ODC Theater 2022 Season

** Lauren Simpson and Galen Rogers with Emma Strebel: Self Leveling (a work in progress)
January 28-29, 2022
This project marks the completion of a Theater Resident Artist from the 2018-2021 cohort whose residency was delayed due to COVID-19.

Lobby Night
February 4, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

Make it a night out at ODC Theater’s first Lobby Night, with an art opening curated by Emma Rubinowitz featuring photography by Myles Thatcher,  Second Cast: An Exploration in Drag, in which a group of local ballet dancers from San Francisco combined their artistic skills to develop a series of drag photography that blends radical transformation with fine art. 

Want to show something at the open mic / on the open floor? Write to theater@odc.dance to sign up in advance or talk to ODC staff at the event to get added to the lineup!

ODC Health Programming
February 14, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

ODC's Health Initiatives Program Director Rachel Abair discusses the social and emotional impact of dancing together with Jennifer Bury, expert Movement Therapist and Certified Trainer/Supervisor in Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy™. Learn the importance of how we create and strengthen community by moving together, and how we can take that forward together in our lives. 

ODC Theater Art & Ideas
February 21, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

The Art & Ideas series offers monthly, free programming that joins artist communities and audiences together for panels on driving equitable practices in the dance field, discussions on topics impacting the arts sector, embodying our theory into physical practice, and consulting experts in the field. February 21st's panel discussion will feature Weidong Yang of Kinetech Arts moderating a conversation between local Asian American and Pacific Islander artists including San Francisco Ballet's first Asian Male Principal Dancer Wei Wang and Bay Area dancer and choreographers Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy Nguyen on the intersection of art making and AAPI identity and representation. Come to learn, share, ask, and be curious! 

Lobby Night
March 4, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

The Artists Climate Collective lead by Keaton Leier is a collection of artists passionate about the idea of using art as a tool to build awareness, activism, and funds towards a more sustainable future. Curated for the ODC Theater Gallery in March by Emma Rubinowitz, they have commissioned three artists Gabriel Smith, Alexandra Farber, and Maggie Carey to create work with an environmental theme. 

ODC Health Programming
March 14, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

Food and Nutrition Showdown: Dairy vs. Plant Based - Who wins?!
Does milk really do a body good or should I go dairy-free? Maybe I should be vegan? What’s this whole plant-based craze really about? Rachel sits down with Dr. Mary Lesser, Registered Dietitian, to answer all your questions and discuss dairy vs. plant based products and their impact on dancers and overall health. 

Joe Landini & Co: City of Ghosts
March 18-20, 2022

City of Ghosts is a meditation on loss and fractured memories. Landini reflects on living in San Francisco for thirty years and how gentrification, change and death are part of civic life. The athletic movement in City of Ghosts is inspired by resilience, adaptation, and evolution. Also featuring More is MORE! featuring costumes by Mr. David, inspired by Juanita MORE! and composition by the Tammy Hall Trio (Mar 18 & 20).

*At the request of the artists and performers, masks will be required at all times during this event.
 

ODC Theater Art & Ideas
March 21, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

SAFEhouse Arts (Saving Arts From Extinction) and ODC Theater invite you to take a deep dive into the experiences of mid-career artists and the unique set of challenges that come with being neither emerging nor veteran. Executive Director of SAFEhouse Arts, Joe Landini, will lead a long-table discussion around funding, self-producing, being presented, and collaborating.

Lobby Night: Many Happy Returns
April 1, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

"I love to sing and I love to draw and I like to see my friends. This is why I'm happy to be back in the studio." - Shanna Kinard

After almost two years of working from home, NIAD artists and staff returned to our beloved 23rd St. studio in Richmond, CA with joy, relief, and anticipation of the fullness of possibility. All of the work exhibited in this show has been created since this return, roughly 5 months ago. NIAD Art Center is a Progressive Studio for disabled adults in Richmond, California. This year we celebrate our 40th anniversary! Come check out their gallery curated by Bill Zindel and Liam Golden featuring artists: Peter Harris, Heather Hamann, Arista Dawson, Mike Star, Deatra Colbert, Saul Alegria, Shawna Kinard, Dorian Reid, and Lupe Soto. 

