LOS ANGELES — Achinta S. McDaniel isn't understated. She lives in color — from her blue hair and even brighter blue lipstick to the way her hands curl and dance nonstop as she speaks, flowing in harmony with her words.
So when it came to choosing a location for where her site-specific, immersive idea could come to life, she knew absolutely what she wanted and what she didn’t.
“I couldn’t do it in a parking lot or a warehouse,” she said. “I needed something with some kind of spectacle. Some grandeur. You know, the drama.”
McDaniel is the founding Artistic Director of Blue13 Dance Company. Her company spends most of the time on tour, so her opportunities to create in Los Angeles have been limited. The pandemic gave her the time but not the place.
And then she remembered the Heritage Square Museum which she first spotted from the 110 freeway when she moved to LA 10 years ago.
“And I really pulled off the freeway because I was like, what is the white spire? What is that Victorian house?” she remembered.
Returning now for a quick visit, she instantly knew, this site was the one.
“As soon as I walked in I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for and this is where we’ve been waiting for,'” she remembered.
The grounds feature several buildings brought from Bunker Hill to create what feels like a town square from days gone by.
“We’re in this kind of Brigadoon-esque place, right?” McDaniel explained of the setting. “Just a street of people getting ready for a wedding, and we just kind of embark upon them as an audience.”
Her piece is called “Shaadi,” which is Hindi for wedding. Forget a stage. This Bollywood extravaganza uses every feature of the property as the action and the audience explore the space.
“Suddenly a Kathak classical Indian solo on this porch,” she said, her eyes twinkling with enthusiasm, her hands appearing to summon imaginary dancers from the buildings. “We have dancers flying out of this octagonal house. We’re inviting the audiences to come in, to step up, to sit on the bench up here, to go actually into the houses” – dramatic gasp! – “if they want to.”
The piece is all about choices. In the vein of a choose-your-adventure story, guests decide which characters to follow into which building before finally ending up in the same spot.
“Come take a peek!” McDaniel said as she threw open the door to the old white chapel. “This is my favorite part. It’s the finale, right before the big wedding outside.”
Inside, it is large, circular, mostly empty, but strung with lights.
“Look at this incredible space,” she gushed. “It reminds me of the end of 'Footloose!'”
'Footloose' may be very different from Bollywood style fare, but that’s what Blue13 is all about. Born to immigrant parents, McDaniel had to find a way to marry her American-ness with her Indian heritage. She takes the same approach to dance. Trained in classical Indian styles, she weds those traditions with ballet, tap, jazz — you name it.
She also prides herself on the diversity of her company.
“Really embedded in [the] fabric is the idea of inclusion, equity, bringing all different dance forms together to create something contemporary and really question, 'what is American?'”
Or Angeleno for that matter. One dancer, Kirby Harrell, says he didn’t know much about Bollywood before joining the company seven years ago. McDaniel's choreography, he says, “feeds me more than any other dance job in Los Angeles because I get to really dance like me and dance with the fire that’s inside.”
This whole "Shaadi" experience, which Harrell describes as unbelievable, feels authentic to the City of Angels.
“It feels a little historic,” he said. “It feels so good to be representing dance in LA in a place that is valuable to LA and only unique to LA.”
At its heart, "Shaadi" is a celebration of community, love and joy with some drama and moodiness thrown in to spice things up.
“I’m dramatic and moody!” McDaniel laughed. “So is the dance.”
But what makes it truly spectacular, in her opinion, is that it’s one moment in time.
“It’s singular,” she explained, as a visible shift came over her, her words less rushed, her face almost reverent. “It will never happen again the same way.”
She hopes audience members of all backgrounds will gather to bear witness and join the celebration. Masks and vaccinations are required. Dancing shoes are highly recommended.
