SFDanceworks Announces Third Season

A classic from Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato alongside world premieres by Danielle Rowe and James Sofranko highlight SFDanceworks' third season June 8 - 10. Rounding out the program is a duet by Penny Saunders, a recent recipient of the Princess Grace award for choreography. SFDanceworks' Season Three takes place at the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Tickets, $20 - $60, are now on sale via sfdanceworks.org/season-three or by phone at (415) 345-7575.

SFDanceworks was founded by Sofranko, who this spring concludes his 18th and final year with San Francisco Ballet before joining Grand Rapids Ballet as its new artistic director in July. He will continue to direct SFDanceworks with assistance from Rowe, newly named as the company's associate artistic director. Rowe performed with Nederlands Dans Theater before moving to the Bay Area in 2015, where she has continued her career as both a dancer and choreographer. Her recent choreographic credits include works for Berkeley Ballet Theater, Diablo Ballet and Grand Rapids Ballet in addition to SFDanceworks.

Each season SFDanceworks presents masterworks of classical and contemporary dance alongside new works from emerging dance makers within a wide range of styles. This season's entry in the dance canon is Duato's plaintive, pastoral Jardí Tancat, the first piece he choreographed for Nederlands Dance Theater in 1983, and the work which first earned him international attention as a choreographer. Composed for three couples, Jardí Tancat, which means "enclosed garden" in Catalan, is set to folk songs recorded by vocalist María del Mar Bonet.

Season Three's two world premieres each feature live musical accompaniment. Sofranko's quintet for three men and two women will be set to Schubert impromptus for fortepiano performed by Ronny Michael Greenberg, a third year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow. For her part, Rowe is preparing an octet set to a commissioned score by Alton San Giovanni, performed by guitarist and multi-instrumentalist David Knight. Both Knight and San Giovanni are members of the ambient music band Low Roar. Rowe's new dance marks her third collaboration with San Giovanni, a composer she prizes for his "beautifully layered" and "atmospheric" works.

Cast in the central role in Rowe's octet is Britt Juleen whose distinguished career includes roles as first soloist ballerina with the Dutch National Ballet and Dresden's SemperOper Ballet, among others. Most recently, Juleen served as the artistic director of Berkeley Ballet Theater.

The final work on SFDanceworks's Season Three program is titled Snap by Penny Saunders, whose dances the company has presented each of the last two years. Originally created for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Saunders is reworking the duet for SFDanceworks' Brett Conway and Rowe. This will be the duet's second showing since it premiered in 2016.

"I was inspired by the childhood game of patty cake (pat-a-cake)," said Saunders. "I wanted to make an adult version using the hand game as a jumping off point for a relationship between the two dancers. The piece opens and closes with a version of the patty cake, but it never quite gets to the point where you are supposed to snap your fingers - which is how I landed on the title. The snap in this adult version is a bit of a tease!"

In addition to Conway, Juleen and Rowe, the dancers this season include Garrett Anderson, Katerina Eng, Dana Genshaft, Nicholas Korkos, Laura O'Malley and Anne Zivolich-Adams.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Bard Music West|April 7 at 8 p.m.
SFDanceworks has been invited to take part in Bard Music West at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco. The festival, now in its second season, commissioned a new work by Sofranko in collaboration with composer Eugene Birman and New York-based chamber ensemble Third Sound. Titled The Sound of Your Solitude and Mine, the concert is inspired by Martha Graham's collaboration with composer Henry Cowell in the 1930s. This one-night-only event will take place Saturday, April 7 at 8 p.m. A conversation with Sofranko and Birman will precede the concert at 7:30 p.m. For more information visit bardmusicwest.org.

SFDanceworks BASH | May 18 at 6:30 p.m.
In support of its third season, SFDanceworks will host a gala fundraiser at Minnesota Street Project, a contemporary arts center encompassing three warehouses in San Francisco's Dogpatch district. A $50 ticket provides entry to the event with drinks and light bites, including paella by Paellas & Cos, plus live performances by SFDanceworks and the pop band YASSOU with Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble. Preceding the gala at 5:30 p.m., VIP ticket holders will be served dinner prepared by chef Matt Roberts. For more information and to reserve a ticket, visit sfdanceworks.org/events.

