ODC/Dance

erforming rts enterC A P

university at albany State University of New York

2022-23

Cover photo: Urban Bush Women’s “Give Your Hands to Struggle” | Photo by Ian Douglas

Photo this page: UAlbany Performing Arts Center | Photo by Patrick Ferlo

Program

The Velocity of Winter (premiere)

Choreography by Brenda Way & Dexandro Montalvo

Music: Tokyo by The Books, Pulsing by Daniel Bernard Romain and 95 by John Metcalfe

Lighting Design by Thomas Bowersox

Costumes by Samantha Garwood

Rehearsal Director and Conductor: Erika Pujic

Dancers: Guest performers from Skidmore College

Annabelle Aber, Caleb Ballantine, Madeleine Connal, Libby Danielson, Hannah Danziger, Ava D'Eon, Kayleigh Duggan, Jacque Forman, Amanda Francis, Augustine Goebel, Francesca Griffin, Alice Handel, Jasmine Karaul, Seline Kozlu, Amelia Murphy, Isabella Pedulla, Christianna Poblete, Brooke Slesh, Gracie Stevens, Anna Stribrny, Frances Warton, Hannah Yelnosky

Two if by Sea (2014)

Choreography by Kimi Okada

Music by Teiji Ito, Steve Reich*

Lighting Design by David Robertson

Costumes by Liz Brent

Dancers:

Rachel Furst & Ryan Rouland Smith

*By arrangement with Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes company, publisher and copyright owner.

Impulse (2014)

Choreography by Dexandro Montalvo

Music by Someone Else & Miskate

Lighting Design by Jack Beuttler

Dancers:

Jenna Marie, Allie Papazian, Cora Cliburn, Miche Wong

Excerpt: Triangulating Euclid (2013)

Choreography by Brenda Way, KT Nelson & Kate Weare

Music by Shubert

Lighting Design by Matthew Antacky

Dancers:

Ryan Rouland Smith, Miche Wong, Jeremy Bannon-Neches, Christian Squires, Allie Papazian, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Jenna Marie

Unintended Consequences: A Meditation (2008)

Choreography by Brenda Way

Music by Laurie Anderson*

Light & Scenic Design by Alexander V. Nichols

Commissioned by The Equal Justice Society

Dancers:

Cora Cliburn, Jeremy Bannon-Neches, Brandon “Private” Freeman, Christian Squires, Miche Wong, Allie Papazian, Jaime Garcia Castilla

*Music used with the generous permission of the Artist

ODC Staff

Brenda Way - Founding Artistic Director

Carma Zisman - Executive Director

Joseph Copley - Associate Director of Artistic Planning

Brandon “Private” Freeman - Assistant to the Artistic Director

Kimi Okada - Associate Choreographer

KT Nelson - ODC Fellow

Jack Beuttler - Production Director

Thomas Bowersox - Production Manager

Kyo Yohena - Wardrobe Supervisor

Cathy Pruzan Artist Representative - Booking Agent

John Hill - Public Relations Specialist

About ODC

Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way who trained under the legendary George Balanchine, ODC (Oberlin Dance Collective named after Oberlin College in Ohio where Way was on faculty) loaded up a yellow school bus and relocated to San Francisco in 1976. Her goal was to ground the company in a dynamic pluralistic urban setting. ODC was one of the first American companies to return, after a decade of pedestrian exploration, to virtuosic technique in contemporary dance and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions for the repertory.

ODC/Dance Company of ten world-class dancers performs its imaginative repertory for more than 50,000 people annually. In addition to two annual home seasons in San Francisco (Dance Downtown and its holiday production, The Velveteen Rabbit), recent highlights include appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival in New York, MODAFE Festival in Seoul Korea, Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, and past standing-room-only engagements in Europe, Russia, and Asia. Way’s work was selected by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for the Inaugural Dancemotion Tour in 2010.

The company has been widely recognized for its rigorous technique and for its numerous groundbreaking collaborations with, among others, composers Marcelo Zarvos, Bobby McFerrin, Zoë Keating, Zap Mama, Pamela Z and Paul Dresher, writer/singer Rinde Eckert; actors Bill Irwin, Geoff Hoyle and Robin Williams; visual artists Andy Goldsworthy, Wayne Thiebaud, Jim Campbell and Eleanor Coppola; and welder/bike designer Max Chen.

Recent highlights include appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival in New York, MODAFE Festival in Seoul Korea, Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, and past standing-room-only engagements in Europe, Russia, and Asia.