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players: Drama and Poetry
April 2 - 3, 2022 | 7 PM & 1 PM

At the high-water mark of our 51st season, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players take a collective look in the mirror with a set of generational responses from across the globe to the poetry and drama of existence. Celebrating her 90th birthday, Eastern European master Sofia GUBAIDULINA’s music is hailed for its unflagging dramatic and emotional intensity. Two of her works anchor the first concert in an exploration of the existential, while the winning composer of our annual SF Search for Scores responds to the theme. The searing intensity of Amadeus REGUCERA’s musical language comes to life in a newly commissioned work of instrumental theater, calling upon the poetry of Filipino writer José García Villa as inspiration. On our second program, Chinese-American composer Du YUN’s latest essay for string quartet leads off with her typical hyper-dramatic flair, and Australian composer David CHISHOLM explores the murky implications behind the idea of the projected self in the internet age. One more work of GUBAIDULINA’s rounds out the celebratory focus on her achievement, in a deeply moving expression of her profound sense of the spiritual and the eternal. 

ODC Health Programming: The Coordinated Core Container - What’s inside?
April 4, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

Ever wonder what is really part of your core? The core is more than just the “six pack abs”. All movement requires core coordination and is necessary for healthy functional movement patterns. Rachel discusses the recent research with Dr. Karah Charette, PT, DPT. We now understand the core operates primarily as a pressure management system. This system is a container- and this container has contents! Come learn about how these contents play a pivotal role in breathing, digestion, and muscular function which ultimately produces healthier movement and dancing. 

ZiRu Dance: Vantage 
April 7-10, 2022 | 7:30 PM

A project addressing xenophobia, race, and promoting advocacy through dance, Vantage sits at the intersection of movement, technology, cultural identity, nature and most importantly: social justice. The experimental work, Vantage, will incorporate virtual reality, dance-for-the-camera, site-specific choreography (choreography catered to an off-stage location), storytelling, and live panel discussions from four distinct racial viewpoints (Asian American, African American, Latinx, and European Caucasian). 

ODC Theater Art & Ideas: Dance On Dance
April 18, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

Join artists KT Nelson and Joanna Haigood and experience designer Jenny Sauer-Klein for a free evening of convening around dance and dancing. KT and Joanna have joined together for the first time in decades to make a dance. We are interested in gathering with our audiences to find new ways of experiencing and sharing our art. Jenny will join us to find ways of expanding and reimagining our relationship with our audience. Wear comfortable clothes. Be ready to write, move, imagine with us and be the first to see Joanna and KT’s duet. Reserve tickets ►

Amit Patel & Ishika Seth: Unearthed
April 22-24, 2022 | 8 PM 

Unearthed is a dance and music production that excavates the stories of forgotten voices in the Hindu epic, Ramayana. Bringing forth diverse perspectives, we examine these stories in a modern context, relating them to current social and political themes. Using the idiom of Indian Contemporary dance movement, music, and narration, Unearthed brings together a stellar cast of South Asian artists, directed by Amit Patel & Ishika Seth. Reserve tickets ►

** Larry Arrington & Alexa Burrell: w o w
                                                                         m o m
April 29-30, 2022 | 7:30 PM 
This project marks the completion of a Theater Resident Artist from the 2018-2021 cohort whose residency was delayed due to COVID-19.

w o w
m o m
is the final presentation of Arrington's time as a Theater Resident Artist at ODC. Bearing the mark of Covid's mutable timeline, this work has shape-shifted over the last two years. Originally planned as a work digging into performing hypothetical imaginings of Demeter/ the Eleusinian mysteries and myths of chthonic quests as a means of metabolizing the myriad disasters and joys of our age. Since then, the joys and disasters keep unfolding and the work kept absorbing them. The centerpiece of the work is a film created by Alexa Burrell and Larry Arrington bolstered by portions of live performance made in concert with Maurya Kerr, Clement Goldberg, Brontez Purnell, Chelsea Reichert, Grisel Torres, Keith Hennessy, Gizeh Muniz-Vengel, Amy Wasielewski, and Joel St Julien. Reserve tickets ►

Small Art Music Projects: The Crushing Spiral Ensemble
May 1, 2022

Lobby Night
May 6, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

After almost two years of working from home, NIAD artists and staff returned to our beloved 23rd St. studio in Richmond, CA with joy, relief, and anticipation of the fullness of possibility. All of the work exhibited in this show has been created since this return, roughly 5 months ago. NIAD Art Center is a Progressive Studio for disabled adults in Richmond, California. This year we celebrate our 40th anniversary! Reserve tickets ►

