The Bay Area welcomes a bounty of shows this fall, from outdoor aerials to free festivals and avant-garde dance-theater – this preview offers just a taste of what’s to come. If your favorites don’t appear here, it was not a deliberate exclusion; please look them up online. Shows are in San Francisco unless otherwise noted.
September
Sep 1-3: Zhukov Dance Theatre presents Product 04, the fourth season of Yuri Zhukov’s choreography. For his current works, Zhukov tapped the European and Bay Area contemporary dance scenes for fresh and daring inspiration. The premiere evening includes a silent auction; Zhukov’s photography and designs will be on display. Z Space, 450 Florida St, zhukovdance.org
Sep 8, 9, 15-17: Project Bandaloop celebrates 20 years of gravity-defying aerial performance with two weeks of events. On Sep 8, check out Process as Adventure, with footage of new work and conversation about the company’s new piece, Bound(less), an aerial work performed on three buildings; 8pm, ODC Theater, 351 Shotwell St. In Mint Plaza at 12:30pm that day and at 5pm on Sep 9, Bandaloop performs a sneak peek of the show, which premieres Sep 15-17 at the Great Wall, Grand Ave. at Broadway, Oakland. All events are free. projectbandaloop.org, odcdance.org
Sep 10-11: In the site-specific TenderSwitch part iv, Warrior in the Sky, Pythia dance company bridges the ancient and the now with giant puppets, Ohlone singers and dancers, video, the ILWU Drill Team, a handmade kelp orchestra and a sand piano. Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland, pythiadance.org
Sep 15-29: In Chris Black’s Extinction Burst, five dancers reanimate the passenger pigeon, great auk, Tasmanian tiger and other lost species in the Academy of Sciences. Sep 15-27, Free with admission. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr, calacademy.org
Sep 17: Alameda’s Gamelan Sekar Jaya will fill Yerba Buena Gardens with the rhythms of Balinese music and dance led by guest artists I Dewa Putu Berata and Emiko Saraswati Susilo of Bali’s renowned Gamelan Cudamani. Stretch out in the late-summer sun and enjoy three percussion orchestras as well as the expressive movement and delicate hand and eye motions of Balinese dance. Free. Yerba Buena Gardens, 740 Mission St, ybgf.org
Sep 23-Oct 16: 24 Days of Central Market Arts puts Market Street on the cultural map with performances, installations, demonstrations and dance lessons. Sample the wares of Robert Moses’ Kin, Hope Mohr Dance, La Alternativa, Push Dance, KUNST-STOFF, Sara Shelton Mann, City Circus/Acro Sports and more…and that’s just the opening-weekend festival! Visit centralmarketarts.org for a complete listing of dates, times and locations. Many events are free.
Sep 23-24: In Zero Hour, Philein/ZiRu Productions “examines the transitions in life and family which arise from young adulthood to motherhood.” Seeing through the eyes of a young Chinese mother and her newborn in the 1980s, the performance ventures from the present to the past to possible futures. Performing Arts Second Stage, 500 Castro St, Mountain View, ziruproductions.com
Sep 26: Let’s Go Dance@Jessie! Shake your booty at this year’s final open-air dance party in Jessie Square, in front of the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Let your hair down and dance to Avance, who fuse the different styles of salsa – Puerto Rican, Cuban, New York, and Colombian – into very hot numbers. Free. 733 Mission St, ybgf.org
Sep 30-Oct 1: detour dance wants to know that deepest secret you’d tell your best friend …if you weren’t so afraid to. The company examines relationship, autonomy and codependency in Imitations of Intimacy. The Garage, 945 Howard, detourdance.org
Sep 30-Oct 2: Some of West Africa’s finest dancers and musicians join Duniya Dance and Drum Company to perform Lanyee, the story of a man who travels the world searching for peace and unity. Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, duniyadance.com
Also in September: FACT/SF & Lenora Lee Dance (Sep 8-11, counterpulse.org); 2nd Sundays with Macklin Kowal, Palanza Dance and RAWdance (Sep 11, counterpulse.org, dancersgroup.org); Faustin Linyekula/Studios Kabako (Sep28-Oct 1); ONSITE with Katie Faulkner (Sep 29-Oct 9, dancersgroup.org).