ODC is known nationally for entrepreneurial savvy and was the first modern dance company in the United States to own its home facility, the ODC Theater. In 2005, ODC expanded its

campus to include the ODC Dance Commons, which houses ODC/Dance, ODC School, a Pilates studio, and a Healthy Dancers' Clinic.

BRENDA WAY (Founder and Artistic Director) received her early training at The School of American Ballet and Ballet Arts in New York City. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of ODC/Dance and creator of the ODC Theater and ODC Dance Commons, community performance and training venues in San Francisco’s Mission District. Way launched ODC and helped form an inter-arts department at Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in the late 60s before relocating to the Bay Area in 1976.

She has choreographed more than 80 pieces over the last 43 years. Among her commissions are Unintended Consequences: A Meditation (2008) Equal Justice Society; Life is a House (2008) San Francisco Girls Chorus; On a Train Heading South (2005) CSU Monterey Bay; Remnants of Song (2002) Stanford Lively Arts; Scissors Paper Stone (1994) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Western Women (1993) Cal Performances, Rutgers University and Jacob’s Pillow; Ghosts of an Old Ceremony (1991) Walker Art Center and The Minnesota Orchestra; Krazy Kat (1990) San Francisco Ballet; This Point in Time (1987) Oakland Ballet; Tamina (1986) and San Francisco Performances; Invisible Cities (1985) Stanford Lively Arts and the Robotics Research Laboratory.

Her work Investigating Grace was named an NEA American Masterpiece in 2011. Way’s work was selected by the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2010 to represent the US in a tour of Southeast Asia, as part of the inaugural DanceMotion touring program sponsored by the US Department of State. She is a national spokesperson for dance, has been published widely, has received numerous awards including Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for both choreography and sustained achievement, and 40 years of support from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a 2000 recipient of the John

Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2009, she was the first choreographer to be a Resident of the Arts at the American Academy in Rome, and in 2012, she received the Helen Crocker Russell Award for Community Leadership from the SF Foundation. Way holds a Ph.D. in aesthetics and is the mother of four children.

Born and raised in New York, Dexandro Montalvo (guest choreographer) is a San Francisco based director, choreo-grapher, dancer, and dance educator. A professional dancer with Robert Moses Kin and various other companies, his choreographic commissions include works for RMK, Liss Fain Dance Company, LINES Ballet Training Program/Summer Program, The Black Eyed Peas, DanceWorks Chicago, MINI (USA), Mini Amp Live, SF Ballet School, Concept o4, Dance Mission’s Dance Brigade, Sleepy Hollow Performing Arts Center, Cardinal Ballet, University of SF Dance Ensemble, Marin School of the Arts, & the ODC Dance Jam. Montalvo and his choreography have appeared on the MTV, BET, Telemundo and Fox networks. Montalvo is a past Artistic Director of the Dance Theatre of San Francisco (in his tenure DTSF won two of the four Isadora Duncan award nominations including “Outstanding Choreography” for his ballet, “Pent”). Additionally, he was awarded a 2019 Saint Louis Inner Circle Award for “Such Sweet Thunder”, won an Izzie Award for his choreography in “Art Behind Bars” in 2014 and was nominated for another with “Impluse” in 2015 (RMK commission).

As a dance educator, Montalvo currently teaches at SF Ballet, USF, Dominican University of California (LINES BFA Program), LINES Ballet Training Program & ODC Dance Commons. Dexandro also serves as Assistant Director and Rehearsal Master of ODC’s pre-professional teen company. He has also taught at many other schools including Stanford University, SUNY Purchase College and Sleepy Hollow Performing Arts Center. Montalvo holds a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase College.

About the Performers

Jeremy Bannon-Neches was born in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in Augusta, GA, where he received his initial training at the Augusta Ballet School. In 2005, he graduated with honors from the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he performed leading roles in The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and Lynn Tailor Corbett's Lost and Found. Jeremy then danced with Nevada Ballet Theater, performing principal roles in George Balanchine's Rubies and Serenade, Mathew Neenan's At the Border, along with works by Twyla Tharp, Fredrick Ashton, Val Caniporoli, and James Canfield. Since moving to San Francisco in 2012, he has worked with Robert Moses Kin, Post:Ballet, Zhukov Dance, DawsonDanceSF, and Hope Mohr Dance. He joined ODC/Dance in 2015.

