presents
May 1 & 2, 2021
Glen Canyon Park, San Francisco, CA
Concept and Direction:
Charles Slender-White
Choreography:
Charles Slender-White in collaboration with the performers
Performance:
Eric Garcia, Emily Hansel, Meegan Hertensteiner, Samuel Melecio-Zambrano, Katherine Neumann, Wiley Naman Strasser, and Erin Yen
Costumes:
Charles Slender-White
Glen Canyon Park is a 70-acre public park in San Francisco, situated on the unceded land of the Ramaytush Ohlone people. In the 1850s, Adolph Sutro turned Glen Canyon into a eucalyptus farm, and in the 1860s it was the site of the first dynamite factory in America (it’s gone; it blew up). At the beginning of the 20th century, Glen Canyon was an encampment for refugees from the 1906 earthquake, and shortly thereafter it was developed into an amusement park. Today, it’s the home of one of the last remaining open and free-flowing creeks in the City (Islais Creek), host to a diverse range of flora and fauna, beloved by local residents, and one of Charlie’s favorite places in San Francisco.
Diffusion is:
an invitation for people to safely gather in real space and real time,
an opportunity for FACT/SF and 8 artists to create and share,
a live and in-person contemporary dance performance,
better than Netflix.
We’re all so thrilled that you’re here with us.
FACT/SF is a San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, founded in 2008 by Charles Slender-White as a platform for organizing collaborators, building community, and creating choreography. FACT/SF regularly performs in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has performed throughout California, Russia, and the Balkans, and in Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina. FACT/SF also offers Countertechnique classes and workshops throughout North America, and supports the health of the local dance field by offering fiscal sponsorship, distributing production support grants, and producing the annual FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival. In addition to core support from our individual donors, FACT/SF's programming has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Phyllis C Wattis Foundation, and numerous others.
Charles Slender-White, Choreographer
Charles Slender-White is a dancer, teacher, and the Artistic Director of FACT/SF. He began his career in 2006 as a dancer with Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and has since has worked in more than fifty cities across twelve countries on four continents. Slender-White has choreographed more than 30 original works, with commissions by ODC Theater, CounterPulse, the US Department of State, and numerous others. Slender-White is one of 36 Countertechnique Teachers worldwide, and he graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and English Literature.
Eric Garcia, Performer
Eric Garcia is a devised theater artist, drag queen, and activist whose feet are deeply rooted in the Bay Area. He is the Co-Director of Detour Dance and the Tiny Dance Film Festival. Inspired by personal narrative and storytelling, Eric has collaboratively worked with groups of incarcerated men, senior adults, LGBTQ youth, and self-identified non-dancers on various performance projects. He was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for his 2016 work Beckon and was the recipient of the 2017 CHIME Award with Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. He proudly serves as Production Coordinator with Fresh Meat Productions, Sean Dorsey Dance, and the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival.
Emily Hansel, Performer
Emily Hansel is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, arts administrator, and artist advocate. Originally from Rochester, Minnesota, Emily received her BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida. Emily currently dances for FACT/SF, Post:Ballet, Robert Moses’ KIN, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, and Christy Funsch, and recently performed Cunningham repertory in Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists In Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100. Emily has also performed with ZiRu Dance, The Anata Project, Talli Jackson, Marika Brussel, Alma Esperanza Cunningham, Kristin Damrow Company, Brannigan Dance Works, and SOULSKIN Dance. Emily’s choreography has been presented at numerous venues throughout the Bay Area, Georgia, and Florida.
Meegan Hertensteiner, Performer
Meegan Hertensteiner has been trained in many various dance and art forms as well as obtaining her BFA from University of Oklahoma in 2005. She is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Human Creature Dance Theatre and has worked with Ballet New England, PunkkiCo, CALI & CO., Deborah Slater Dance Theater, SoulForce, Number9, Ziru Dance and various other projects. For more on Meegan, please visit humancreature.org or find her through social media.
