JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2010
This San Francisco company of performer-activists worked with students and artists in Burma, Indonesia, and Thailand.
JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2010
This San Francisco company of performer-activists worked with students and artists in Burma, Indonesia, and Thailand.
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
Led by artistic director Brenda Way, ODC has been a fixture on the West Coast since 1976. As the inaugural DanceMotion USA℠ residents, the company performed selections from their repertory in Jakarta, Surabaya, Rangoon, and Mandalay. They connected with local artists and artisans, held master classes with art students and local dancers, and taught at a school for the deaf, all while performing in 200-seat theaters and tiny local stages alike.
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
Led by artistic director Brenda Way, ODC has been a fixture on the West Coast since 1976. As the inaugural DanceMotion USA℠ residents, the company performed selections from their repertory in Jakarta, Surabaya, Rangoon, and Mandalay. They connected with local artists and artisans, held master classes with art students and local dancers, and taught at a school for the deaf, all while performing in 200-seat theaters and tiny local stages alike.
FROM THE TRAVEL BLOG
“Before the show, as a company, we all agreed that if the power went out, remember that is common here, or the music skipped, we would just freeze and catch up. So, as the opening music almost immediately paused, we all just stood still.”
—Liz Farotte on performing in Mandalay, Burma
FROM THE TRAVEL BLOG
“Before the show, as a company, we all agreed that if the power went out, remember that is common here, or the music skipped, we would just freeze and catch up. So, as the opening music almost immediately paused, we all just stood still.”
—Liz Farotte on performing in Mandalay, Burma
ODC/DANCE
ODC/DANCE
Image courtesy: Mona Baroudi
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Founded in 1971 by Balanchine-trained choreographer Brenda Way, ODC (formerly Oberlin Dance Collective) was named for its original location at Oberlin College in Ohio, where Way was teaching at the time.
Then in 1976, Way loaded up a yellow school bus and relocated to San Francisco in order to ground the company in a socially active, pluralistic urban setting. ODC was one of the first American companies to revisit virtuosic technique after a decade of pedestrian exploration in contemporary dance, and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions.
ODC/Dance Company performs its imaginative repertory for more than 50,000 people annually. In addition to two annual home seasons in San Francisco (Dance Downtown and the company's holiday production, The Velveteen Rabbit), recent highlights include appearances at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York; Northrop and Lied Center in the midwest; UCLA and Zellerbach at home in the Bay Area; and standing-room-only engagements in Europe, Russia, and Asia. For 47 years, ODC/Dance has performed for more than a million people in 32 states and 11 countries, with support from the NEA, the US State Department, and many state and city arts agencies.
The company has been widely recognized for its rigorous technique and numerous groundbreaking collaborations with, among others, visual artists Andy Goldsworthy, Wayne Thiebaud, Jim Campbell, and Eleanor Coppola; welder/bike designer Max Chen; composers Marcelo Zarvos, Bobby McFerrin, Zoë Keating, Zap Mama, Pamela Z, and Paul Dresher; writer/singer Rinde Eckert; and actors Bill Irwin, Geoff Hoyle, and Robin Williams.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Founded in 1971 by Balanchine-trained choreographer Brenda Way, ODC (formerly Oberlin Dance Collective) was named for its original location at Oberlin College in Ohio, where Way was teaching at the time.
Then in 1976, Way loaded up a yellow school bus and relocated to San Francisco in order to ground the company in a socially active, pluralistic urban setting. ODC was one of the first American companies to revisit virtuosic technique after a decade of pedestrian exploration in contemporary dance, and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions.
ODC/Dance Company performs its imaginative repertory for more than 50,000 people annually. In addition to two annual home seasons in San Francisco (Dance Downtown and the company's holiday production, The Velveteen Rabbit), recent highlights include appearances at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York; Northrop and Lied Center in the midwest; UCLA and Zellerbach at home in the Bay Area; and standing-room-only engagements in Europe, Russia, and Asia. For 47 years, ODC/Dance has performed for more than a million people in 32 states and 11 countries, with support from the NEA, the US State Department, and many state and city arts agencies.
The company has been widely recognized for its rigorous technique and numerous groundbreaking collaborations with, among others, visual artists Andy Goldsworthy, Wayne Thiebaud, Jim Campbell, and Eleanor Coppola; welder/bike designer Max Chen; composers Marcelo Zarvos, Bobby McFerrin, Zoë Keating, Zap Mama, Pamela Z, and Paul Dresher; writer/singer Rinde Eckert; and actors Bill Irwin, Geoff Hoyle, and Robin Williams.
DanceMotion USASM was a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, administered by BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) to facilitate cultural exchange while showcasing the best in contemporary American dance abroad.
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