ODC Health Programming: Gotta Move!
May 2, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

Being active is one of the most important things you can do each day to maintain and improve health. And as we age, movement is even more important as there are so many benefits to us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Rachel sits down with Dr. Carlin Senter, a primary care sports medicine physician at UCSF, to discuss what to expect in our 60s, 70s, and 80s +, and how movement can be the medicine your body needs to live better and longer. Reserve tickets ►

ODC/School: Step Onstage
May 14-15, 2021

ODC Theater Art & Ideas: To Review or Not to Review?
May 16, 2022 | 6pm | FREE

ODC Dance Cast host Sima Belmar talks with Bhumi Patel about the state of dance criticism today. Through of discussion of recent (and not so recent) articles bemoaning the end of dance criticism and the perceived threat of cancellation, Belmar and Patel seek to answer the burning question: To Review or Not to Review? Reserve tickets ►

ASL interpretation will be available for this event. Please contact the ODC Box Office with any questions or accessibility requests: boxoffice@odc.dance

Ruth Asawa School of the Arts World Music Department Presents | GANBATTE!
May 19-22, 2022 | 7 PM & 3 PM

GANBATTE! - a grand showcase of Japanese Taiko, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian drumming, Filipino Kulintang, Reggae-Frevo, and Jazz ensembles featuring the department’s student performers and the dynamic curriculum of this San Francisco Unified School arts program, the only public school program in the nation offering hands-on percussive and musical instruction from ethnic cultures around the globe. Reserve tickets ►

Emily Hansel: Four by Four
May 26-28, 2022 | 7 PM & 4 PM

Choreographed by Emily Hansel and co-created by dancers Alex Carrington, Mia J. Chong, Shareen DeRyan, and Chelsea Reichert, Four by Four is a messy attempt at refusing productivity. Since beginning work in November 2021, the artists have been practicing the radical act of not knowing. They’ve been fighting their capitalist tendencies, taking their time, embracing messiness, and prioritizing adaptability. Featuring original music composed by Sophia Cotraccia and Bed Juodvalkis and lighting design by Thomas Bowersox, Four by Four is a contemporary dance that is simultaneously light-hearted, serious, ordinary, and one-of-a-kind. Reserve tickets ►

Lobby Night
June 3, 2022 | FREE

Faces of State of Play Art Opening
For the month of June, the ODC Theater Gallery will feature self-portraits by the artists of the State of Play festival. Attend Lobby Night to celebrate the kick off of the exhibit and see the faces of State of Play.  Reserve tickets ►

State of Play Festival
June 2-11, 2022

ODC Theater’s new festival format State of Play will feature studio works in progress, 30 minutes max showcases, and full evening length works. The festival will present premieres and repertory from across the Bay Area and the country paired with curated engagement activities. Artists include:

little house dance: Hour Wolf

MKArts: Octavia’s Brood: Riding the Ox Home

SAMMAY: ritual for thrivation no. 2

Kim Ip/KRIMM’S DANCE PARTY: you don’t deserve us

Rosanna Tavarez/ LA DANSA DANSA: Piece X Piece

Dragons Dance: Paper Trails

Megan Lowe Dances: Piece of Peace

Bianca Cabrera/Blind Tiger Society: Fever Dreams

Nicole Peisl: handle

DANCE MONKS (SF Bay/Mexico) Mirah Kellc Esteva and Rodrigo Esteva: Fire in the Mountain

Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble: Momentum (working title)

Nina Haft & Company: The Spaces Between (working title)

Detour: Quake

OYSTERKNIFE: m | ou | f

Liv Schaffer & the Dance Generators: Big Red House of Rest

James Graham Dance Theatre: Social Males

ODC Health Programming: Exploring and Embracing the Mind of a Young Dance Athlete
June 13, 2022 | 6 PM | FREE

How do you react when things don’t go as planned or when life is full of change? In this workshop, resident physicians in the UCSF Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Tiana Woolridge and Dr. Faustine Ramirez, will share their experience with mental illness during their time as NCAA Division I athletes. They will discuss their unique perspective as both physicians and former high-level athletes on mental health and eating disorders among young athletes. Participants will receive concrete tools, strategies, and resources that are tailored for young dance athletes to improve mental wellness, resiliency, coping, and thus performance and life. Reserve tickets ►

ODC Theater Art & Ideas: Summer Solstice - with Kinetech Arts
June 20, 2022 | 6pm | FREE

