Choreographer Heidi Duckler long ago cemented her bona fides as L.A.'s mistress of site-specific dance theater, guiding audiences to a deeper understanding of this city's geographic infrastructure, from Laundromats and the underground Red Car lines to historic jails and the concrete walls of the L.A. River. Lately, Duckler and the dancers, actors, writers and composers of her Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre have turned their attention to L.A.'s diasporic human and cultural infrastructure. In Expulsion, HDDT joins forces with other dance troupes to explore L.A.'s crazy quilt of neighborhoods whose populations often arrived here after being forced to leave their home countries. This time the focus is on Mid-City, where Little Ethiopia and Koreatown are geographic neighbors separated by language, tradition and culture. A three-story scaffolding structure will host Duckler's company plus the delicate fans and whirls of long-skirted Korean dancers and the precision gymnastics of Ethiopian dancers, who make Cirque du Soleil look tame. The weekend performances are augmented by other events (all free) including postperformance curbside conversations and cross-cultural workshops. Expulsion Lot, 3400 Third St.; Sat.-Sun., May 19-20, 4 & 7 p.m., free. heididuckler.org. '-

Sat., May 19, 4 & 7 p.m.; Sun., May 20, 4 & 7 p.m., 2012

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