October
Oct 7-9: In AXIS Dance Company’s Full of Words, choreographed by Marc Brew, three couples dance duets/conversations in everyday settings. Each dance begins with a dialogue based on the game “you say a word, I say a word, and we will make a sentence.” Also on the bill: Light Shelter by David Dorfman and The Narrowing by Sebastian Grubb. Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St, Oakland, axis.org
Oct 8-9: Zaccho Dance Theatre heads north to premiere a new site-specific work based on a fairy-tale inspired by the Tower, Ann Hamilton’s sculptural installation at Oliver Ranch. Proceeds benefit the work of Zaccho Dance Theatre and 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic in Bayview Hunters Point. Oliver Ranch, 22205 River Rd, Geyserville, zaccho.org
Oct 9: In this 2nd Sundays salon, presented by Dancers’ Group and CounterPULSE, artists present work in progress and discuss them with audience members and fellow artists. This month brings creative process and conversation with Katharine Hawthorne, Erin Malley and Ruth Botchan Dance Company. Free. CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission St, counterpulse.org, dancersgroup.org
Oct 15-16: Epiphany Productions and Guests present the eighth annual Trolley Dances, in which the city streets – and streetcars – become stages for contemporary dance performance. Joining the fun this year are ODC/Dance (with a premiere by KT Nelson), Sweet Can Circus, Epiphany Productions Sonic Dance Theater, Tat Wong Kung Fu Lion Dancers and more. Free with MUNI Fast Pass or regular $2 fare. Begins at SF Main Public Library, 100 Larkin St, epiphanydance.org
Oct 15-23: The Golden Gate Men’s Chorus join Patrick Makuakane & Na Lei Hulu l Ka Wekiu for The Hula Show, which features their collaboration as well as the premiere of Hanohano Kapalakiko, a suite of chants that celebrate the historical ties between Hawai’i and San Francisco. Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon St, naleihulu.org
November
Nov 1: Open the doors of perception with Shantala Shivalingappa, a world-renowned performer of the classical Indian dance form Kuchipudi. In Swayambhu, she strives for an altered sense of reality and absolute lucidity “where Reality reveals its true nature: an infinite field of Unity, Fluidity, Energy.” Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave, sfperformances.org
Nov 3-5: Celebrating its 39th season, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company performs Light Moves, a collaboration with dancers, internationally acclaimed painter and multimedia artist Naomie Kremer, composer Paul Dresher and the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and award-winning poet Michael Palmer. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Novellus Theater, 700 Howard St, mjdc.org
Nov 4: The Rotunda Dance Series returns with Gamelan Sekar Jaya (see Sep 17). Presented by Dancers’ Group and World Arts West in partnership with Grants for the Arts, the monthly dance series is a festive way to spend your lunch hour. Noon, free. SF City Hall Rotunda, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl, sfethnicdancefestival.org, dancersgroup.org
Nov 5: As part of the 29th San Francisco Jazz Festival, Savion Glover & Bare Soundz headline an ensemble of tap masters who amaze and astound by creating melodies, rhythm and (natch) percussion with their feet and hands. Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon St, sfjazz.org
Nov 11-13: punkkiCo, led by Finnish transplant Raisa Punkki, performs contemporary dance defined by beautifully structure, inventive partnering and Nordic sensibility. Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, punkkico.com
Nov 11-12: Take an hour-long trip through bodies, lights, technology and film with Wayne McGregor/Random Dance in Entity, set to music by Coldplay and Massive Attack collaborator Jon Hopkins. YBCA Novellus Theater, 701 Mission St, sfperformances.org
Also in November: 2nd Sundays salon with Laurel Butler/Make-Shift Dance Theatre, Goat & Bull and Hilary Bryan (Nov 13, counterpulse.org, dancersgroup.org); the weekend of Nov 17-20 brings Liss Fain Dance (lissfaindance.org), Dance Brigade (dancebrigade.org), LEVYdance (levydance.org), Meridian Dance (meridiangallery.org) and Abhinaya (San Jose, abhinaya.org).
December
Dec 1-3: When he’s not dreaming up new dances, Joe Goode supervises U.C. Berkeley PhD students in the Performance Studies department. They’ll show their stuff in LAB RUN, a “‘bleeding edge’ experimental theater series featuring works and performances created by new students in the graduate program.” Details TBA. Zellerbach Room 7, Bancroft Ave. below Telegraph Ave., Berkeley, tdps.berkeley.edu
Dec 2-4: Dancing in the haunting place between waking and sleeping, inkBoat disobeys the rules of reality in Line Between. ODC Theater, 351 Shotwell St, odctheater.org
Dec 8-9: And when he’s not supervising PhD students, Joe Goode is shepherding U.C. Berkeley undergraduate dance students toward the department’s Advanced Choreography Showcase, which features their original work. Zellerbach Room 7, Bancroft Ave. below Telegraph Ave., Berkeley, tdps.berkeley.edu
Also in December: The year’s final 2nd Sundays salon, with Hope Mohr Dance, Milka Djordjevich and Claire Calalo (Dec 11, counterpulse.org, dancersgroup.org); Jesse Hewit/Strong Behavior and Laura Arrington (Dec 8-12, zspace.org).
This article appeared in the September 2011 issue of In Dance.
