ODC/Dance Presents Its Annual Home Season DANCE DOWNTOWN

ODC's flagship dance company, ODC/Dance, has announced program details for DANCE DOWNTOWN, the company's annual home season at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Dance Downtown runs Wednesday, March 29 through Sunday, April 2. In conjunction with Dance Downtown, the company's annual Gala will take place on Friday, March 31. Tickets, starting at $25, are now on sale at odc.dance/downtown.

Dance Downtown will alternate two programs. Program A - on Thursday, March 30 and Saturday, April 1, both starting at 7:30 p.m. - will feature the world premiere of Witness by guest choreographer Amy Seiwert, together with the revival of Something About a Nightingale (2005) by ODC Founder and Artistic Director Brenda Way and Triangulating Euclid (2013) by Way, KT Nelson and Kate Weare.

Program B will be shown in a ticketed preview on Wednesday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Gala performance on Friday, March 31 at 8 p.m., and the closing event on Sunday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. This program will feature the world premiere of Collision, Collapse and a Coda by Way, Impulse (2014) by guest choreographer Dexandro Montalvo, as well as Triangulating Euclid.

This season, ODC/Dance's company includes Jeremy Bannon-Neches, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Cora Cliburn, Brandon W. Freeman "Private", Rachel Furst, Jenna Marie, Allie Papazian, Ryan Rouland Smith, Christian Squires, Colton Wall and Miche Wong.

Collision, Collapse and a Coda is a full-company work created "in response to the overwhelming 24-hour news cycle, the crushing weight of it all," said Way. "But the work succeeds in finding a way toward consolation, one found in music and in the care and affection of intimate relationships." The piece incorporates music from Aphex Twin, David Lang, Jay Cloidt and Chopin. Alexander V. Nichols returns as the scenic and lighting designer.

Witness is a new full-company work by guest choreographer Amy Seiwert. "When words fail, we dance...our feelings become the movement," said Seiwert. "Witness explores how we can, in community, validate vulnerability and grief, hold space for one another, and deeply listen. It is an investigation of loss, hope and strength. Of not looking away, even when it's uncomfortable. It is the hope that shared humanity is laid bare by embracing the uncomfortable moments and allowing perceived divisions to melt away." With musical selections by Hildur Guðnadóttir, Ezio Bosso, Anna Clyne and Jody Redhage, Witness also features the work of collaborators Nichols (lighting) and Jamielyn Duggan (costumes).

Impulse (2014) earned an Izzie nomination for outstanding choreography the year it premiered. The work celebrates "individuality, physicality and ferocity of movement," said guest choreographer Dexandro Montalvo. Originally conceived as a quartet for four women, the work has also been performed by a male cast. For Dance Downtown it will be performed by all women, with a musical score featuring the deep house and techno beats of Someone Else + Miskate.

Something About a Nightingale (2005) is a movement essay for six dancers on "the unpredictable magic of inspiration." "Fun, light and whimsical...a stream of consciousness," said Heather Desaulniers in a review for DanceTabs. Set to music by the inventive Tin Hat Trio, Something About a Nightingale is by turns "technical" and "quirky," deploying movement that adds "a measure of childlike wonder to the mix."

Triangulating Euclid (2013) was Way and KT Nelson's first-ever collaboration with acclaimed New York-based choreographer Kate Weare, an effort designed to shake up each of their creative processes and to explore new artistic territory. Drawing inspiration from the first printed edition of Euclid's Elements of Geometry, one of the most influential books in the history of mathematics, this "beautiful and enigmatic" (HuffPost) work moves from the formal elegance of geometry to its human implication: from triangles to threesomes, from lines to connections, from the page to the heart.

ODC will hold its annual Gala on Friday, March 31. This one-night-only event will accompany Dance Downtown, Program B, featuring Collision, Collapse and a Coda by Brenda Way, Impulse by Dexandro Montalvo, and Triangulating Euclid by Way, KT Nelson and Kate Weare. Proceeds from ticket sales support ODC and its mission to inspire audiences, cultivate artists, and foster diversity and inclusion through dance.

The Gala begins at the Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA with a welcome reception at 5 p.m. followed by an elegant dinner in the Forum at 6 p.m. catered by McCalls with wines donated by Anaba Wines and LOLA Wines and desserts by Black Lily Sweetshop. Gala attendees will then return to the Blue Shield of California Theater for the 90-minute performance of Dance Downtown. The evening concludes with an after-party in the Forum.

This year's Gala co-chairs are Jackie Schneider and Timothy Schroeder. Tickets start at $190, and tables may be reserved for $10,000 on up. For more information and to make a reservation, visit odc.dance/gala.

Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way, ODC is a groundbreaking contemporary arts institution: a world-class dance company (ODC/Dance), a theater with year-round presenting and mentorship programs (ODC Theater), a training school for dancers and movers of all levels (ODC School), and a fee-free, educational Healthy Dancers' Clinic. Known nationally for its entrepreneurial savvy and artistic innovation, ODC is unique for its holistic vision, now including a robust digital platform. With its home in San Francisco's Mission District, ODC makes a dynamic contribution to the Bay Area's vibrant dance and arts ecosystem, cultivating artists, inspiring audiences, engaging the community, and fostering diversity and inclusion through dance performance, training and mentorship.

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