ODC/Dance Announces Program For Annual SUMMER SAMPLER, July 20 - 22

ODC/Dance has announced the program for its annual SUMMER SAMPLER. Highlights include world premieres by guest choreographers Sonya Delwaide and Dexandro Montalvo plus revivals of signature works by Brenda Way and Kimi Okada. Summer Sampler takes place at ODC Theater July 20 - 22, Thursday - Saturday, at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets, starting at $25, are now on sale at odc.dance/summersampler.

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 event will feature newly commissioned works by Sonya Delwaide and Dexandro Montalvo; ODC Founder and Artistic Director Brenda Way's whimsical movement essay Something About a Nightingale; as well as May's Letters, a full-company work choreographed and adapted by Way and ODC Associate Choreographer Kimi Okada from its genesis as a site-specific work to the theatrical setting of ODC Theater.

Originally from Québec, Delwaide has been an active member of the Bay Area's dance scene since her arrival in the mid-90s. As an in-demand choreographer, Delwaide has taught and made works with numerous companies including AXIS Dance, Berkeley Ballet Theater and Oakland Ballet. This year's Summer Sampler marks her first collaboration with ODC/Dance. Currently untitled, the work is a sextet for three men and three women, set to Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 6 in F minor. "With a playful nod to San Francisco's famously cold summers, the piece asks audiences to experience winter in Québec while right in the middle of summer," said Delwaide. "Wherever you go, people love to talk about the weather. In its hardships and unpredictability, it offers a shared platform for human connection."

Montalvo, a longtime faculty member at ODC School, is an award-winning choreographer whose works have been performed by Dance Theatre of San Francisco, Robert Moses' Kin and pop-rap group The Black Eyed Peas, in addition to ODC/Dance and many others. Like Delwaide's, Montalvo's newest work, Interconnected Humanity, is a sextet for three women and three men. Set to ambient music by film score composer Cliff Martinez, the work "explores the intricate interplay of human relationships with an eye to the forces that bring people together or cause them to drift apart," said Montalvo.

Okada joined ODC as a founding member in 1971. In addition to her title as associate choreographer for ODC/Dance, she directs ODC School. Over her distinguished career, she has collaborated with luminaries including Geoff Hoyle, Bill Irwin, Julie Taymor and Robin Williams on productions for Yale Repertory Theater, the New Victory Theater in New York, the Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis, Theatre for a New Audience in New York, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Santa Fe Opera and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, among many others.

Last year, she collaborated with Way on the creation of a piece for Island City Waterways, an annual live art event celebrating the history of Alameda's unique waterfront. Titled May's Letters, the work takes its name from Okada's mother who, two weeks after marrying in 1942, was sent to an internment camp for Japanese Americans. Okada's mother recorded detailed observations and descriptions of daily life while incarcerated, and the onionskin carbon copies of her letters formed a rich source of inspiration for Okada and Way.

"Her letters surface the timely issues of how we cope with the injustices of racism and the confines of imprisonment," said Okada. "While the piece raises the question of how one responds to a national betrayal, it is ultimately about the power of community to support each person's path to resilience."

Finally, the program for Summer Sampler will include Something About a Nightingale (2005), choreographed by Way, whose many honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize and selection among the National Endowment for the Arts' list of American masterpieces. Nightingale is a movement essay for six dancers on "the unpredictable magic of inspiration." "Fun, light and whimsical...a stream of consciousness," said Heather Desaulniers in a review for DanceTabs. Set to music by the inventive Tin Hat Trio, Something About a Nightingale is by turns "technical" and "quirky," deploying movement that adds "a measure of childlike wonder to the mix."

The members of ODC/Dance this season include Jeremy Bannon-Neches, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Cora Cliburn, Brandon W. Freeman "Private", Rachel Furst, Jenna Marie, Allie Papazian, Ryan Rouland Smith, Christian Squires, Colton Wall and Miche Wong.

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.