The Forbidden Om at Lucent Delirium

Last weekend 65 artists gathered in a warehouse on the western most edge of Downtown LA and turned it into a neo-happening. The scene was a collaboration between The Do Lab and Lucent Dossier, two resident groups of the Artists District. Not quite a rave, not quite a scene, not quite a circus, nor performance art, Lucent Delirium was a little bit of each, and then a bit more.

The centerpiece of the evening was the “vaudeville cirque" Lucent Dossier and their performance of The Forbidden Om. Following a stunning fashion show by skingraft, The Forbidden Om tells the story of damaged creatures of light rediscovering their powers to overcome their dark invaders. It appears to be the abridged version because the segues between scenes seem to be designed to cleanse the mental palette rather than actually carry the audience along with the story. And coming in at just under 20 minutes, there weren’t many moments for pause.

Most of the choreography is improvised, with only a couple of fully blocked moments. After the initial confrontation between the two beings, the mood vacillates between sexy and threatening a couple of times before culminating in the obligatory artist-commune soft-core orgy. Considering the varied skills of the dancers, it probably wouldn’t have hurt to include a few more choreographed moves if only to solidify the capricious energy.

Though differing in technical prowess, all the dancers hold the requisite passion for the story and the act, making up the difference in this case. The troupe demonstrates the earnestness that only a commune of warehouse dwelling artists can properly convey. The story is quite secondary to the exercise and that’s just fine.

As a dance piece The Forbidden Om doesn’t break new ground and would be easily deconstructed by an apt dance reviewer. However, The Forbidden Om is strong artistic achievement in collaborative art as Scene Theater.

Assuming that most, if not all, of Lucent Dossier’s members are professionals in the art and entertainment fields, it seems clear that the whole event of Lucent Delirium and the others like it are temples in which the members (and audience) can restore their creative spirits.

The next link in the love in/happening/club scene/rave chain, this kind of multimedia, multidisciplinary night of revelry is popping up around the city. Adding a level of interactivity and high-art influenced entertainment to the expected thumpa-thump, these events attract artists, hippies, bohemians, and freaks that normally wretch at the idea of the Hollywood club scene. One can only hope that there are some empty warehouses left over after the Downtown L.A. revitalization for these scenes to thrive.