The Weight of a Dream

The Weight of a Dream

A site-spefic dance by choreographer Genna Moroni and director Christina Burchard inspired by the MHA Site Office in Crestwood Hills.

homeLA, a nomadic organzation that creates site-specific performances in homes around Los Angeles, presents The Weight of a Dream, a new dance work that explores utopian ideals of community and affordable housing while confronting histories of erasure, fire, and reinvention that continue to shape Los Angeles. The evening includes a live soundscape by Joe Berry, a sunset reception, and a post-performance conversation with the artists and the designer Bryony Roberts.

RSVP required. Capcity is limited.

Directions and parking details will be provided the week of the converstaion to event guests

The Weight of a Dream emerges from the layered history of Crestwood Hills, a post-war experiment in cooperative living imagined by artists and creatives. According to the Mutual Housing Association (MHA), it was the first successful large-scale cooperative housing development in California. The MHA Site Office, the community’s first structure, served as the workspace for the architects who realized this ambitious dream. Today, it is a private residence cared for by architect, author, and historian Cory Bruckner, who has been instrumental in preserving the legacy of Crestwood Hills.

The Weight of a Dream examines the utopian dream of Crestwood Hills while reckoning with the forces that undermined it: racially restrictive covenants, the 1961 Bel Air fire, cycles of redevelopment, and historic erasure. Drawing on the writings of urban theorist Mike Davis, which chart Los Angeles’s continual and often violent reinvention, the performance frames Crestwood Hills as both a fragile ideal and a lens through which to consider ongoing struggles with displacement, rebuilding, and resilience.

By activating the invisible layers of a place still humming with intention through choreography, The Weight of a Dream reveals how the MHA Site Office holds a complex housing history: one that continues to shape Los Angeles amid ongoing struggles with affordable housing, wildfire, and urban development. The performance honors the community’s enduring dreams while acknowledging the unraveling of its urban utopia. Developed from Burchard and Moroni’s ongoing research for an upcoming dance film for homeLA, Moroni’s choreography transforms history into movement. Details from the site’s past are translated into scores and patterns that guide her pathways through the space, evoking the spirit of post-war Los Angeles while creating new memories for today’s audience.

The Weight of a Dream is curated by Chloë Flores, created by Christina Burchard and Genna Morini, produced in partnership with Cory Buckner and Bryony Roberts, and generously supported by homeLA’s community.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

homeLA events require proximity and are intimate events that include live video recording and photo for documentation and accessibility purposes.

COVID: In fostering a community of care, we ask that you keep the following in mind: This event will be held outdoors and indoors. Please mask at your own discretion. We will have masks on site for folx who want to mask. If you are feeling sick at all, we ask that you please stay home.

Accessibility: The MHA is sited on a slope that is accessible through stairs. It is a private dwelling not ADA accessible by wheelchair. homeLA will provide a live-stream for accessibility purposes.

About Crestwood Hills and the Mutual Housing AssociationIn the aftermath of World War II, four returning veterans—studio musicians seeking a new way of living—purchased land in the Santa Monica Mountains and founded the Mutual Housing Association (MHA). Their vision of shared resources and modernist design grew into Los Angeles’s first large-scale cooperative housing development, planned across 800 acres with homes, communal facilities, and a neighborhood infrastructure. Architects A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith, and Edgardo Contini created nine core designs featuring dramatic rooflines, natural materials, and glass walls that dissolved the boundary between indoors and out. Eventually 80 houses were built, including contributions by Richard Neutra, Craig Ellwood, Rodney Walker, and Ray Kappe.

Although the full scope of the cooperative plan was never realized, Crestwood Hills remains one of California’s most ambitious modernist experiments in collective living. Only 30 of the original houses remain—45 were lost in the 1961 Bel Air fire, while others were demolished or altered beyond recognition. Today, 19 surviving homes are designated as historic monuments by the City of Los Angeles.

About Genna Moroni

Raised in LA- Genna is a choreographer and performer known for emotionally-driven, purpose-rooted movement. She had an extensive career performing at venues like Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theater, CAP UCLA and many more. Additionally, she was certified in the Gaga movement language. In 2020, Genna founded Gorgeous Ugly Movement (G.U.M. Co). Since then, she’s been commissioned by REDCAT, CalArts Dance, Ballet Florida and Whim W’him Dance. Commercially, she’s choreographed and coached artists including HAIM, OneRepublic, Dominic Fike, and Carly Rae Jepsen, and performed in videos for Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo among others. In film, her choreography credits include Invisible Raptor, Drifter, Via Negativa and Holland. Teaching and community engagement is a priority and a source of inspiration for Genna. She’s on faculty at CalArts, teaches Dance Church® and serves as a creative consultant for DanceFilmmaking.com. In 2025 Genna was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.”

About Christina Burchard

Christina Burchard is a multidisciplinary filmmaker with a passion for dance culminating in the 2018 premiere of “Lorelei”, featuring principal dancers from The Joffrey Ballet. The film score was written by Jessica Rose Weiss and performed by the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra in a showcase that highlighted the contributions of female film composers. Through an ongoing collaboration with Pakistani-American composer Qasim Naqvi, Christina created two new works with dancer Matthew “ET” Gibbs. Before pivoting to directing full-time, Christina began her career as a documentary feature editor and worked with the team on the Academy Award winning film "Citizenfour". Over the years, Christina has developed projects supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, and The Harnisch Foundation, as well as HBO, Showtime, Netflix, A24, ESPN, PBS, VICE, the International Venice Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Tribeca, Toronto Film Festival and Sundance.

About Bryony Roberts

Bryony Roberts is an artist, designer, and educator who leads the practice Bryony Roberts Studio. She designs public art and urban design projects that activate public spaces around the world. She has created immersive and participatory environments at international sites such as Lincoln Center, the Federal Plaza in Chicago, and the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome. She received the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, as well as support from the MacDowell Colony, the Graham Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She earned a B.A. from Yale University and a Masters of Architecture from Princeton University, and taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation from 2017-2024. She co-founded the collectives Feminist Spatial Practices and WIP Collaborative.

About Cory Buckner

Cory Buckner is a practicing architect in the Los Angeles area. She has a degree in Fine Arts from Chouinard Art Institute and an M.Arch from UCLA. Her firm, Cory Buckner, Architect, specializes in contemporary residential design and mid-century remodel and restoration projects. In 1994, she and her late husband, architect Nick Roberts, purchased a home in Crestwood Hills designed in 1949 by architects A. Quincy Jones, Whitney R. Smith and structural engineer Edgardo Contini. After restoring the house, she spearheaded a preservation movement in the neighborhood. Through her efforts, 15 of the remaining 30 houses have been designated Historic/Cultural Monuments with the City of Los Angeles. She was awarded the 2002 Los Angeles Preservation Award. She is the author of A. Quincy Jones published in 2002 by Phaidon Press and Crestwood Hills; The Chronicle of a Modern Utopia published by Angel City Press in 2015.

Images in order of appearance by Matt Lipps, Tim Street Porter

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