The spring 2023 calendar for UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance will bring live musical performances and multidisciplinary collaborations to the stages of UCLA's Royce Hall and Freud Playhouse, and The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Among the season highlights is the return of Ukrainian quartet DakhaBrakha on March 11 at the Ace. On the heels of a triumphant sold-out CAP UCLA engagement in 2022, the group will once again bringing its own folk theater vernacular to downtown audiences. DakhaBrakha is known for its unique brand of musical "ethno-chaos," giving new form to old customs and creating an exuberant, transnational sound rooted in Ukrainian culture.
Royce Hall events include a night featuring a rare collaboration between two essential Los Angeles musical voices. On April 29, singer-songwriter Perla Batalla and East Los Angeles Chicano rock group Quetzal share the stage to celebrate multiethnic Latino culture through the unifying power of art and music.
On June 22, audience members can witness and participate in the work of Dan Froot, a UCLA professor of world arts and cultures/dance. Dan Froot & Company will record an episode of the podcast "Arms Around America," which is based on oral histories of American families whose lives have been shaped by gun violence. Actors Donna Simone Johnson, Christopher Rivas, Natalie Camunas, Sola Bamis and Justin Alston, Froot will perform short audio dramas inspired by the stories of two Southern California families, accompanied by Julio Montero of the band Cuñao. The audience will participate in the recording of crowd scenes and sound effects for the podcast.
