ODC/Dance to Celebrate 45 years of Dance Downtown, 3/17-27

ODC/Dance, San Francisco's internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company, announces programming for its 45th annual home season at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The anniversary season boasts three world premieres, live music and the return of 2015's critically acclaimed Dead Reckoning.

ODC Founder & Artistic Director Brenda Way presents the world premiere of Walk Back the Cat,set to a commissioned score by longtime collaborator, composer Paul Dresher. Walk Back the Cat, a metaphor for retracing the complex backstory of an event, explores the skeleton of the creative process. How does context affect meaning in dance? Developing from pure movement ideas into a dramatic scenario, the work is conceived as a kind of choreographic puzzle, which ultimately comes together in a scenario inspired by Thomas Hart Benton's muscular and vital murals of American City Life in the 1930s. The work includes visuals by photographer and filmmaker RJ Muna, and features live music by Paul Dresher and his ensemble of musicians.

KT Nelson, ODC's Co-Artistic Director, offers a second world premiere, a solo created for ODC veteran, Brandon "Private" Freeman. Freeman discovered dance when he enrolled in a college dance class. A member of the Army National Guard, his plan was to become an officer and to join the police force. But the class captivated him and he changed his major to dance. Freeman first joined ODC in 1996, dancing with the company for 12 years before leaving for an "artistic walkabout." Freeman rejoined ODC this year, after a 7-year hiatus. Nelson is honoring his career with a piece exploring an artist's evolution and maturation. "This work is both a formal exploration of the artistry and prowess of Private the dancer, and a venture into the dream life of the boy and man," said Nelson.

The third world premiere is by ODC Resident Choreographer, Kate Weare. Co-commissioned by ODC and Portland-based presenter White Bird, the work will explore a recurring theme in Weare's work - the performative power of the body to access gender equality. Dubbed "the voice of the 'it's complicated' generation," by Dance Magazine, Weare charts her view of contemporary humanism by tackling head-on the violence, sensuality and complex yearning for intimacy that mark our age.

Rounding out the season are popular works from ODC's repertory, including KT Nelson's 2015 piece, Dead Reckoning and ODC Associate Choreographer Kimi Okada's 2011 work, I look vacantly at the Pacific...though regret.

Dead Reckoning was inspired by Nelson's sabbatical in Death Valley in 2013 and is set to a commissioned score by composer and cellist Joan Jeanrenaud. In Dead Reckoning Nelson explores our relationship to nature. The San Francisco Classical Voice called the piece a "pure delight, not of the sunny sort but of the soul-pleasing variety," and the SF Chronicle praised the work "for imbuing the slightest gesture with great humanity."

Kimi Okada's I look vacantly at the Pacific...though regrettakes its name from a Japanese pencil box. Set to music by Jay Cloidt and Shoukichi Kina, the workexplores the humorous and often awkward attempts at cross-cultural understanding.

ODC/Dance also hosts its annual Spring Gala on Friday, March 18, 2016 at the St. Regis at 6pm. The evening will include a pre-performance dinner, a performance and an after-party. More information is at www.odcdance.org/gala.

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