August 27-30, 2026
State of Play invites you to join the creative process, presenting premieres and works in progress by dance artists from the Bay Area and across the US who push the limits of experimentation, risk, and curiosity. Bringing audiences and artists closer together, State of Play centers the art of art-making and its constant: play.
Purchase festival passes and save on performances and workshops!
The Mini Pass - redeems 3 tickets* to the performances or workshops of your choosing during State of Play. Get a taste for great art at an amazing value.
The Mega Pass - redeems 5 tickets to the performances or workshops of your choosing during State of Play. Mega fun for the mega dance fan.
The Max Pass - redeems 9 tickets to the performances or workshops of your choosing during State of Play, PLUS get a free snack. Literally all that and a bag of chips.
*Excludes Friday Opening Night Performance.
ARTIST LINEUP
RISK-TAKERS // Evening Length Performances
Leslie Cuyjet, Laila J. Franklin, Malinda LaVelle and Emmaly Wiederholt, gizeh muñiz
CURIOUS CREATORS // Short Form Performances
Johnny Huy Nguyễn, Dragons Dance/Erin Yen
EXPERIMENTERS // Studio Presentations
Khala Brannigan, Babatunji Johnson, seymour::dancecolective
Festival Schedule
Thursday, August 27
7:30-9:30pm - 863M Gallery hosts the State of Play Kick Off Party featuring performances by ODC Home Company Kinetech Arts and 2022-2024 resident curator Maurya Kerr, with remarks by creative director Chloë L. Zimberg and ODC Founding Artistic Director, Brenda Way.
Friday, August 28
10:00am - Morning Workshop: Floorwork For the Dance-Curious with gizeh muñiz
7:00pm - Opening Night Performance & After Party featuring Dragons Dance/Erin Yen, Johnny Huy Nguyễn, and Laila J. Franklin presenting BABYBABYBABY from Boston, MA and DJing the dance floor post-show!
Saturday, August 29
10:00am - Morning Workshop: Experiments in Dancing About Love with BABYBABYBABY dancers Sarah Pacheco and Sasha Peterson.
3:00pm - Babatunji Johnson
3:30pm - Laila J. Franklin
5:00pm - gizeh muñiz
6:30pm - Malinda LaVelle & Emmaly Wiederholt
7:30pm - Khala Brannigan
8:30pm - Leslie Cuyjet
Sunday, August 30
10:00am - Morning Workshop: From Risk to Reflection–Giving Form to Your Dance Story with Malinda LaVelle & Emmaly Wiederholt
2:30pm - Leslie Cuyjet
3:30pm - Chafin Seymour
4:30pm - Dragons Dance/Erin Yen & Johnny Huy Nguyễn
6:00pm - Malinda LaVelle & Emmaly Wiederholt
8:00pm - gizeh muñiz
State of Play Partners
836M is a non-profit arts organization with a gallery space in San Francisco. Our mission is to emphasize the creative process and ignite people’s hearts and minds through publicly accessible and free live artistic and cultural experiences. We create programming that provokes strong reactions, lively debate, deep curiosity, and discovery, and through doing so, we hope to open minds and raise people’s awareness.
Our programming celebrates bringing people together to share varying perspectives. We host gallery exhibitions, artist residencies, documentary screenings, an ephemeral mural program, a concert series, and innovative partnerships with other arts and cultural organizations in the Bay Area.
836M is one of the partner organizations of NextWorld, a global organization combining investments and philanthropic activities under one brand to manage capital to benefit future generations.
Djerassi Resident Artists Program is recognized internationally for its pre-eminence as an artist residency, offering uninterrupted time and space for artists to create, experiment, and connect. Each year, we welcome artists of exceptional talent from across disciplines, backgrounds, and geographies—providing a retreat-like environment that supports both individual creative practice and meaningful exchange within a small community of peers. Our commitment is to foster an atmosphere of generosity, curiosity, and artistic risk-taking, where residents can pursue their work with depth and clarity.
As stewards of 583 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, we are dedicated to caring for this land and sustaining it for future generations of artists. We prioritize responsible land management, ecological preservation, and thoughtful use of our facilities to ensure that the residency operates with minimal environmental impact. Our landscape, trails, and purpose-built studios are maintained with intention—honoring the balance between creativity, nature, and stewardship that defines the Djerassi experience.
Accessibility at ODC
ODC is ADA Accessible. Additional wheelchair seating is provided for select shows. ODC Theater seats are 17 inches wide. Getting to second floor studios in the ODC Dance Commons and ODC Theater involves riding an elevator or climbing one flight of stairs. The majority of the ODC Annex is carpeted.
Land Acknowledgement
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.
What’s on at ODC Theater?