Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way who trained under the legendary George Balanchine, ODC (Oberlin Dance Collective—named after Oberlin College in Ohio where Way was on faculty) loaded up a yellow school bus and relocated to San Francisco in 1976. Her goal was to ground the company in a dynamic pluralistic urban setting. ODC was one of the first American companies to return, after a decade of pedestrian exploration, to virtuosic technique in contemporary dance and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions for the repertory.
ODC/Dance Company of ten world-class dancers performs its imaginative repertory for more than 50,000 people annually. In addition to two annual home seasons in San Francisco (Dance Downtown and its holiday production, The Velveteen Rabbit), recent highlights include appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival in New York, MODAFE Festival in Seoul Korea, Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, and past standing-room-only engagements in Europe, Russia, and Asia. Way’s work was selected by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for the Inaugural Dancemotion Tour in 2010.
The company has been widely recognized for its rigorous technique and for its numerous groundbreaking collaborations with, among others, composers Marcelo Zarvos, Bobby McFerrin, Zoë Keating, Zap Mama, Pamela Z and Paul Dresher, writer/singer Rinde Eckert; actors Bill Irwin, Geoff Hoyle and Robin Williams; visual artists Andy Goldsworthy, Wayne Thiebaud, Jim Campbell and Eleanor Coppola; and welder/bike designer Max Chen.
ODC is known nationally for entrepreneurial savvy and was the first modern dance company in the United States to own its home facility, the ODC Theater. In 2005, ODC expanded its campus to include the ODC Dance Commons, which houses ODC/Dance, ODC School, a Pilates studio, and a Healthy Dancers' Clinic.
Book the Company
ODC/Dance performs nationally and internationally. If you're a presenter interested in booking ODC/Dance or would like more information about our current touring repertory, we would love to hear from you.
Cathy Pruzan
Booking Agent
Domestic Touring
(415) 789-5051
cathy@odc.dance
Joseph Copley
Associate Director of Artistic Planning
Company Management & International Touring
(415) 549-8515
joseph@odc.dance
Repertory
- A Brief History of Up and Down 2024
- Inkwell 2024
- Dead Reckoning 2015
- 10,000 Steps: A Dance About Its Own Making 2024
- Two if by Sea 2014
- Collision Collapse and a Coda 2023
- Triangulating Euclid 2013
- Unintended Consequences (A Meditation) 2008
- Impulse 2014
- What we carry What we keep 2017
- Path of Miracles 2018
- The Velveteen Rabbit 1986
- ODC/Dance Films 2020
- The Velveteen Rabbit On-Demand 2020
- Drinks & a Dance 2020
- ODC Outreach 2020
Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way who trained under the legendary George Balanchine, ODC (Oberlin Dance Collective—named after Oberlin College in Ohio where Way was on faculty) loaded up a yellow school bus and relocated to San Francisco in 1976. Her goal was to ground the company in a dynamic pluralistic urban setting. ODC was one of the first American companies to return, after a decade of pedestrian exploration, to virtuosic technique in contemporary dance and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions for the repertory.