SUMMER SAMPLER to Feature World Premieres at ODC/Dance in San Francisco

ODC/Dance has announced new details for its annual SUMMER SAMPLER. Described as “a mainstay of the San Francisco dance calendar” (SF/Arts), Summer Sampler offers audiences an opportunity to experience ODC/Dance in the company's intimate, historic theater.

This year's program includes two world premieres, one by ODC Co-Artistic Director Mia J. Chong and one by returning guest choreographer Catherine Galasso. Rounding out the program is the revival of Izzie award-nominated Nothing's Gonna Make Sense (Reflections on Grief), choreographed by KT Nelson. Summer Sampler takes place July 30 – August 2, Thursday to Saturday, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets, starting at $30, are now on sale at odc.dance/summersampler.

Appointed ODC's co-artistic director late last year, Chong represents the new vanguard in dance leadership that is currently taking shape across the field. At the same time that she has assumed new responsibilities at ODC, she has continued to direct the company she founded three years ago as a space for diverse artists to thrive. And in her second commission for ODC/Dance, members from both companies will take part in a joint collaboration. The participating dancers from EIGHT/MOVES are Crystaldawn Bell, Kira Fargas, William Brewton Fowler Jr. and Colin Frederick. The members from ODC/Dance include Rachel Furst, Ja'Moon Jones, Joanne Kim, Jenna Marie and Colton Wall.

“This collaboration feels especially meaningful because it brings together two of the most important artistic homes in my life,” said Chong. “ODC has shaped me as a dancer, choreographer and leader, and many of the values that inspired me to found EIGHT/MOVES grew out of my experiences here. Bringing artists from both communities together creates an exciting opportunity for an exchange of values, creative processes and perspectives.”

Additional collaborators on Chong's new work, currently untitled, include composer and saxophonist Raffi Garabedian, who will perform live, vocal coach Tim Silva and scenic designer Chad Owens.

Galasso's association with ODC goes back to the beginning of her professional career when she participated in the organization's Pilot Program directly out of college, followed not long after by a three-year ODC Theater artist residency. Since then, she has made three major works at ODC, including one for ODC/Dance, 10,000 Steps: A Dance About Its Own Making, that premiered in 2024.

For her latest project, titled UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, Galasso combines documentary theater with contemporary dance in an exploration of the lives and creative output of ODC pioneers Brenda Way, Kimi Okada and KT Nelson, who participate both as dancers and subjects. The completed work weaves excerpts of new audio interviews with each choreographer together with an original sound score by Galasso's longtime collaborator Dave Cerf. In successive scenes, Way, Okada and Nelson take the stage with ODC's company dancers, who provide choreographic context for the recorded anecdotes. The resulting portraits of each artist convey vulnerability, playfulness and unpredictability. 

“I think it can be easy to take an institution like ODC for granted,” said Galasso. “We don't realize everything that went into creating the resources we enjoy today. The existence of ODC is nothing short of a miracle. In my conversations with Brenda, Kimi and KT, I've come to see ODC as the result of hustle, relentless determination, commitment to craft and community.”

“At the same time, ODC is evolving into the future. A new generation of dancers, students and leaders – including Mia J. Chong – is moving to the fore. I was interested in capturing these women at this particular moment in time, as individuals and as part of something larger – a dance company, a school, a generation.”

Finally, in a program shot through with images of ODC's history, both the personal and the organizational, Summer Sampler presents KT Nelson's Nothing's Gonna Make Sense (Reflections on Grief). “Bravely weird, risky, simultaneously masterful and uncontrolled,” (San Francisco Chronicle), Nothing's Gonna Make Sense is the choreographer's response to the sudden death of her husband in 2023; it premiered last year.

“I have a different set of eyes now, and the world doesn't look as it once did,” explained Nelson last year. “My husband Doug and I became partners when I was 21. I grew up with him. By the time of his death, we were a double helix. There's much less certainty for me now. I don't have a story to tell; I have an experience to share.” 

To coincide with the revival of Nothing's Gonna Make Sense, ODC will exhibit a number of photographs of Doug Winter, Nelson's late husband, who in addition to being a founding member of ODC was a prolific photographer of the Bay Area's dance scene during the 1970s and 80s. The exhibition opens in the ODC Theater lobby with a reception, free to the public, on June 25 at 5:30 p.m. It runs through early August. To RSVP, visit this link.

Need more San Francisco / Bay Area Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...