Four contemporary dancers embrace during a rehearsal, creating a sculptural moment of movement, connection and collaboration in a performing arts studio.

Victoria Marks 

A Deer Walks into a Dance

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1262 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024

World Premiere 
Runtime: 55 minutes
No intermission 

UCLA student ticket on sale: Sep 21 at 10 am

A Deer Walks into a Dance, a world premiere by Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Victoria Marks.

In A Deer Walks into a Dance, Alpert Award-winning choreographer Victoria Marks explores connection in a world of division. Using movement, text, and the deconstruction of a (bad) joke, she and four performers — Rian Alcid, Maya Billig, Karen Chuang, and Aaron Mason — morph into multiplicities of identities, propelled by a live drummer's urgent pulse. Language and experience vie for dominance, predator and prey lay together and recognize themselves in one another. 

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four performers on stage with hands outstretched amongst dark background

Victoria Marks is an Alpert Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim and Rauschenberg Fellow, and Fulbright Distinguished Scholar, who practices knowing and unknowing. Her work for stage and film migrates between choreo-portraits and action conversations for individuals who don't identify as dancers (veterans, dads, moms, sorority and fraternity students) – and dances for and with dancers that fuel Marks' inquiries into movement.

Her dance films co-created with Margaret Williams have received numerous awards, and her stage choreography has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, state and local funding bodies, and private foundations.

Recent projects include UCLA's Dancing Disability Lab, a gathering of disabled dance artists challenging "ability paradigms," and The Disability and Ecology Performance Exchange (at UCLA), a group of artists, poets and scholars considering how unique corporealities shift our understanding and connection to the natural world. Currently Culver City's Artist Laureate, Marks builds Action Conversations and performances in public spaces. Marks is a professor in UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, chairing its Interdepartmental Program in Disability Studies.

UCLA Nimoy Theater is located at 1262 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024. For GPS, use 10866 Wilshire Blvd to reach the parking structure. The entrance is on Glendon Avenue — look for either entrance marked VISITOR. Parking is $4, beginning at 5 pm for evening performances and 12 pm for matinees. Arriving before these times will incur the $30 day parking fee.

The box office is open Monday–Friday, 10 am–4 pm, and opens 60 minutes before showtime on show nights. The box office is cashless and accepts all major credit cards. For day-of questions, call 310-206-8655. For general inquiries, contact info@cap.ucla.edu or call 310-825-4401.

All late seating is based on availability and at the discretion of house manager.

Accessible seating and assistive listening are available. Ask any house staff member for assistance. For additional accommodations, contact info@cap.ucla.edu.

Beer, wine, mixed beverages, water, soda, and coffee are available in the lobby. Valid ID required for alcohol. Credit cards and cash accepted. For nearby restaurant options, visit the UCLA Nimoy Theater page.

A digital house program for this performance is available to view or download before the show. Find it on the CAP UCLA Program Notes page.

If the performance is sold out, join the standby line at the box office on the night of the show. A waitlist may also be available — if tickets are released, you will be notified by email with a window to purchase.