Join Kinetech Arts and ODC for an evening of experiments and conversation in celebration of the Summer Solstice. The event will showcase a series of experiments to explore performance ideas, ranging from dance to film, music and technology. Artists from the Kinetech Arts Open Lab community will share their projects, which will be followed by informal conversations with the audience. We will celebrate the summer solstice with a collision of ideas from diverse fields to inspire and to foster cross discipline collaborations. Reserve tickets ►

Lobby Night
July 1, 2022 | FREE

Lobby Night featuring Anna Sidana
Anna Sidana (she/her) is a visual artist and large-scale oil painter. Her art explores an emotional connection with complex family histories. Leveraging the staggering power of nature to heal, and through abstraction and symbolism, she transcends the canvas to convey myriad emotions. Reserve tickets ►

Kiandanda Dance Theater: Religion Kitendi - Dress Code
July 1-3, 2021

Who could have imagined that a group of people can find hope and strength in life through the clothes they wear? The Religion Kitendi-Dress Code project dives into the portrayals of the Congolese sapeurs, a group of dandy men and women who strive to survive the hardship of social and political challenges through feeling good in their attire. The project touches on the theatrical humor and the sorrowful trend of people who spend enormous sums of hard-earned money to find joy and hope in the kitendi (clothes) like a religion. Reserve tickets ►

SFDanceworks: Season 5
July 8-10, 2022

Since 2016, SFDanceworks’ mission is to present the past, present, and future of world-class contemporary dance. We aim to present a global perspective on contemporary dance, presenting works by local, national, and international artists, as well as a nod to past masterworks. Through our mission, we aim to engage in a conversation about where contemporary dance has been and where it may be headed! Reserve tickets ►

ODC Health Programming
July 11, 2022

Dancers oftentimes only dance, and, unfortunately, dance injuries are very common. Just like any sport or activity, the body needs different modalities of movement to challenge itself and to function better. Overuse injuries occur with repetition, and mixing up the activity helps keep the body in balance. Rachel discusses cross training for dancers with Oriana Oanh Hua, PT, DPT, CSCS, and how understanding aerobic, anaerobic, strength, flexibility, and mobility cross training can help dancers leap higher, dance for longer, and with greater quality movement. Learn how all these components work together in harmony to ensure you are dancing at your greatest capacity and prevent injury. Reserve tickets ►

Jung YoungDoo & Jarosław Kapuściński: WITH
July 16-17, 2022 | 2 PM & 7 PM

Choreographer Jung YoungDoo and composer Jarosław Kapuściński perform a continuous hour-length piece on wordless understanding, unadorned sincerity, and parallel play. A counterpoint between motion and stasis, piano and dance react to each other in real-time— attempting a profound connection—music is gesture, gesture is sound, sound is intimacy. Reserve tickets ►

ODC Theater Art & Ideas
July 18, 2022

Moving forward in the era of climate change requires new ways of listening, imagining, and being. In working at the intersection of many modes of knowing, artists embody a unique agility and responsiveness to a changing world. This conversation will explore how each of the guest speakers’ artistic practices are informed by, activate and integrate materials and lessons from the natural world, and where they believe artists might fit in the environmental movement. Reserve tickets ►

ODC/Dance: Summer Sampler
July 28-30, 2022

Delight in the sweetness of summer with a taste of ODC/Dance. Experience renowned company favorites, including Brenda Way’s witty reflection on unrestrained self interest in Unintended Consequences (A Meditation), Kimi Okada’s award winning examination of secret languages in Two If By Sea, KT Nelson’s Going Solo for ODC veteran Private Freeman, Amy Seiwert’s heartfelt duet Veronica & Vincent, and Dexandro Montalvo’s Impulse, an explosive quartet for four women.

