Performing
La Lee Lee Performance integrates Physical Theatre, Dance,
Contact Improvisation and Emergent Realms of Expression.
Soloist Leralee Whittle shape shifts through dances and
characters, intimately addressing the human condition. She
is a porous performer, walking the line between authenticity
and theatricality. Meaning and actions appear and disappear,
reflecting changing realities, the changing mind and the
emerging spirit. Compelling aspects of the human character
are revealed in between. She takes more masks off than she
puts on. Betwixt the two, she dances absurd, strange,
beautiful, aberrant and graceful body languages of the human
species. Intensity shifts quickly between the whimsical and
the sober, the humorous and the serious, the dramatic and
the release from drama, into pure movement. Her range as a
mover spans many forms of dance and theatre; Modern Dance,
Post Modern Dance, Contact Improvisation, West African
Dance, Butoh, Chi Dance, Improvisation, Traditional Theater,
Action Theatre and Physical Theater.
La Lee Lee performances communicate various aspects of
character, environment and narrative with the body. Text is
used, at times, to provide context and to conjure images.
Composition is developed from conceptual, symbolic and
narrative idioms. Performances are rooted in the relationship
to time, space, shape, texture, musicality and source.
La Lee Lee performance is the synthesis of 17 years in the
performing arts, somatic research, holistic studies and
creative process.
Leralee Whittle is currently traveling around the U.S. and
Europe, performing and collecting source material. She started
making pieces about truth and beauty at Cabrillo College in
1991 under the tutelage of Regina DeCosse, (Bill Evans
Company) and Tandy Beal (Nicolai) and then began an
apprenticeship with Nita Little in 1994. She was a lead
performer in Nita Little Dance Theatre and Nita Little's Smith
Grade Construction 1996-2004. She also performed the work of
Sara Wilbourne (1993 & 2003), Anouk Van Dijk (1995), Regina
DeCosse (1997), Scott Wells (1998) and Tandy Beal (2004).
Collaborative work includes Smith Grade Construction
(1996-1997), Nita Little Dance Theatre (1999-present), Plan B
Performance group (2004), Julie Oak (2005), RD Bolam (2007)
and Paul Sprawl (2006-present).
Pieces created and performed by Leralee Whittle:
Fooled for the Last Time (1992), Thrown Out (1993),
Media-Body (1995), Our Home Again (1996),
Mind if I'm Smoke? (1997), Sadie's Birthday (1998),
Perfect (2001), Numerous Improvisations (2002-2004)
La Lee Lee Performance Repertoire:
American Dream (2006), Execution # (2007), Deserted (2007),
Here and Gone (2007), Civil War Sajimoto (2007),
Mother's Baby (2007), U.S. Interstate (2007),
Outside Berlin (2007), Married to the War 2007)
Teaching
Leralee Whittle teaches "Wiggle Room" a creative process workshop
in the ephemeral arts and Contact Improvisation. Leralee's
training as a teacher includes teaching assistance to Nita Little
in Contact Improvisation, Mind in Motion and Performance and Regina
DeCosse in Modern Dance. Leralee has taught Modern Dance, Post Modern
Dance, Contact Improvisation, Body Based Theatre and Dance Theatre
Improvisation in Northern California.
Quotes
"Leralee Whittle is not just a gifted performer... she is a practitioner
of transformation of the most amazing subtlety. Riveting is too pale
a word to use to describe her presence... and yet she remains open,
vulnerable, and so completely in the moment, you'll find yourself
never wanting that moment to end." - Sara Wilbourne International performer and teacher
"Leralee is one of the most gifted dancers I have ever worked with.
She has inspired me creatively and intellectually by the depth and
breadth of her articulate experiential range." - Nita Little
Director of Nita Little Dance Theater
