, a principle at the heart of City of Dance.
Kim Abeles has created projects with science museums, health departments, air quality agencies, and community organizations. A Guggenheim Fellow, her work is in collections at MOCA, CAAM, LACMA, and BAMFA. Her documents are archived at the Center for Art + Environment. Recent collaborations include Pugai Padam Collective in Chennai, India; Kim Abeles: Community Smog at Gregory Allicar Museum of Art with neighborhoods and atmospheric scientists; and, Valises createdwith Camp 13, a group of female prison inmates who fight wildfires. Among her public artworks are Citizen Seeds along Park to Playa Trail and Walk a Mile in My Shoes based on the shoes of Civil Rights activists.
Presented by L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project.
Join LADP company member Audrey Sides for an open level class built around movement from City of Dance. This session offers participants an opportunity to engage with material from the citywide project and experience how the choreography lives in the studio.
In June 2026, L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project present the U.S. premiere of Benjamin Millepied’s public dance initiative, La Ville Dansée / City of Dance.
Premiering in 2025, La Ville Dansée drew more than 10,000 spectators across Paris and four neighboring cities through seven free performances in iconic public spaces. In 2026, City of Dance activates sites across Los Angeles, with select performances followed by conversations on urbanism, ecology, technology, and social change curated by Françoise Vergès.
Set to Philip Glass’s score for Koyaanisqatsi (1982), five choreographers — Dimitri Chamblas, Madeline Hollander, Benjamin Millepied, Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz — each respond to a section of the music, creating a unified work that reflects on technology, modern life, and a world out of balance.
LADP CLASSES: CITY OF DANCE REPERTORY CLASS | AUDREY SIDES
Join LADP company member Hope Spears for an open level class that introduces dancers to movement from City of Dance. The class offers an opportunity to explore phrases from the project and connect with the physicality of the work in a studio setting.
In June 2026, L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project present the U.S. premiere of Benjamin Millepied’s public dance initiative, La Ville Dansée / City of Dance.
Premiering in 2025, La Ville Dansée drew more than 10,000 spectators across Paris and four neighboring cities through seven free performances in iconic public spaces.
In 2026, City of Dance activates sites across Los Angeles, with select performances followed by conversations on urbanism, ecology, technology, and social change, curated by Françoise Vergès.
Set to Philip Glass’s score for Koyaanisqatsi (1982), five choreographers — Dimitri Chamblas, Madeline Hollander, Benjamin Millepied, Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz — each respond to a section of the music, creating a unified work reflecting on technology, modern life, and a world out of balance.
This organization is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
LADP CLASSES: CITY OF DANCE REPERTORY CLASS | HOPE SPEARS
