OVERVIEW

FACT/SF is a San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Charles Slender-White as a platform for organizing collaborators, building community, and creating choreography. FACT/SF regularly performs in the San Francisco Bay Area, maintains a core group of local collaborators, and has developed an extensive international network of colleagues and partners. In addition to presenting the works of Slender-White, FACT/SF supports and engages with the field through three programs: JuMP, PORT, and the annual FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab.

Mission

FACT/SF believes that civic life is made more vibrant by the contributions of dance artists, and that robust and equitable arts ecosystems enable artists to work at their greatest potential. The dance field continues to prohibit the full participation of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, so we prioritize their inclusion across all of our programming. Within this context, FACT/SF collaboratively creates dance performances for the public, employs and advocates for ethical work practices, and offers programs that fortify dance artists in their work.

HISTORY

Slender-White’s career began in Yekaterinburg, Russia with Tatiana Baganova’s Provincial Dances Theatre. He is a long-time fan of pioneers William Forsythe, Pina Bausch, and Merce Cunningham, and has had the privilege of studying with Anouk van Dijk, Elizabeth Streb, Ellis Wood, Carol Murota, and Lisa Wymore. Collectively, these makers, and their aesthetics and ideologies, have played a significant role in Slender-White’s creative process and choreographic works.

Described in the San Francisco Bay Guardian as “deep, slightly dark and always thought-provoking”, FACT/SF has produced dozens of original works throughout the Bay Area, in Portland, Oregon, across Russia, and in Bulgaria and Serbia. Alongside Melbourne’s Chunky Move, FACT/SF is one of two Countertechnique-trained dance companies in the world.

FACT/SF’s work has been seen locally at ODC Theater, CounterPulse, Keith Hennessy’s Queer Performance Marathon, San Francisco International Arts Festival, YBCA Forum, Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, and The Garage/SAFEhouse. In 2012, FACT/SF completed a Trans-Siberian tour of Russia on behalf of the US Department of State for their ‘American Seasons’ Program. In 2009, FACT/SF performed guerilla-style at each of the 173 WalMarts in California as part of The Consumption Series.

Photos by Kegan Marling