Parable of Portals is a creative constellation of sound-driven improvisational movement-meditations and poetic transmedia storytelling. Inspired by Octavia E. Butler’s interrelated notions of humanness in her Parable Series, this live performance experience reimagines Butler's professional and personal writings into a living testament to the novel’s profound exploration of survival, resilience and community. 

Performers embody the struggles, hopes and transformations of Lauryn Olamina, kinetically shaping Earthseed’s doctrine — embracing change as a divine force and forging a collective path toward the nowness of recurring futures.

Support provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund.

The presentation of Parable of Portals was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

This performance is part of Mapping Los Angeles. Celebrating the vibrant multiplicity of communities across the city, Mapping Los Angeles is envisioned as a practice of “urban acupuncture,” as inspired by artist Faustin Linyekula’s choreographic work. Mapping Los Angeles is a series of relationship-building collaborations and new, artist-led engagements across the city that expand CAP UCLA’s cultural production in creative entrepreneurial activities. This season the series features d. Sabela grimes and his creative constellation of dance, transmedia storytelling and music based on the writings of Octavia E. Butler.