Samuel Melecio-Zambrano, Performer
Samuel Melecio-Zambrano was first exposed to dance in the womb, as his mother and father salsa-ed their way about the living room. In 2018, he received a BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida (USF), where he performed works by Robert Moses, Kara Davis, Xiao Xiangrong of Beijing Normal University, Michael Foley, Christian Denice, and others. After graduating, Samuel was a member and collaborator for Tampa City Ballet’s debut season. He then moved to Melbourne, Australia to study Countertechnique with founder Anouk van Dijk and other certified teachers. Following a fruitful stint as an avocado picker in Queensland, Australia, Samuel moved back to the United States with a farmer's tan and a bit of perspective. Now a freelance dancer in San Francisco, he has worked with FACT/SF, Robert Moses' Kin, Kinetech Arts, Kristin Damrow & Company, and Mark Foehringer Dance Projects.
Wiley Naman Strasser, Performer
Wiley Naman Strasser is a dancer, actor and musician native to the Bay Area. He is a company member with detour dance, and has also collaborated with Hope Mohr Dance, James Graham Dance Theater, and worked with FACT/SF previously on (dis)integration. Theater credits include productions with SF Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players, Cutting Ball, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Wiley has trained with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Teatr Zar, Yuyachkani and CalArts, and received his BA in Theatre from UCLA. wileynamanstrasser.com
Katherine Neumann, Performer
Katherine Neumann is a dancer and choreographer based in San Francisco. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Katherine received her early dance training at Danspace in Oakland. She holds a BFA in contemporary dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Katherine has worked and performed with the Mari Meade Dance Collective, ka·nei·see | collective, Stephanie Unger & Artists, Alyssa Mitchel, Alex Law, Hannah Ayasse, and Hannah Young and is currently a dancer with FACT/SF.
Erin Yen, Performer
Erin Yen holds a BFA with Distinction in Dance from The Ohio State University, where she became fluent in the Laban Systems of Movement Analysis. She was the first to use Labanotation to document Doug Varone’s work, and she can be found polishing this notated portion of Possession (’94.) Erin has danced with companies such as Alvin Ailey and BalletMet, and she has performed works by artists Ohad Naharin, Bebe Miller, and Johannes Weiland. Her choreography considers physical effort alongside logical design in hopes of clarifying the body’s relationship to technological processes.
FACT/SF would like to thank our individual donors for their support of our season.
Visionaries ($1,000+)
Oliver Bacon & Greg Barnell
Jesse Dill & Patrick Metz
John Engstrom & Matthew Fidanque
Abel O'Connell
Thomas Pack & Matthew Mansh
John Perkins
Maryam Rostami & Jackson Bowman
Verna Slender
Rune Stromsness
Glenda & David White
Champions ($500+)
Sherisse Burns & Mary Grunthaner
Melissa & Dan Joseph
Catherine Newman
Jeanne Pfeffer & Paul Young
Blaze Stancampiano
Ellis Wood
Leaders ($200+)
Michael Todd Cohen & Adrian Frandle
Zoe Fyfe
Jessica Granderson
Robert Guter
Krista & Eric Hanson
Timothy Hildebrandt & Sam Bennett
Risa Jaroslow
Lauren & Adam Jennings
Beth Lim
Lauren Mazareeb
Mark Schaeffer
Shelley & George Slender
Dimitri Smirnoff
Tonia & Dan Stadler
Patricia Svilik
Emily Woo Zeller
Joe Yang
Supporters ($50+)
Liz Baqir
Sarah Barnes
Pamela Berelson
Susan & John Bunch
Rob Connolly
Erin Coyne
Sylvia de Trinidad and Andrew Young
Cara DeFabio
Sherry & John Engstrom
Melinda Furch
Nina Haft
Lisa Hsai
Ben Jehoshua & Andrew Pearson
Denise & Eric Jennings
Beth Kuenstler & Shawn Reifsteck
Joyce Kushner
Amy Lewis
Karen and Ryan Little
Eduardo Lucio-Villalon & Chad Spitler
Andrew Lund
Jennifer Maness
Clifton Meek
Erica Mikesh
Angela Mousseau
Carol Murota & Neil Zelin
Liz Nagle
Antoaneta Petkova
Julie Phelps
Eric Prendergast
Jill Randall
Isabel Rosenstock
Richard Royse
Lily Taylor & Sean Miller
Connie & Bill Van Horn
Catherine Volzke & Robyn Miller
Amanda Whitehead
Faye Wylder
Carolynn & Dan Zocchi