ODC Theater to Kick Off Walking Distance Dance Festival, 5/31

ODC Theater's annual fringe-style festival returns for a second year with samplings of contemporary dance from around the nation. Over two days, Friday, May 31 - Saturday, June 1, 2013 the Festival will feature three separate programs designed to spark conversation. This year's superb roster of artists includes Brian Brooks Moving Company; casebolt and smith; Nicole Klaymoon's Embodiment Project; ODC/Dance; Rachael Lincoln and Leslie Seiters; Kate Weare and Company; and Scott Wells and Dancers.

"With this year's festival, we continue to offer a smorgasbord of dance," says Theater Director Christy Bolingbroke. "On this year's bill we are proud to present one world premiere and two West Coast premieres. Ultimately, the Festival aims to depict a broader story about what's happening in contemporary dance today."

The B'Way Theater at ODC Theater and Studio B in ODC Dance Commons serve as dual venues for the Festival. Tickets are $20 per program; a Festival Pass to all three programs is $50. For $75 individuals may purchase a season subscription which includes a Festival Pass and entrance to ODC Theater's remaining 2013 main stage presentations: BodyTraffic, September 27-29, and Rosanna Gamson/World Wide, October 30 - November 3.

PROGRAM A | Friday, May 31, 2013 | 7 - 9pm

With over a decade of creating and performing together, RACHAEL LINCOLN and LESLIE SEITERSmine the format of the duet to reveal the fluidity of identity as it morphs in relation to different people and experiences. Their examination of the artifice of personality culminates in the Festival'sworld premiere of People Like You.

Following in the footsteps of Triangulating Euclid, KATE WEARE's recent collaboration with ODC/Dance, the choreographer returns to San Francisco with her company to perform a trio and a duet showcasing her trademark combination of formal rigor and visceral, emotional interpretation. In the West Coast premiere of The Light Has Not Arms to Carry Us the company delves into the realms of abasement, wariness, sensuality, and tenderness through formal movement exploration, rhythmic play against the sound, and the incisive use of space etched by light. The company also performs Drop Down, winner of New York's 2007 The A.W.A.R.D. Show, a tantalizing duet investigating how a man and a woman negotiate proximity and erotic power using the mechanics of tango, with its revolving central axis, knife-like leg action, and quick-changing rhythms. "Kate Weare creates terrifically satisfying dance phrases. And her fine company...brings these steps to full, luscious life" (The New York Times).

PROGRAM B | Saturday, June 1, 2013 | 4 - 6pm

CASEBOLT AND SMITH is the duo of Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith, based in Los Angeles since 2006. For WDDF-SF they will perform excerpts of O(h), a fast-paced, irreverent, and intricately layered exploration of their own limitations as artists. They speak directly to the audience, sing while dancing, and layer their performance with pop culture references, creating a theatrical work that demonstrates what they can, can't - and won't - do as dancers. Casebolt & Smith "gently serve up...our most cherished and problematic ideas about contemporary performance, male-female relationships and creative collaboration, then graciously and hilariously debunk them" (MinnPost).

NICOLE KLAYMOON'S EMBODIMENT PROJECT is a multi-disciplinary performance company that weaves together various street dance styles, modern dance, theater, spoken word, and live music.For WDDF-SFthe company will perform an abridged version of House of Matter, a work which explores the metaphor of the house as a place of belonging: the house of the body, family, community and - finally uniting all people - the house of the Earth itself.

PROGRAM C | Saturday, June 1, 2013 | 7 - 9pm

New York-based artist and 2013 Guggenheim Fellow Brian Brooks performs the West Coast premiere of an athletic solo titled I'm Going to Explode exploring the tension of working within confined spaces and the relief of breaking out of them. Blending formal dance techniques, competitive sport maneuvers, parkour, and street dance, Brooks presents a controlled, yet powerful male presence on stage.

ODC's celebrated flagship Dance Company, ODC/DANCE, will perform KT Nelson's Cut-Out Guy, a work for five dancers exploring the fierceness and fragility of men. Winner of an Isadora Duncan award for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography", Cut-Out Guy is set to original music byBen Frost, an Australian musician and composer now based in Reykjavik, Iceland, perhaps best known for his "building-shaking" experiments in electronic music.

In Parkour Deux San Francisco-based artist SCOTT WELLS translates the parkour milieu into a theatrical display with his full company's trademark humor and high-flying acrobatics. Wells is a current artist in residence at ODC Theater, and with over thirty years of experience, a leader in the field of contact improvisation. Boxing, skateboarding, not to mention the "urban ninjary" known as parkour, are all fodder for his inspiration. "Wells and his dancers expose a surprising array of what is possible for the range of human movement" (Flavorpill).

ABOUT ODC: 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. The Theater is the site of over 120 performances a year involving nearly 1,000 local, regional, national and International Artists.

Since 1976, ODC Theater has been the mobilizing force behind countless San Francisco artists and the foothold for national and international touring artists seeking debut in the Bay Area. The Theater, founded by Brenda Way, then under the leadership of Rob Bailis for nearly a decade, and currently under the direction of Christy Bolingbroke, has earned its place as a cultural incubator by dedicating itself to creative change-makers, those leaders who give our region its unmistakable definition and flare. Nationally known artists Spaulding Gray, Diamanda Galas, Molissa Fenley, Bill T. Jones, Eiko & Koma, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Ban Rarra and Karole Armitage are among those whose first San Francisco appearance occurred at ODC Theater.

ODC Theater is part of a two-building creative campus dedicated to supporting every stage of the artistic lifecycle -- conceptualization, creation, and performance. This includes a flagship company -- ODC/Dance -- and a School, in partnership with Rhythm and Motion Dance Workout in San Francisco's Mission District. For more information about ODC Theater and all its programs visit odcdance.org.

All performances take place in the B'Way Theater, ODC Theater, 3153 17th Street, San Francisco, Calif. Tickets: $20 per program; $50 Festival Pass; $75 Season Subscription. To purchase, call 415-863-9834, Monday through Friday from 12-3pm. Or online visit: odcdance.org/buytickets.php.

For more about the festival, go to www.odcdance.org/walkingdistance.

Photo credit Fernando Graphicos.