Born in Adelaide, Australia, Danielle Rowe trained at the Australian Ballet School before joining the Australian Ballet in 2001, where she danced for ten years as a Principal. In 2011, Danielle left Australia to join Houston Ballet and in 2012 moved again to join Nederlands Dans Theater. Rowe has performed in a large variety of works and worked intimately with many acclaimed choreographers, notably Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, Paul Lightfoot, Sol Leon and Alexander Eckman. In early 2015, Danielle made her choreographic debut with Margarie & Thomas for Nederlands Dans Theater's SWITCH program. She then relocated to San Francisco later that year, where she continued her choreographic career. Her works include untitled with Garen Scribner for DanceFAR (2015), For Pixie for SFDanceworks (2016/17), O for Berkeley Ballet Theater (2017), And Here We Are for Diablo Ballet (2018) and Adam's Key for Grand Rapids Ballet (2018).

James Sofranko is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his dance training at The Harid Conservatory in Florida and later at The Juilliard School in New York City, where he received his BFA in dance. Upon graduation, he joined San Francisco Ballet, and was promoted to soloist in 2007. Over his 18-year career with SFB he has danced in numerous works and world premieres by choreographers such as Helgi Tomasson, Val Caniparoli, William Forsythe, Liam Scarlett, Justin Peck, Alexi Ratmansky, Edwaard Liang, Lar Lubovitch, Wayne MacGregor, Mark Morris, Julia Adam, Yuri Possokhov, Christopher Wheeldon, Paul Taylor, Arthur Pita, Stanton Welch, Jorma Elo, Hans Van Manen, Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier, James Kudelka, Lila York, Kenneth MacMillan, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. He received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award ("Izzie") for best performance in 2011 in Yuri Possokhov's Classical Symphony.
Sofranko was featured in the principal role of Eddie in the Broadway touring company of Movin' Out, a musical choreographed by Twyla Tharp to the songs of Billy Joel. In 2012 he co-founded DanceFAR (Dance For A Reason), an annual benefit performance and after-party that brings the Bay Area dance community together to support the work of the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC). In 2014 he received the Inspiration Award from CPIC. To date, DanceFAR has raised over $450,000 in support of programs and initiatives to prevent cancer.

In 2014, Sofranko formed SFDanceworks as a contemporary repertory dance company in San Francisco. The first two seasons played to sold out houses at ODC Theater, with works by Alejandro Cerrudo, Lar Lubovitch and José Limón, and world premieres by Penny Saunders, James Graham, Danielle Rowe, Dana Genshaft in addition to one by Sofranko.

Sofranko's additional choreographic credits include dances for the San Francisco Ballet School Trainee program, Long Beach Ballet and Marin Dance Theater. Sofranko also works as a repetiteur for Yuri Possokhov, resident choreographer for San Francisco Ballet, and has staged his ballets on Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.

In July 2018, Sofranko will assume the position of artistic director at Grand Rapids Ballet in Michigan, while continuing to develop and direct SFDanceworks.

Founded by San Francisco Ballet soloist James Sofranko in 2014, SFDanceworks is a contemporary repertory company dedicated to presenting the best of the past, present and future of dance as an art form through high-quality live performance. SFDanceworks engages world-class dancers performing choreography from dance masters as well as commissioned work from emerging choreographers. The company's inaugural season was co-presented by ODC Theater in 2016.

Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture is a dynamic arts and culture center encompassing 13 waterfront acres and featuring more than 25 performance and gallery spaces, including the Festival Pavilion and the Cowell Theater. Established in 1977, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture annually hosts hundreds of arts events that attract over 1.2 million visitors.

Entering its seventh year, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture's supported arts programming was established to encourage exploration of new work within the dozens of venues on the historic campus. Curated events are selected based upon their artistic innovation, social impact and cultural relevance. Program participants are supported by Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture through grant funding and in-kind use of the campus's iconic venues. Since its inception, thousands of visitors have attended dozens of performances, exhibitions and productions supported by Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

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