seymour:: dancecollective

seymour:: dancecollective

seymour:dancecollective: vernacular
Sunday, August 30, 2026, 3:30pm - ASL Interpretation Provided
 

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vernacular is a new work by seymour:dancecollective that embodies theories of “linguistic relativity." The theory addresses whether the languages and cultures in which we are fluent affect the way we think. The collective investigates this question through written, verbal, and physical experiments in search of a shared dialogue with each other, our audience and our larger socio-political context(s).

Chafin Seymour is a dance artist originally from Brooklyn, NY. He has had the pleasure to perform with Sage Ni’Ja Whitson/The NWA Project and Anneke Hansen Dance among others. His choreographic work with seymour::dancecollective, has been presented nationally at Gibney Dance, New York Live Arts, Triskelion Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, Livestream Public, The Wild Project, La MaMa, The Ohio Dance Festival, The American Dance Festival, Dance Mission Theater, and ODC Theater among others. He was a Choreographic Fellow at Jacob’s Pillow in 2018 and has received artist in residence awards from both Berkeley Ballet Theater and Zaccho Studios. Additionally, he has created commissions for the Limon Dance Company, Modern American Dance Company (MADCO), Fresno State University, and LINES Ballet Training Program among others. He has taught contemporary forms Gibney Dance in NYC and the ODC School in San Francisco as well as repertory at Bates Dance Festival's Young Dancer’s Intensive. He currently lives in the Bay Area and serves as an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance at San Jose State University. Chafin holds a BFA with distinction in Dance from The Ohio State University and an MFA in choreography from the University of Iowa.

@chafinsey
 

Program Credits
Choreography: Chafin Seymour in collaboration with the performers
Performance: Maya Agrawal, Emily Nagase, Danielle Noda
Music (in order of appearance): Sweet Honey in the Rock, Fetty Wap, Beethoven
(performed by Cecila Bartoli), Danielle Liciari, Jeff Parker, The Winstons, Triste
Janero, Daedelus, Wendy Saddington (covering Rodriguez), Knxwledge & Meek
Mill
Sound Design: Chafin Seymour
Text: Chafin Seymour & Ludacris Thank Yous:
Thank you to Chloe and the entire curation and production team at ODC for this
opportunity. Thank you to the other State of Play artists for their artistic
perspectives and contributions. Thank you to my collaborators on this work:
Maya, Emily and Danielle for your trust, support and extreme talent. Thank you to
my family: Chels, Bay, Mom and Dad for being the best inspiration and strongest
support I could ask for.

Photo by Robbie Sweeney

State of Play Homepage

State of Play Homepage

Accessibility at ODC

ODC Theater and studios across the ODC Campus are ADA-accessible. Getting to Studio B and Argyle in the ODC Dance Commons involves riding an elevator or climbing one flight of stairs. Our restrooms are gender-neutral and wheelchair accessible. The front row of the ODC Theater is located on the ground floor; all seating beyond the front row requires climbing stairs.  Assisted listening devices are available upon request. Please indicate your access needs during the checkout process. Questions?

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ODC is on the ancestral lands of the Ramaytush People in Yelamu. We pay respects to elders past and present, who are still here and part of our community. We recognize that regenerative land management is not new, but is a continuation of practices from Native cultures and from our own ancestors. It is our responsibility to steward the land with care, as our elders did before us.

Arts Access Tickets

ODC offers a limited number of free and/or lower-cost Art Access tickets to every ODC presented performance. For most performances in B. Way Theater, twenty tickets are allocated to the Arts Access tiers. These additionally subsidized tickets, available on a first-come, first-serve basis, are reserved for those for whom price is a barrier. Please contact boxoffice@odc.dance if you or your organization is interested in underwriting the cost of additional Arts Access tickets.

About the Theater

ODC Theater exists to empower and develop innovative artists. It participates in the creation of new works through commissioning, presenting, mentorship and space access; it develops informed, engaged and committed audiences; and advocates for the performing arts as an essential component to the economic and cultural development of our community. This 170-seat venue is the site of over 150 performances a year involving nearly 1,000 local, regional, national and international artists.

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