Varvara

World Premiere: April 2024, Holden Theatre, Amherst College

Conceived, written, choreographed, and performed by Jenna Riegel

Directed by Anna Adams Stark

Set design by Jenna Riegel, with support from Jeff Bird

Original set designs by Varvara Stepanova

Set Reconstructions by Gary Orlinksy and Nateomatic Fabrications

Costume design by Jenna Riegel

Original costume design by Varvara Stepanova

Costume construction by Emily Hoem

Video design by Jenna Riegel

Original artwork and photography by Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova

Sound design by Jenna Riegel, with compositions by Ace of Base, Albert Mathias, Baku, Black Box, Coldcut and Hexstatic, Nikolai Foregger, Vladimir Kasyanov, Velimir Khlebnikov, Jenna Riegel and Varvara Stepanova

Lighting Design by Del Medoff

Technical Direction by Del Medoff

Technicians: Shy Baniani and Heather Romanowski

Varvara is a response to both Alexander Rodchenko’s photograph “Performing Furniture,” which features his artistic collaborator and life partner Varvara Stepanova, and to Stepanova's body of creative work. One of the prominent Russian Constructivist artists, Stepanova's endeavors included textiles, visual poetry, costumes, and set designs. Soviet theater critic Konstantin Rudnitsky wrote, “The human body was perceived as a machine: man had to learn to control that machine. It was the theatre’s function to demonstrate the fine-tuning of the human ‘mechanisms.’” Varvara comments on this Constructivist view by exploring the body’s reaction to considering it as a mechanization versus allowing it to be its own unruly, chaotic mess of expression.

Thank you to sha harrell for your unwavering love and support. 

About the Artists

Anna Adams Stark (Director) is a performer, administrator, producer, and stage manager based in NYC. As a performer she has worked with Kim Brandt, Ivy Baldwin Dance, Laurie Berg, Walter Dundervill & iki nakagawa, Levi Gonzalez, Tara Aisha Willis,  Londs Reuter among others. She has recently stage-managed for the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, Antonio Ramos and the Gangbangers, and at Harlem Stage. Anna was a founding producer of RoofTop Dance (2010-2013) and ROVE (2014). She worked in the Production Department at Dance New Amsterdam from 2009-2013 and was a member of the staff at Movement Research from 2014-2023.

Jenna Riegel (Choreographer/Performer) is a dance artist and movement educator. During her eleven-year performing career in New York City, Jenna performed nationally and internationally as a company member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, David Dorfman Dance, Alexandra Beller/ Dances and Bill Young/ Colleen Thomas & Company. She also danced with Daara Dance, Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Shaneeka Harrell, Tania Isaac Dance and johannes weiland. She has been on faculty at Barnard College, The Juilliard School and Virginia Commonwealth University and at the American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival. Jenna is currently an Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance at Amherst College.

Half Time, Full Out (World Premiere)

Concept & Direction: Charlie Slender-White

Choreography & Performance: Keanu Forrest Brady, Bianca Cabrera, Erin Coyne, Camille Henrot, Jon Kim, Katherine Neumann, LizAnne Roman Roberts, Charlie Slender-White

Lighting Design & Technical Direction: Del Medoff

Sound Design: Charlie Slender-White, with compositions by Sophie, Charli XCX, Robyn, Santo & Johnny, & Björk

Costume Design: Sporadic Assembly

Technicians: Shy Baniani & Heather Romanowski

Half Time, Full Out is inspired by halftime shows, aerobic gymnastics competitions, cheerleading, pop music, and sparkles. The work is the culmination of Slender-White’s larger project, QAF (Queer Athletic Futurity), which imagines athletic spaces that celebrate queer identity. The piece is informed by Slender-White’s own experience as a competitive gymnast and cheerleader, and former member of the UC Berkeley Men’s Diving Team. Slender-White was one of only two out athletes in all of Cal Athletics while competing there from 2002-2004.

