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On sale at
the Concerts Box Office, Imig Music Building
www.cuconcerts.org
303-492-8008
A Company Built on Risk and Nerve
 photo by RJ Muna ODC/Dance is known throughout the world for its
athleticism, passion and intellectual depth. The Company's three
resident choreographers, Brenda Way, KT Nelson, and Kimi Okada, are
considered among America's major contemporary choreographers and have
created a dynamic movement vocabulary over the last three decades that
has significantly influenced dancers and choreographers alike. Founded
in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way who trained under the legendary
George Balanchine, ODC relocated to San Francisco in 1976 on a big
yellow school bus, bucking the dance world theory that to be
successful, a company must locate itself in New York.
 photo by RJ Muna
Today,
ODC/Dance's company of ten world class dancers performs its imaginative
repertory for more than 50,000 people annually. Highlights include two
annual home seasons at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San
Francisco, numerous performances at New York's Joyce Theater, sold out
performances at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. and four standing
room only European engagements. In 34 years, ODC/Dance has performed
for more than a million people in 32 states and 11 countries, with
support from the NEA, the U.S. State Department, and many state and
city arts agencies. The company has been widely recognized for its
fusion of ballet and modern techniques and for their numerous
groundbreaking collaborations including work with writers Leslie
Scalapino and Rinde Eckert; actors Bill Irwin, Geoff Hoyle and Robin
Williams; and visual artists Wayne Thiebaud, John Woodall and Eleanor
Coppola.
Also known nationally for its entrepreneurial
savvy, ODC was the first modern dance company in America to build its
own home facility in 1979, from which it operates the ODC School, the
ODC Theater, and the ODC Gallery. In September 2005, ODC opened its new
23,000 square foot performing arts center, the ODC Dance Commons,
increasing its studio and performing space to 33,000 square feet.
Through their various programs ODC strives to inspire audiences,
cultivate artists, engage community, and foster diversity and inclusion
through dance performance, training, and mentorship.
 photo by RJ Muna
ODC's
three founders and choreographers have received numerous awards and
commissions, including choreography for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company,
the San Francisco Ballet, the Oakland Ballet, the Diablo Ballet, the
Los Angeles and Santa Fe Operas, and the Festival des Étoiles; four
Isadora Duncan Awards, a San Francisco Examiner Golden Slipper Award, a
Tony nomination, a Guggenheim Fellowship and twenty-eight years of NEA
support. ODC/Dance was selected as Best Dance Company/Modern Dance in
the San Francisco Chronicle's 1998 & 1999 Readers' Choice Awards
and Best Local Dance Company in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's 1999,
2001, 2002, and 2005 Readers' Choice Awards. ODC was also voted
“Exceptional Non-Profit Arts Organization 2004” by the Business Arts
Council and “Best Dance Company of the Bay Area 2005” by SF Weekly.
ODC/Dance
has been presented in virtually every major American venue and festival
program including Jacob's Pillow, the Olympic Arts Festival, the
Spoleto Festival, and the New York International Arts Festival. ODC has
also appeared internationally in England, Switzerland, Germany,
Australia, Canada, Southeast Asia, and all across the former Soviet
Union.
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