WALKING DISTANCE DANCE FESTIVAL-SF, MUSIC MOVES FESTIVAL and More Set for ODC Theater's 2014 Season
By: BWW News Desk Feb. 28, 2014
ODC Theater, one of the West Coast's major centers for contemporary dance and performance, is pleased to announce its 2014 season. After last year's much-lauded season, ODC Theater's 2014 season offers a range of performances featuring established and emerging artists from around the country and as far away as Israel. Anchoring the season are two festivals: the return of the Walking Distance Dance Festival-SF in May, and spanning four weeks from July into August, the Music Moves Festival, a celebration of music and dance. In fact, the Theater's entire season is studded with concerts that feature dance and live music. The relationship between the two serves as a recurring theme for artists and audiences alike.
"This season offers many different perspectives on how dance and music can relate," says Theater Director Christy Bolingbroke. "Music Moves focuses the question of their relationship in a condensed way which is very exciting. One might say the festival uses music to teach us how to look at dance, and uses dance to teach us how to listen to music." Among the diverse artists and companies featured in Music Moves are ODC/Dance and Joe Goode Performance Group; Holcombe Waller and Zoë Keating; Dance Heginbotham, making its West Coast debut; Kate Weare Company and Paufve Dance; San Jose Taiko with DJ Bangerz; and Antoine Hunter and Milissa Payne Bradley.
The third annual Walking Distance Dance Festival-SF features three programs over two days. Taking advantage of ODC's performance spaces of different size and shape to maximum effect -- the B'Way Theater and smaller Studio B -- WDDF-SF this year combines Headmistress (duo Amara Tabor Smith and Sherwood Chen) and Lionel Popkin on one program; Garrett + Moulton Productions and Chitresh Das Dance Company each performing to live music on a second; and breakdance-inspired choreographers Amy O'Neal and Doug Elkins, in his Bay Area debut, on a third.
Other highlights of the season include performances by Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor visiting from Israel, and closer to home, artists such as Hope Mohr who premieres a new work, Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, set to live music by jazz musician Henry Hung; and Amy Seiwert, whose fourth Sketch series juxtaposes Seiwert with Adam Hougland, offering two choreographic interpretations of the same piece of commissioned music, performed live, by composer Kevin Keller.
Among the many other established and emerging artists performing at ODC this year are Robert Moses' Kin, concluding the month-long Black Choreographers Festival; Dandelion Dance Theater featuring former Sweet Honey in the Rock performer Ysaye M. Barnwell; the Paul Dresher Ensemble with Amy X Neuburg; ODC School Youth & Teen Program's annual Uncertain Weather concert, featuring an original score mixed by ODC School Director Kimi Okada alongside a sound designer; The Big Show Co. from Los Angeles; and at the end of the year, LEVYdance.
A chronological list of ODC Theater's 2014 season follows. Unless otherwise noted, all performances take place in the B'Way Theater inside ODC Theater. All programs and prices are subject to change.
* * * ROBERT MOSES' KIN
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with Robert Moses' Kin and the Black Choreographers Festival
March 6 - 8 Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm Tickets: $18 - $30
Former ODC dancer and celebrated artistic director Robert Moses presents a special double-bill. Draft is a project featuring solo performances created in brief encounters with Moses, with the intention of extracting essential movement and the unique individuality of each performer. Draft highlights many ODC Pilot alumni and 2014 Black Choreographer Festival artists such as Ramon Ramos Alayo, Antoine Hunter, Ar Vejon Jones, Rashidi Omari, Stephanie Powell, Raissa Simpson, and Latanya d. Tigner. The following counterpart, BY Series will feature RMK dancers in the premiere of new, short works by Bliss Kohlmyer, Dexandro Montalvo, Gregory Dawson and Moses himself.
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with A Wider Bridge, the Jewish Community Federation, and the Israeli Consulate
March 21 - 22 Saturday - Sunday @ 8pm Tickets: $23 - $35
Two Room Apartment is an award-winning Israeli dance performance by and with Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor. This is the artists' own version, reimagined for two men, of the classic Israeli dance work by Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal that premiered in Israel in 1987. Two Room Apartment was hailed "Best Performance of the Year" by the Israeli Dance Critics Circle in December 2013.
DANDELION DANCE THEATER & FRIENDS
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with Dandelion Dance Theater, CSU East Bay Department of Theater and Dance March 26 Wednesday @ 7:30pm Tickets: $7 - $12
DANCE THINKING
March 28, May 2
Fridays @5pm
Location: Mélange Market at ODC Theater
Tickets: FREE
An opportunity to grab a drink and join in a discussion about dance and language with ODC Theater Director Christy Bolingbroke, ODC Writer-in-Residence Marie Tollon and friends.
