Pilot 76 Program

Pilot 76 will be December 12-13, 2026.
Applications are due on Friday, August 14, 2026, by 5:00 pm.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by September 1st, 2026. 

There are two ways to gain info and help on the application process:
1) Have general questions? Please email kimi@odc.dance
2) Informal Zoom group info session on Wednesday, July 22nd 5:00-6:00pm. Zoom link coming soon. 

6 artists are chosen by a curation panel which includes ODC staff, the Pilot mentor, and an invited guest curator.   In your application we invite you to clearly share your artistic intention and how you specifically plan to realize your vision by submitting a written proposal and video work sample(s) no longer than 5 minutes maximum. Please do not send longer videos with time codes. 
These 6 selected artists form a collective with shared production responsibilities. Each person becomes a manager of a certain job (i.e. facilitator, flyer design, social media management, etc.) and reports back to the group at the weekly Friday meetings.

1) Every applicant must submit a proposal within the application period, with the application fee of $20.
2) Participating Artists are required at all events, including regular Friday morning in person meetings, but dancers and collaborators are only required for performance related activities. 
3) Participants must be local Bay Area residents 
4) The program is intended to serve a wide-range of dance and movement practitioners from the beginning to mid- career level. 

Artistic guidance with an artistic Mentor (a professional dance artist), who will attend and advise during: 
  
 1)  A composition kick-off class 
 2)  Two group showings of all choreographers’ work
 3)  One dedicated hour-long rehearsal visit by the mentor for each artist at ODC
 4)  A post-performance artistic wrap-up session
  
 In addition to artistic guidance, the group is further mentored by resident ODC staff professionals with production seminars in PR, marketing, technical and digital production, box office, events coordination, and professional theater relationships to help foster self-presenting skills. 
Additionally, each artist will receive: 

1)  10 hours of ODC studio space per artist at no charge, with 50% off of ODC studio space for any time after 10 hours
 2)  $600 Artistic Stipend
 3)  Small discretionary fund for production-related expenses for the group as a whole 
* Each selected choreographer will work with ODC’s Front Desk Team starting in September to schedule and manage their studio time. Pilot Artists are encouraged to schedule time well in advance to best access studio availability.

The only requirement is that no piece can be over 10 minutes in length.

Studio B is a 3,000-square-foot studio theater and rehearsal space with retractable seating for 94 audience members. 

50 ft. X 61 ft.
Theatrical sound and light system
Retractable bleachers 
Light grey Marley floor

Pilot is designed to be a “low-tech” performance. That being said, a Production Manager/Lighting Designer is hired who gives each piece a special look with the capacity for some internal cues. Artist should not rely on complex light design nor have heavy tech or equipment needs as there is only 1 hour tech time per artist. 

Live music is possible with only minimal tech setup needs.

We discourage the use of projections since there is such limited tech time per artist and Studio B does not have an extensive digital capacity. 
All technical needs must be discussed and approved by the Production Manager well in advance

The group is given a minimal budget for the entire production and it must be spent on items that benefit the entire group with cohort consensus (production equipment, videographer, flyer printing, etc.). Pilot is promoted by the participating artists, though ODC does promote through its marketing channels. 

Unfortunately, this is not currently possible on our end and it is the responsibility of each Pilot artist to recruit their own dancers.

Because of limited seating space, no individual comps are issued to the performers, but comps are given to those who have offered services to the entire group.