Summer Sampler wraps with the ODC 50+ Anniversary Block Party, a free to all celebration of the ODC campus at 17th and Shotwell Streets in the heart of the Mission District. Featured events include KT Nelson's mobile magnum opus Path of Miracles, short works choreographed by members of ODC/Dance, and much more for the whole family! Reserve tickets ►

Lobby Night
August 5, 2022

Lobby Night featuring Sally Weber, Guest Curated by Jonathan Cordero. Sally Weber is an independent, light artist based in Oakland, California. Inspired by the immediacy of light, her work focuses on revealing the essential natural forces underlying life, and the patterns that interconnect them using  dimensional photography, and laser installations, optical and digital holography, and video. Reserve tickets ►

DISCO RIOT + FACT/SF: PORT SD + SF
August 5-7, 2022

PORT: SF/SD is a shared evening of premieres by contemporary dance companies FACT/SF (San Francisco) and DISCO RIOT (San Diego). These performances mark DISCO RIOT’s San Francisco debut and will be followed by another shared evening of both groups in San Diego in early 2023. DISCO RIOT and FACT/SF are working together as part of PORT, a reciprocal touring model that supports artistic exchange and creates opportunities to present visiting artists to local audiences. Reserve tickets ►

ODC Health Programming: Flexibility Physiology: The Science of the Stretch, Presented by Luis Uzal, CPT
August 8, 2022

An introductory look at the current science around flexibility training, from a macro to a cellular level, and an overview of the benefits and deficits of various common modalities and approaches, and their application for the dancer. Bay Area local Luis Uzal’s background in movement began in the circus industry, performing and coaching various acts. He went on to receive an associate’s degree in dance, and several national personal training certifications. Through rehabbing his own injuries post retirement from the circus industry, and experimenting in different modalities, he discovered a passion for strength training, and sharing the magic of intentional movement with others. Luis approaches fitness from a body-positive, trans-positive, and joy-seeking lens. Reserve tickets ►

ODC Theater Art & Ideas: Choreographing Parenthood
August 15, 2022

ODC Home Company RAWdance’s Co-Artistic Director and new mom, Katerina Wong, brings together three Bay Area working artists/parents to share their experiences.

Life is filled with moments to move, choreograph, and improvise – whether it’s decision-making, aligning schedules, balancing jobs, or being flexible to unanticipated circumstances –  the skills of a dance artist can be an incredibly valuable tool. Reserve tickets ►

The Million Underscores: The Observatory, Chapters 5, 23, 28, 43, 56 & 19
August 19-20, 2022

The Observatory is an eclectic collection of dance-theater performances that tumble through the history of humanity’s relationship to the sky and the myriads of projections cast upon it. Developed and presented in short, discrete chapters, the piece continuously shifts genres, and performative logics, playing with the limits of the audiences’ perception and imagination. From lunar landings to interplanetary sex, alien ballets to Babylonian texts, from the dramas of 16th century Renaissance scientists to the astronomy hotline of Walter Mercado, the show journeys where no man has gone before! Reserve tickets ►

ODC Health Programming
September 12, 2022

ODC Theater Art & Ideas
with Chitresh Das Institue
September 19, 2022

Lenora Lee Dance: In The Movement
September 1-4 & 8-11, 2022
In the Movement is a heartfelt and explosive dance piece focusing on the separation of families and mass detention of immigrants as forms of incarceration. It serves as a meditation on reconciliation and restorative justice, speaking to the power of individuals and communities to transcend. Reserve tickets ►

AXIS Dance Company presents: Adelante
September 16-18, 2022

tinypistol x Detour present: beloved comet falling up
September 29-October 1, 2022
beloved comet falling up is a triptych of duets choreographed by Maurya Kerr and Eric Garcia. The work is a study on duality, a creative provocation on harmony and dissonance, minimalism & maximalism, quietude & clamor, dance & dance-theater, the quotidian & drag. Reserve tickets ►

Garrett + Moulton Productions: 20th Anniversary Celebration
October 6-9, 2021

Lobby Night
October 7, 2022

ODC Theater Art & Ideas
October 10, 2022
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ODC Health Programming
October 17, 2022

Chitresh Das Institute: Invoking the River
October 14-16, 2022

Ars Minerva: Astianatte — a Forgotten Opera by Leonardo Vinci
October 21-23, 2022

Sage Ni’Ja Whitson | The NWA Project: A Meditation on Tongues
October 28-30, 2022
*The ODC Theater Fall Season will present repertory works by touring artists.

Lobby Night
November 4, 2022

Marjani Forté-Saunders | 7NMS: Memoirs of a... Unicorn
November 4-6, 2022

Rosanna Tavarez / LA DANSA DANSA: Piece X Piece & Bianca Cabrera/Blind Tiger Society: Fever Dreams
November 11-13, 2022
*The ODC Theater Fall Season will present repertory works by touring artists.

ODC Health Programming
November 14, 2022

Volti presents Ochre and Ink
November 19-20, 2022