BODYTRAFFIC Returns to San Francisco, Now thru 9/29

ODC Theater will present Los Angeles-based repertory Dance Company, BODYTRAFFIC, in the Bay Area premiere of works by Barak Marshall andRichard Siegel, as well as in a preview of new work by Kyle Abraham. Named among DanceMagazine's "25 to Watch" in 2013, the company commissions new chamber works from two to three choreographers a year, and has earned praise for its "confident, hard-hitting" (LA Weekly) execution in a wide range of styles.

From tonight, September 26 - 29, 2013, BODYTRAFFIC will perform works by three dance makers each with a distinct voice. The program opens with the Bay Area premiere of Israeli dance maker Barak Marshall's winningly original dance-theater piece, And at midnight, the green bride floated through the village square...(2012). Based in part on a true story about a family in the 1940s who were once neighbors of Marshall's mother Margalit Oved, an acclaimed choreographer and performer in her own right, And at midnight is a morality tale shot through with black humor. Jealousy dooms all nine of the family's children to a life filled with rage, unhappiness and loneliness. Brian Seibert of The New York Times describes the work as "a dark comedy" displaying "folk-contemporary dancing concentrated above the waist in rhythmic gestures of woes and sex."And at midnight is set to a soundtrack of Jewish love songs and hymns from the Yiddish, Ladino and Yemenite traditions.

Next in the program is a preview of Kollide by Kyle Abraham. A work for five dancers, Kollideblends elements of ballet and hip hop in a fluid, sensual style that is uniquely Abraham's. Rebecca Bengal of Vogue defines that style as one marked by "an original and politically minded downtown sensibility that doesn't distinguish between genres but freely draws on a vocabulary that is as much Merce and Martha as it is Eadweard Muybridge and Michael Jackson." Abraham credits his approach to dance making to his early upbringing in Pittsburgh. He is currently a resident artist at New York Live Arts. The world premiere of Kollide will take place in October 2013 at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center.

The final work in BODYTRAFFIC's program is the Bay Area premiere of Richard Siegel's exuberant homage to American jazz standards, o2Joy (2012). Set to music by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Glenn Miller, and The Oscar Peterson Trio, o2joy is, as its title suggests, an expression of sheer joy through music and movement. The piece's light heart and overt playfulness is brought to life by the company's precise technique.

Since its founding in 2007 by LillIan Rose Barbeito and Tina Finkelman Berkett, BODYTRAFFIC has performed extensively throughout southern California, helping to establish Los Angeles as a center for contemporary dance. The company has also performed at the Gotham Dance and Contemporary Dance Festivals in New York, and in 2010 they performed in the West Wave Dance Festival in San Francisco. This week the company makes its debut at the international Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.

This engagement was made possible in part with generous support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

ABOUT BODYTRAFFIC

BODYTRAFFICis a non-profit Dance Company that was founded by LillIan Rose Barbeito and Tina Finkelman Berkett in December 2007. In the company's short history, BODYTRAFFIC has performed at numerous dance venues in Los Angeles including the Arantani/ Japan America Theatre, the Brand Library, CalArts, the Alex Theater, the Colburn Dance Institute, the Edye Second Space, the Ford Theatre, Florya Kaufman Hall, the Kodak Theatre, the Saban Theatre and the Wadsworth Theatre. Outside of L.A., the company has presented its work at the Laguna Dance Festival and New York Contemporary Dance Festival. In 2010, the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance presented BODYTRAFFIC at Z Space. BODYTRAFFIC's expanding repertory includes works by Barbeito, Sarah Elgart (L.A.), Alex Ketley (San Francisco), Barak Marshall (LA/TelAviv), Andrea Miller (New York), Laura Gorenstein Miller (L.A.), Guy Weizman & Roni Haver (Netherlands).

ABOUT ODC 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. 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.

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