At the Oasis—The Heidi Duckler Dance Theater

The Heidi Duckler Dance Theater

At the Oasis —Traveling Site Specific Dance 

 Heidi Duckler takes the idea of an audience going to a specific site a quantum theatrical leap

Melodramatic high energy dance farce

further as she brings the site to the audience. An audience taking in Twelfth Night in Central Park NYC or A Midsummer Nights Dream thru the Rocky Mountain trails in an Aspen summer is site specific. Site hilarious is parking a funky, decrepit relic of a travel trailer in front of elegant backdrop that is The Music Building on the pristine CSUEB campus.[1] Moreover, if you have seen the aluminum hulk, picture this humongous sardine can behind a fully restored Ford truck of the 1960s dancing along into the sunset South on the Interstate 5 at freeway speed. In a sense, the Heidi Duckler Dance Theater creates a poignant dance theater in At the Oasis by documenting what has occurred in our mass culture for decades. Furthermore, the story of the vagabond is a timeless theme done in other wagons, with similar props and expressions of culture for centuries. At the Oasis and its long line of predecessors form the social dance about the cultural theatrics of traveling, wanderlust and a widespread nomadic lifestyle.

 In terms of theater, At the Oasis is a comic social satire of and about one slice of the overall popular pie. The pie, “in the sky” and “in the eye” of the characters is a romantic culture in the boom of the post-war era in the USA. However, At the Oasis pokes fun at the nomadic lifestyle with dance, rather than dialog and its deep psychological messages. This dance piece lampoons the wild nomad with soulful and romantic period music, visual projections from the wandering mind, the period attire as social costume and a transportation relic: the 1961 Oasis travel trailer. The piece explores the nomadic wanderlust culture, which is still with us today. In theatrical dance, At the Oasis shows us characters who, in their choice to "get away from it all," most likely intend to leave their social domestic conflicts behind. Nevertheless, in the open dance scene, we see that is not “in the cards, “ as even a relaxing card-game turns into a domestic squabble. In fact, the squabble escalates so that the two couples on the journey as friends become embroiled in —the friendly-fire” of domestic wrangling. With the backdrop of the sensuous period music and the foreground of the jovial travel-trailer, the mid-ground of dancing conflict occurs as classical acting: sans the psychology of meaning and identity—the scuffling is just the cottage industry of therapy: business as usual.
At the Oasis begins with the audience seated in the portable house complete with period

At the Oasis introit: prelude to a farce

fold-up canvas cot chairs, which are back-less, rustic and bare bones.  The chairs are set up in an ovate semi-circle at the back the trailer. An introit or piece of performance occurs as set largely inside of the trailer in back end of it. The back end is the dining area, which is the typical diner booth design. Much action occurs as exaggerated movement in expression of passionate interactions: some amorous, some combative and some that results in literal and symbolic falling out of the framework of the missing window. The trailer, music and props help create the idea and theme; yet the dance moves, poses, gesturing and interaction evoke the pathos and the modernist cultural dysfunction. When we see chaos in movement and interaction, then we know it. After an introit of ten minutes, the scene changes to the side view of the trailer. 
The stage

Change of scene: change of house seating config

manager (Heidi Duckler) has the audience pick up and move chairs to face the side-door of the trailer. The move causes no audience attrition and serves as an apt point for the audience to reflect in its acculturation into the intense: keyed up: bouncy modernism of At the Oasis. The dance with its cornucopia of acrobatic tumbles, leaps and moves now has the side of the trailer as backdrop. Add to that the use of video and still camera projections onto the trailer. Add the use of the top of the trailer as an adjunct dance space. Add the overall use of the trailer as a symbolic padded-cell. Add the mix of ever-present music culture, which takes root as a muzak in the background of our conscious mind. Thus, At the Oasis gives us a clear insight into the dance of the traveler

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[1] The funky Oasis trailer blends in serendipity with the chain-link fencing that surrounds the nearby repair-work being done on the roof of the CSUEB Library.