PILOT 64
March 28 - 29 Friday - Saturday @8pm Tickets: $15
The 64th edition of Pilot features six local, rising dance makers: Julie Binkley, Gerald Casel, Rafaella Falchi, Alyce Finwall, Alexandra Kamerling and Carmen Roman. Pilot is the culmination of an 11-week mentorship program, and this installment highlights the relationship between music and dance.
HOPE MOHR DANCE
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with Hope Mohr Dance
April 10 - 13 Thursday - Saturday @8pm
Sunday @ 2pm Ticekts: $20 - $40
Hope Mohr Dance's seventh home season features three premieres. As a testament to Mohr's vision as one of the Bay Area's leaders in postmodern dance, this year the company explores a program dedicated to experimentation in choreographic form by its namesake founder. (The company's annual Bridge Project, dedicated to presenting the work of outstanding choreographers from outside the Bay Area,will take place as a stand-alone event in September.) The three premieres on the program include: Route 20, showcasing high-stakes partnering for three dancers; ridetherhythm, a work for dancers and actors; and Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, a full-company work set to a live jazz score by Henry Hung.
Location: ODC Theater, Mott Studio Tickets: $5
Three dance artists share five-minute excerpts of their work-in-process followed by a moderated discussion among the studio audience articulating what they noticed about the choreographic decisions being made.PAUL DRESHER ENSEMBLE WITH AMY X NEUBURG
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with the Paul Dresher Ensemble
April 18 - 19 Friday - Saturday @8pm Tickets: $12 - $25
Paul Dresher Ensemble's The Electro-Acoustic Band premieres commissions by Sebastian Currier, Lisa Bielawa and Conrad Cummings. The band reprises two favorites: James Mobberley's incendiary 2004 work Fusebox and Dresher's hard-driving and first work for the EAB, Din of Iniquity, featuring original bassoonist, Paul Hanson. Vocalist/electronic musician, Amy X Neuburg joins the band for two songs from They Will Have Been So Beautiful, composed by Bielawa and Cummings. Opening the concert is Oon, the duo of Paul Hanson and virtuoso electric bassist Ariane Cap. Founded in 1976, the Paul Dresher Ensemble creates, performs and produces adventurous contemporary chamber music and innovative opera and music theater. SCUBA April 19-20 Saturday - Sunday @8pm
Location: ODC Commons, Studio B Tickets: $15 - $20
The SCUBA Touring Network strives to present regionally established and nationally emerging artists from four cities through cooperative presenting and grassroots mobilization. Over the course of nearly ten years, SCUBA has co-presented dozens of artists from San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis to perform for audiences nationwide. This year, SCUBA features NAKA representing San Francisco; Elia Mrak from Seattle; Supergroup from Minneapolis; and Nichole Canuso from Philadelphia.
UNCERTAIN WEATHER May 10 - 11 Saturday - Sunday @ 1pm and 4pm Tickets: $7 - $15
Young performers, ages 7-18, from the ODC School Youth & Teen Program embark on an engaging and fun professional performance for the whole family with diverse dance styles including contemporary, ballet, house dance, rhythm tap and Bollywood. This year's Uncertain Weather alsofeatures an original score mixed by ODC School Director Kimi Okada with a sound designer.
WALKING DISTANCE DANCE FESTIVAL-SF May 30 - 31 Friday @ 7:30pm Saturday @ 4pm and 7:30pm
Tickets: $25 per program; $65 for weekend pass
ODC Theater's third annual smorgasbord of dance, the Walking Distance Dance Festival-SF, features three programs over two days. Taking advantage of ODC's performance spaces of different size and shape to maximum effect - the B'Way Theater and smaller Studio B - WDDF-SF this year combines Headmistress (duo Amara Tabor Smith and Sherwood Chen) and Lionel Popkin on Program A; Garrett + Moulton Productions and Chitresh Das Dance Company each performing to live music on Program B; and breakdance-inspired choreographers Amy O'Neal and Doug Elkins, in his Bay Area debut, on Program C.
PROGRAM A: Headmistress and Lionel Popkin May 30 @ 7:30pm
PROGRAM B: Garrett + Moulton Productions and Chitresh Das Dance Company May 31 @ 4pm
PROGRAM C: Amy O'Neal and Doug Elkins
May 31 @ 7:30pm THE BIG SHOW Co.
