ODC Dance to Present Three World Premieres by Brenda Way, Kimi Okada, and Sonya Delwaide at the YBCA

ODC's flagship dance company, ODC/Dance, has announced the program for DANCE DOWNTOWN, the company's annual home season at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Dance Downtown runs Wednesday, March 27 through Sunday, March 31. In conjunction with Dance Downtown, the company's annual Gala will take place on Friday, March 29. Tickets, starting at $30, are now on sale at odc.dance/downtown.

 

Dance Downtown will alternate two programs. Program A – on Wednesday, March 27, Friday, March 29, and Sunday, March 31 – will feature new works by ODC Founder and Artistic Director Brenda Way and Associate Choreographer and ODC Founding Member Kimi Okada, as well as a celebrated repertory work by ODC Fellow KT Nelson, titled Dead Reckoning. Program B – Thursday, March 28, and Saturday, March 30 – will feature a new work by guest choreographer Sonya Delwaide alongside two repertory works: Dead Reckoning and Brenda Way's Collision, Collapse and a Coda.

 

Way describes her new work for the full company as “an excavation of contemporary movement choices leading to a celebration of community spirit.” For her part, Okada is working on a full-company piece inspired by cartoons from the 1930s and 40s. Delwaide's new full-company work, set to music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, draws inspiration from the ancient Greek adage, "All that is mine I carry with me."

 

Finally, Dance Downtown will include two repertory works. Nelson's Dead Reckoning (2015) is a full-company work which casts an eye on the subject of climate change. After a sabbatical in Death Valley, Nelson was inspired to explore “how humanity has lost its way,” failing to live in balance with Mother Nature. The term “dead reckoning” refers to navigation without the predictable reference point of the stars, increasing the likelihood of error. “Today the rate of change in nature is unprecedented,” said Nelson. “How will we negotiate it? Are we in a time of dead reckoning?” 

 

Dead Reckoning features commissioned music by celebrated cellist and composer Joan Jeanrenaud and the company's signature "fusion of muscularity and tenderness,” (San Francisco Chronicle).

 

At its premiere earlier this year, Way's Collision, Collapse and a Coda was immediately hailed as “a propulsive minor masterpiece,” a work that “holds the moment and makes us feel less alone in it” (San Francisco Chronicle). A full-company piece created “in response to the crushing weight of the 24-hour news cycle, Collision, Collapse and a Coda nevertheless succeeds in finding a way toward consolation, one found in music and in the care and affection of intimate relationships,” said Way. The piece incorporates music from Aphex Twin, David Lang, Jay Cloidt and Chopin. 

 

This season, ODC/Dance's company includes Jeremy Bannon-Neches, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Áine Dorman, Brandon W. Freeman "Private,” Rachel Furst, Jenna Marie, Allie Papazian, Ryan Rouland Smith, Christian Squires, Colton Wall and Miche Wong.

 

Dance Downtown is generously supported by the San Francisco Grants for the Arts, the Bernard Osher Foundation, Hellman Foundation, John and Marcia Goldman Foundation, Sakana Foundation, Shubert Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

 

GALA

 

ODC will hold its annual Gala on Friday, March 29. This one-night-only event will accompany Dance Downtown, Program A, featuring world premieres by Brenda Way and Kimi Okada. Proceeds from ticket sales support ODC and its mission to inspire audiences, cultivate artists, and foster diversity and inclusion through dance.

 

The Gala will take place in both the Forum and Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. This year's Gala chair is Navid Armstrong. Tickets start at $190, and tables may be reserved for $10,000 on up. For more information and to make a reservation, visit odc.dance/gala.

 

ABOUT ODC

 

Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way, ODC is a groundbreaking contemporary arts institution: a world-class dance company (ODC/Dance), a theater with year-round presenting and mentorship programs (ODC Theater), a training school for dancers and movers of all levels (ODC School), and a fee-free, educational Healthy Dancers' Clinic. Known nationally for its entrepreneurial savvy and artistic innovation, ODC is unique for its holistic vision, now including a robust digital platform. With its home in San Francisco's Mission District, ODC makes a dynamic contribution to the Bay Area's vibrant dance and arts ecosystem, cultivating artists, inspiring audiences, engaging the community, and fostering diversity and inclusion through dance performance, training and mentorship.

FACT SHEET

WHAT:

ODC/Dance presents Dance Downtown featuring world premieres by Brenda Way, Kimi Okada and guest choreographer Sonya Delwaide alongside two of the company's repertory works.

 

Program A:

New work (untitled) by Brenda Way

New work (untitled) by Kimi Okada

Dead Reckoning (2015) by KT Nelson

 

Program B:

New work (untitled) by Sonya Delwaide

Collision, Collapse and a Coda (2023) by Brenda Way

Dead Reckoning by KT Nelson

 

WHEN:

March 27 – 31, 2024

 

Program A:

Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. (Ticketed Preview)

Friday, March 29 at 8 p.m. (Gala)

Sunday, March 31 at 5 p.m.

 

Program B:

Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. (LGBTQIA+ Night)

 

WHERE:

Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA

700 Howard Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

 

TICKETS:

$30 - $100

To purchase tickets for Dance Downtown visit odc.dance/downtown or call the box office at 415-863-9834.

 

Tickets for the Gala start at $190, and tables start at $10,000. For reservations, visit odc.dance/gala or call the development office at 415-549-8508.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

odc.dance

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