Jaime Garcia Castilla was born in Madrid, Spain, and studied at the Royal Conservatory of Professional Dance. He was named an apprentice with the San Francisco Ballet in 2001 and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet the following year. He was promoted to soloist in 2006 and to principal dancer in 2008. He created roles in Elo’s Double Evil; McGregor’s Borderlands; Morris’ Beaux, Joyride, and Sylvia; Page’s Guide to Strange Places; Possokhov’s Classical Symphony and Fusion; and Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour. As a guest artist, Jaime performed at “Ballet Stars From San Francisco,” the Lively Arts Foundation Gala in Fresno, California, in 2012, and at the Pas de Deux Gala in Valladolid, Spain, in 2011 and 2012. He danced Flames of Paris and “The Ocean and Two Pearls” from The Humpbacked Horse in Osaka, Japan, in 2006.

Cora Cliburn grew up in Santa Fe, NM, and trained at Moving People Dance, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program. While still in high school, she received the Santa Fe Mayor's Youth Artist Award. In 2016, she was chosen by DANCE Magazine as one of “25 to Watch,” and her ensemble work with Post:Ballet in Robert Dekkers’s “Yours is Mine” was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award. In 2019, Cora graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in Environmental Anthropology, with minors in Theater and Performance Studies and East Asian Studies. She has danced with Robert Moses’ Kin, Post:ballet, Lil Buck and Jon Boogz (Blindspotting/Starz Network), GERALDCASELDANCE, Liv Schaffer, and ARCOS Dance, among others. Cora joined ODC/Dance in 2020.

Brandon W. Freeman, better known as “Private”, hails from Colorado. He is an ODC veteran having first joined the company in 1996 - and has passionately danced, coached, taught, choreographed, and championed for ODC ever since! He has also been a guest artist, collaborator, and choreographer for many other Colorado and Bay Area companies and schools, and was a Principal Dancer in the movie, “The Matrix 2: Reloaded”. Private has always brought his outside experiences back to his artistic home to enrich and deepen his contributions to ODC. Nominated multiple times, Mr. Freeman received Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for Ensemble Performance in 2002 with Brian Fisher, 2012 with Katie Faulkner, and 2014 with Katherine Wells for Amy Seiwert’s The Devil Ties My Tongue.

Notably, Private received a nomination for Individual Performance in 2004 for his role, which he helped to create, in Brenda Way’s masterpiece, Investigating Grace. As a teacher, incorporating ODC's values, he enjoys teaching ballet and modern dance technique as well as Dance for Parkinson’s Disease. Mr.

Freeman also has had the honor of being entrusted by Val Caniparoli to set Mr. Caniparoli’s work on Singapore Dance Theater and Ballet X in Philadelphia.

Private seeks to exhaust the joys of life! He is a woodworker, oil painter, audiobook narrator, a poet, and an actor. He is working on his Private Pilot Certificate, and served honorably as a Sergeant in the Army National Guard for 11 years. He gratefully acknowledges all who have influenced his career; specifically Brenda, KT, Sonya, and Randy.

Rachel Furst is from Baltimore, MD, where she began her dance training in competitive dance and then formally trained at the Baltimore School for the Arts. In 2012, she was awarded the Dizzy Feet Foundation Award and also began her professional dance career at Amy Seiwert’s Imagery. In 2013, she graduated summa sum laude with a BFA and minor in psychology from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA program at Dominican University of California. Rachel also danced with Smuin Contemporary Ballet and Dawson Dance SF before joining ODC/Dance in 2016. During the pandemic, Rachel worked as a rehab trainer at Active Care Physical Therapy, where she found a deep passion for helping others heal. Those skills have helped her grow as a physical artist, and she feels immensely grateful to conjoin that experience with her dancing as she nourishes her artistic home at ODC.

Jenna Marie Graves (she/they), originally from Philadelphia PA, began her dance training at Olga Kresin's Ballet School and later attended The Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. As a scholarship student at The Ailey School, Jenna became a member of Ailey II. Jenna Marie has been a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Nai Ni Chen Dance Com-

pany, MOMIX, The Metropolitan Opera, and Ballet Hispanico. She has participated in Amy Seiwart’s Imagery SKETCH 11 and 12 and has been a guest artist with The Black Iris Project, Mark Foehringer Dance and San Jose Dance Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty Production. Jenna has worked for artists such as Beyoncé, Romeo Santos, Nile Rodgers, and Betsey Johnson. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2019, she has danced with Post:Ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin, Marika Brussel, Christy Funsch, and Janice Garrett and Moulton Productions. Jenna joined ODC/Dance in 2022.