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with Arianne MacBean's The Big Show Co.
June 26 - 28 Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm Tickets: $23 - $28
Los Angeles-based dance-theater group, The Big Show Co., presents a double-bill including The People Go Where The Chairs Are (2012) and a new work currently untitled. Both pieces are set to original jazz scores by composer Ivan Johnson. Company dancer and choreographer Arianne MacBean creates work that highlights the triumphs and failings of language, the language of the body and of text. The Los Angeles Times describes her as "the Diane Keaton of dance - quirky, endearing and eminently watchable."
SKETCH 4
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with Amy Seiwert's Imagery
July 24 - 27 Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm Sunday @ 7pm Tickets: $25 - $40
Amy Seiwert's Imagery presents SKETCH 4 | Music Mirror, a creative residency that offers two very different ballet choreographers - Seiwert and Adam Hougland - the chance to experiment in the creation of new works. ODC Theater Artist-in-Residence Seiwert is best known for her abstract explorations, Hougland for his creative storytelling. SKETCH 4 juxtaposes the two artists, offering two distinct interpretations of the same piece of commissioned music, performed live, by composer Kevin Keller.
MUSIC MOVES FESTIVAL
July 31 - August 24
Tickets: $20 - $75
The inaugural Music Moves Festival is one of the biggest events in ODC Theater's history. Curated by Theater Director Christy Bolingbroke, Music Moves schedules nearly a full month of diverse performances celebrating the relationship between music and dance. "Music Moves uses music to teach us how to look at dance, and uses dance to teach us how to listen to music," says Bolingbroke. Among the highlights of the Festival's 11 programs are performances by ODC/Dance, Joe Goode Performance Group,the West Coast debut of Dance Heginbotham, Kate Weare Company, Paufve Dance, Holcombe Waller, Zoë Keating, Pearl Marill, Keith Terry & Friends and San Jose Taiko with DJ Bangerz. In addition to these artists the Festival includes ODC's Theater Unpluggedfeaturing Millisa Payne Bradley and Antoine Hunter, and this year's second installment of Dance and Diaspora featuring Namita Kapoor and Rueda Con Ritmo.
ODC/Dance | Summer Sampler
July 31 - August 2 Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm
Tickets: $30 - $45
Joe Goode Performance Group | Irresistibly Drawn August 3-4 Sunday - Monday@ 7pm and 9pm
Dance Heginbotham (West Coast debut) August 7 - 9 Thursday - Saturday@ 8pm
Pearl Marill August 10-11 Sunday - Monday@ 7pm and 9pm
Keith Terry & Friends August 12 Tuesday @ 8pm
Kate Weare Company | Garden and Paufve Dance | Soil August 14-16 Thursday - Saturday @ 8pm
San Jose Taiko with DJ Bangerz August 17 Sunday @ 8pm
Dance and Diaspora August 22-23 Friday - Saturday @ 8pm Tickets: $20 - $35
Theater Unplugged: Antoine Hunter and Milissa Payne Bradley August 24 Sunday @ 6pm Tickets: $20
LEVYdance
A co-presentation of ODC Theater with LEVYdance
November 6 - 9 Thursday - Sunday @ 8pm
Tickets: $20 - $40
AMP (Artists Maximizing Potential) is a comprehensive residency program produced by LEVYdance that invites an emerging choreographer and their dancers into a collaborative process with the company in the creation of new work. This year LEVYdance has chosen New York choreographer Loni Landon to create an evening-length piece with the dancers of the combined companies.
ABOUT ODC THEATER ODC Theater participates in the creation of new works through commissioning, presenting, mentorship and space access; it develops informed, engaged and committed audiences; and it advocates for the performing arts as an essential component to the region's economic and cultural development. The Theater is the site of over 120 performances a year involving nearly 1,000 local, regional, national and international artists. Since 1976, ODC Theater has been the mobilizing force behind countless San Francisco artists and the foothold for national and international touring artists seeking debut in the Bay Area. The Theater, founded by Brenda Way and currently under the direction of Christy Bolingbroke, has earned its place as a cultural incubator by dedicating itself to creative change-makers, those leaders who give the Bay Area its unmistakable definition and flare. Nationally known artists Spaulding Gray, Diamanda Galas, Molissa Fenley, Bill T. Jones, Eiko & Koma, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Ban Rarra and Karole Armitage are among those whose first San Francisco appearance occurred at ODC Theater. For more information about ODC Theater and all its programs visit odctheater.org.
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