FACT/SF is a San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, founded in 2008 by Charlie Slender-White as a platform for organizing collaborators, building community, and creating choreography. FACT/SF is a Home Company at ODC Theater, regularly performs in the San Francisco Bay Area, maintains a core group of local collaborators, and has developed an extensive international network of partners. FACT/SF has premiered 42 works, with tours throughout the US, across Russia, and to Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Macedonia. FACT/SF’s Fieldwork programs provide support and material resources to contemporary dance artists outside FACT/SF.

About the Artists

Keanu Forrest Brady (he/they) is a San Francisco-based dance artist working at the intersection of contemporary improvisation, hip-hop and post-modern movement forms. Keanu received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Modern Dance at the University of Utah. Over the years, he has worked closely as a performer and creative collaborator with various San Francisco based companies and arts nonprofits such as LEVYdancy (2017-2021), AXIS dance company, ODC, Kinetech, and Sarah Shelton-Mann, alongside other local choreographers and drag performers. Within the United States, he has worked on stage and screen with Carl Flink, Eric Handman, Satu Hummasti and Scotty Hardwig, among others. His performance work has allowed him to tour within the United States and Internationally. He is currently a company member of FACT/SF since 2018, as well as serving on the board of directors as Dancer Liaison as of 2022. If you are unable to find him dancing in the studios, stages and streets of San Francisco, you can find him on instagram, @keanu.dance.

Bianca Cabrera (they/she) became the queerdo they are today by taking baton twirling lessons and playing clarinet in the elementary school marching band. Before they started dancing professionally in 2003, she was the captain of their JV Pom Pom squad and went on to become an Illinois state champion on the Varsity squad two years in a row in the early 90's. During the dance career, they worked for KT Niehoff/Lingo Dance in Seattle, Amii LeGendre, Kristen Tsiatios/Glass Bones, Lou Henry Hoover, Kim Epifano/Epiphany Productions, Ben Levy/LEVYDance, The Fossettes, Erika Tsimbrovsky/Avy K, Sonya Smith, Jo Kreiter/Flyaway Productions, Cielo Vertical Arts, Bandaloop and David Herrera Performance Company. Currently, she is the Artistic Director of Blind Tiger Society and the Director of Education and Operations at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Go team!

Erin Coyne is a San Francisco-based dance artist and educator. Originally from the Chicago area, Erin received dual degrees in Dance & Education from the University of Minnesota. She has worked with Kinetech Arts, Lizz Roman & Dancers, Paufve Dance, FACT/SF, and others. Erin co-produces and directs the dance + social event, Flight.

Camille Henrot, born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, is a freelance dancer and design engineer in the Bay Area. She is currently a company member in Printz Dance Project and has recently had the joy of working with Robert Moses' Kin, Victor Talledos, and Alex Ketley, among others. Camille is also a recent Carmel Dance Festival fellow. This is her first project with FACT/SF.

Jonathan Kim (he/him) is a dance artist from Southern California. He performed with Repertory Dance Theatre for five seasons and previously worked with SALT Contemporary Dance, SJDanceCo, and Lineage Dance Company, among others. His choreographic and teaching philosophy examines choice-making, community, softness, listening, and the queer experience.

Del Medoff (he/him) loves lighting dance. Really loves it. Like, really, really really, didn't realize how much it enriched his life but now does because he was completely cut off from for 2 years, loves it. He dislikes writing bios. Like really, really really, waits till the last second then frantically pieces together parts of old bios with scissors and glue like some sort of villain in an 1990's abduction thriller, dislikes it. I hope you enjoy the show!

Katherine Neumann (she/her) is a San Francisco based dance artist. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Katherine received her early dance training at Danspace in Oakland, under the guidance of Beth Hoge. She holds a BFA in contemporary dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Katherine has worked with Robert Moses’ Kin, the Mari Meade Dance Collective, ka·nei·see | collective, and Stephanie Unger & Artists. She is currently a company member of both FACT/SF and Liss Fain Dance.