Allie Papazian is from Los Angeles, CA. She trained at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and was a member of the inaugural class in the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican University of California, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2010. While in college she danced professionally with Mark Foehringer Dance Project SF, and performed with Zhukov Dance Theatre for their 2010 and 2011 seasons. Upon graduation she joined the Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, Spain. In her five years with the CND she has had the privilege of performing works by Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Jiri Kylian, Johan Inger, and Alexander Ekman among others. Later she joined ODC/Dance for their 2015/2016 season. After freelancing and working with numerous bay area companies including Post:Ballet, Kambara+Dancers and Dance Theatre of San Francisco, she returned to ODC/Dance in 2019.

Ryan Rouland Smith hails from Colorado, where he received his training at the Denver School of the Arts. In 2013 Smith graduated Cum Laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Dance and Choreography. While a student at the American Dance Festival, he had the opportunity of working with John Jasperse, Reggie Wilson, and performed in the first reconstruction of Bill

T. Jones’ Love Redefined. Smith had the pleasure of joining Kate Weare company in 2014 performing in and originating roles in such works as Dark Lark, Unstruck, Marksman and Praise. Most recently Smith has performed in Stefanie Batten Bland’s Look Who is Coming to Dinner and the collaborative process between Kate Weare and ODC leading to Decameron/ Up for Air. He was thrilled to join ODC in their Fall 2021 season.

Christian Squires, originally from Charleston, South Carolina, began his artistic career as a professional dancer, performing soloist and principal roles with Boston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Smuin Ballet, Diablo Ballet, and Post:Ballet of San Francisco. He has danced in works by Helen Pickett, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Val Caniparoli, and Twyla Tharp. In addition, Christian has performed in and restaged ballets for choreographers including Amy Seiwert, Adam Hougland, and Robert Dekkers.

In 2012, he designed his first costumes for Post:Ballet, and has since designed and created costumes for companies including sjDANCEco, Grand Rapids Ballet, Kansas City Dance Festival, and Diablo Ballet. In 2015, Christian designed and constructed costumes for Quixotic Cirque Noveau's celebrated Firebird production, and most recently, he designed costumes for Louisville Ballet's new evening-length Romeo and Juliet. He is also the costume designer for Art Haus, a Playa-based performance ensemble that presents live music, dance, and structural art collaborations at Burning Man. With Art Haus, he has costumed reimagined versions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Firebird as well as We, Human, a contemporary work set to Reich’s Eight Lines.

A natural evolution of his work as a dancer, costume designer, and repertieur, Christian was appointed Creative Director of Post:Ballet in 2016, where he collaborates intimately with the artistic team to bring the company's repertoire and eveninglength programming to life. Christian's extensive experience in all aspects of dance, together with his wildly imaginative cre-

ative voice, has enabled him to unite his passions for fashion and movement into cohesive, meaningful, and moving performance experiences.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Miche Wong is a dancer, educator, and choreographer. Seasoned in that order, it's led her to dance with Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Garret +Moulton Productions, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, Ziru Dance, LevyDance, and Flyaway Productions. Living and working abroad has influenced her experience-based practice that comes forward when she dances and teaches. Miche's choreographic work has been shown in the Beijing International Dance Festival, Silicon Valley Dance Festival, Asian Art Museum, Dance Mission Theater, and Cowell Theater. Her work is a swath of energy and levity as she presents her interpretations of plights and successes of the human experience. She first joined ODC/Dance in 2019.

Photo by Robbie Sweeny

Sponsors

Tonight’s performance is part of Dance in Albany, a joint series presented by the UAlbany Performing Arts Center and The Egg.

UALBANY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

PAC, 266 518-442-3995

www.albany.edu/pac

THE EGG

Empire State Plaza

518-473-1061

www.theegg.org

This engagement of ODC/Dance is funded through the ArtsCONNECT program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional support provided by the University at Albany Foundation and University Auxiliary Services

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY FOUNDATION

University Administration Building, 226 518-437-5090

www.albany.edu/uafoundation

UNIVERSITY AUXILIARY SERVICES

University Administration Building, 232 518-442-5950

www.albany.edu/uas

The residency by ODC/Dance was possible through a major collaboration with the Dance Department at Skidmore College. Special thanks to Sarah DiPasquale, Erika Pujic and all of the guest dancers.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.

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HOUSE POLICIES

Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the management and its staff.

The use of photographic or recording devices of any kind during this performance is strictly prohibited.

There is no food or drink allowed in the theatres, nor is smoking allowed in UAlbany buildings.

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To avoid disrupting the performance, kindly disable any noise making electronic devices you may have with you.

Please take time to note the location of the fire exits nearest to you. In the event of an emergency, an announcement will be made from the stage. Please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center is no longer operating a box office. All ticketing is done on-line and can be easily navigated from the web site provided through the QR code above or address below.

www.albany.edu/pac