Andrew Dawson

3:00 PM and 8:00 PM shows are available on select days. Check website for details.

“The scale at which Dawson operates is small but he thinks big. Standing on a platform behind a flat, slanted and velvety black surface, and cued to an edited recording, in just under 30 minutes he guided us through the dramatic highs of ‘der Ring Des Nibelungen.’ Places, characters and the shifting of focus and scale were all conjured via expressively detailed gesture.” —The Times Of London

Andrew Dawson is a dancer, a theater artist, a puppeteer and, most of all, a storyteller. A student of such 20th century cultural icons as Merce Cunningham and Jacques Lecoq, Dawson has created his own unique brand of theater using only the finely tuned gestures of his hands and the expressions of his face to act out the details of complex narratives. Dawson presents two works for CAP UCLA audiences—one story of epic fact, the Apollo 11 moon landing, and one epic story of fiction, the whole of Wagner’s Ring cycle in 30 minutes. Space Panorama takes us from Houston to the moon and back, conveying the colossal distances and the risks involved in this perilous journey simply through the deftness and skilled movement of his hands. In Spirit of the Ring, Dawson embodies a myriad of characters—the vast Rhine River, the Castle of the Gods and the winged horse of the Valkyrie—with nothing more than his hands, a brief narrative introduction and edited orchestral excerpts. You truly have to see this to believe it. We guarantee you will be both charmed and amazed.

Thu, Nov 14 at 8PM
Fri, Nov 15 at 8PM
Sat, Nov 16 at 3PM & 8PM
Sun, Nov 17 at 3PM