LizAnne Roman Roberts fell in love with dance at age four after seeing Giselle on TV in her hometown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Honored to have been working in the profession of her dreams for over twenty years, LizAnne began her career with Tulsa Ballet while finishing high school and earning a BFA at the University of Oklahoma. She has worked with various artists throughout the Bay Area, including collaborating with FACT/SF since 2012. LizAnne has appeared internationally in Avignon and Claremont-Ferrand, France; Belgrade, Serbia; and Sofia, Bulgaria as well as across the United States. LizAnne is the mother of two, and lives in Oakland, CA. She is also a certified Pilates instructor.

Charlie Slender-White is a queer contemporary dance artist of mixed European and Roma descent. He is a choreographer, teacher, performer, and organizer, and the Artistic Director of FACT/SF. Charlie believes that artists deserve a living wage and that artists’ labor should be recognized, and he utilizes FACT/SF as a framework to realize these values, make art, and engage community. He began his career in 2006 as a dancer with Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and has since created more than 30 original works. Charlie's choreography has been commissioned by ODC Theater, CounterPulse, the US Department of State, and numerous others. He is one of 52 Countertechnique Teachers worldwide, teaches on faculty at the American Dance Festival, and served as a Guest Curator and Resident Strategist at ODC Theater from 2021-2023. Charlie completed his undergraduate degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and English Literature at UC Berkeley.

MISSION AND IMPACT:

ODC is dedicated to the lifecycle of the artistic process. Through our company, school and theater, we aim to inspire audiences, cultivate artists, engage community, and foster diversity and inclusion through dance.

ODC Theater exists to empower and develop innovative artists. It participates in the creation of new works through commissioning, presenting, mentorship and space access; it develops informed, engaged and committed audiences; and advocates for the performing arts as an essential component to the economic and cultural development of our community. This 170-seat venue is the site of over 150 performances a year involving nearly 1,000 local, regional, national and international artists.

Since 1976, ODC Theater has been the mobilizing force behind countless San Francisco artists and the foothold for national and international touring artists seeking debut in the Bay Area. The Theater, founded by Brenda Way has earned its place as a cultural incubator by dedicating itself to creative change-makers, those leaders who give the Bay Area its unmistakable definition and flair. Nationally known artists Spaulding Gray, Diamanda Galas, Bill T. Jones, Eiko & Koma, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Karole Armitage, Sarah Michelson, Brian Brooks and John Heginbotham are among those whose first San Francisco appearance occurred at ODC Theater.

ODC Theater is currently under the Creative Direction of Chloë L. Zimberg, and is a proud member of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Western Arts Alliance, Dance/USA. For more information on ODC Theater and all its programs please visit: odc.dance/theater

ODC Theater relies on the generous support of donors like you. To give to ODC Theater, visit odc.dance/support-theater

ODC is on the ancestral lands of the Ramaytush People in Yelamu. We pay respects to elders past and present, who are still here and part of our community. We recognize that regenerative land management is not new, but is a continuation of practices from Native cultures and from our own ancestors. It is our responsibility to steward the land with care, as our elders did before us.

ODC is donating $.50 for each in-person ticket (seat) sold to all performances in the Theater. ODC will donate these funds to the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone land tax fund.

ODC THEATER STAFF:

ODC Founder and Artistic Director Brenda Way

Executive Director Carma Zisman

ODC Theater Creative Director Chloë L. Zimberg

ODC School Director & Associate Choreographer Kimi Okada

ODC Fellow KT Nelson

ODC Chief of Staff Garth Grimball

Assistant to the Creative Director Luna Sofia Ruíz

Director of Production Jack Beuttler

Production Coordinator Chris Chamberlin-Miner

ODC Theater Venue Manager Brian Williamson

Audience Services Manager Katya Ponomarenko

Director of Marketing & Communications Sophie Leininger

Publicist John B. Hill

FRONT OF HOUSE STAFF:

Lynn Layug Schnulle, Senior Associate

Sophia Grimani

Sarah Hampton

Valerie Lam

Annika Mikk

Callie Norberg

AJ Ong Cortez

Jordan Wanderer

Olivia V

ODC TECHNICIANS:

Mary Clare Blake-Booth

Colin Johnson

Liz Kreter-Killian

Del Medoff

Cole Stuart Johnson

Dan Weiermann