the
LAKE
ENCHANTO
project

"MEMORY AND FANTASY CONVERGE IN LAKE ENCHANTO - an existential exploration of Peter Strauss Ranch:

As the sun dips below the trees at Peter Strauss Ranch, shadows elongate. When vintage bathing suit-clad dancers propel through the space, for a moment it ceases to be 2017. Then the ritual begins, and into the “lake” the dancers go, dragging with them their memories, and, literally, setting them ablaze. During the site-specific performance, Duckler’s dancers will permanently transform pieces of West’s installation, while activating different parts of the site. 

An original composition by Davy Sumner will accompany the dancers. Sumner will manipulate and exploit the location’s natural sounds to create an aural piece entirely unique to Peter Strauss Ranch." 

- Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre

"The drained 650,000 gallon pool at Lake Enchanto is an acoustic wonder: sound reflects off its deeply arched concrete walls, and races around the circumference of its outer rim. This unique disorienting effect makes it nearly impossible to pinpoint whether sound--be it whispers, soft music, or a distant FM radio--is emanating nearby, or being mirrored to your ears from out of the deep end. The rusted out ladders and decaying debris serve as percussive jumping off points, and have been reincarnated into metallic instruments. A single, rotating speaker, fashioned on the stage musicians entertained sunbathers in a bygone era, will track the sun’s setting with hollow, roving tones. " 

- Davy Sumner, Sound Artist