Dearest Liberator, DISASTER! DISASTER! DISASTER!

Direction & Choreographic Concept by Taja Will

Performances by Marisol Herling, Margaret Ogas, and Taja Will

Original Music by Eric M.C. Gonzalez

Dearest Liberator, DISASTER! DISASTER! DISASTER! is a performance meditation and call to action instigated by queer, Latine, and disabled choreographer Taja Will. Will's ensemble including Marisol Herling and Margaret Ogas, is based in Mni Sota Makoce (Twin Cities, Minnesota). Their evening length work DISASTER! premiered in Spring 2024 and continues to evolve as the socio-cultural realities of the world and environment shift. This excerpt conjures the elements in a frenetic, maximalist design of movement and sound into a brief moment of dark humor, queer ceremony, ghost entities and connection diaspora ancestors evoked through contemporary dance.

About the Artists

Marisol Herling (Performer) is a queer, Latine artist and chef based in the Twin Cities. Marisol began dancing with TWE in 2018 after relocating from Nebraska. She has since collaborated with other MN artists and created her own work as part of the 2018 MN Fringe Festival and as a 2022 Naked Stages Fellow. Marisol is also the co-producer of a multidisciplinary show with her spouse, aimed at highlighting local and national BIPOC artists, called The LIFT.  Alongside her performance work as a dance and burlesque artist, Marisol is a chef; prioritizing accessibility and sustainability in food.

Margaret Ogas (Performer) is a choreographer and performer based in the Twin Cities. Working at the confluence of dance, storytelling, and experimental performance, her works tell surreal narratives through a collage of movement, text, sound, and object. Ogas is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and was a 2021 Naked Stages Fellow at Pillsbury House + Theatre. Her work has been presented by the Walker Art Center, Red Eye Theater, Candy Box Dance Festival, Minnesota International Dance Festival, Center for Performing Arts, Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, and others. She has been a core collaborator with the Taja Will Ensemble since 2018. Margaret is relocating to LA this fall to begin her graduate studies at UCLA.

Taja Will (Performer, Director, Conceiver; they/them) is a non-binary, chronically ill, queer, indigenous Latine (Chilean) adoptee. They are a performer, choreographer, somatic therapist, consultant and Healing Justice practitioner based in Mni Sota Makoce. Taja’s approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text and vocals in contemporary performance. Their aesthetic is one of spontaneity, bold choice making, sonic and kinetic partnership and the ability to move in relationship to risk and intimacy. Will’s artistic work explores visceral connections to current socio-cultural realities through a blend of ritual, dense multi-layered worldbuilding and everyday magic. Taja initiates solo projects and teaching ventures and is a recent recipient of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, in the dance field. Will established a project-based collective, the Taja Will Ensemble, in 2015 and collaborates with local dance, music and design artists. Their work has been presented throughout the Twin Cities and across the United States including local performances at the Walker Art Center Choreographer’s Evening, the Red Eye Theater’s New Works 4 Weeks, and the Candy Box Dance Festival. They are a 2018 McKnight Choreography Fellow and NCCAkron alumni artist. Follow thier work on social media @tajawillxo (IG), visit tajawillartist.com or keep up-to-date on the Taja Will Ensemble at www.tajawillensemble.com

Δ/Delta

Choreography and Performance: Claire Evangelho and Ezra LeBank

Music: Wayfaring Stranger, Johnny Cash

Δ / Delta is an improvised, task-based performance, developing like a conversation about the frailty of insistence on the known. What if taking delight in unknowing creates a peculiar stability? Might we extend the boundaries of self, if only for a moment? Am I going to fail? Are we out of our minds? And do you even love me anyway?

About the Artists

Claire Evangelho (Perfomer) is a movement artist and educator rooted in Contact Improvisation, Noguchi Taiso, and release techniques. She has danced with Lizz Roman and Dancers, AXIS Dance Company, Push Up Something Hidden, Carol Keuffer-Moore, Nkechi Njaka, and others. Claire currently creates improvisational performance works and co-organizes dance education with badgoatdance.com.

Ezra LeBank (Performer) is Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Professor of Movement at California State University Long Beach. He has performed and taught dance, physical theatre, and contemporary circus across the world. Through his company Bad Goat Dance, he researches Dirt Work & Cloud Tectonics as methods of bringing ourselves closer to the earth and to each other. www.badgoatdance.com

BRIAR [excerpt]

Choreography by Chafin Seymour in collaboration with Styles Alexander, Davarria Ford, Abigail Hinson, Z Jackson, Johnny Huy Nguyen, and Danielle Noda

Performance by Davarria Ford, Abigail Hinson, Johnny Huy Nguyen (Fri/Sat), Danielle Noda, Chafin Seymour (Sun)

Music from (in order of appearance) The Field, The Flamingos, Isaac Hayes, Erykah Badu

Live Text by Chafin Seymour in collaboration with the performers 

Sound Design by Chafin Seymour

BRIAR is a dance theater piece created by seymour::dancecollective. It explores the possibilities (and limitations) of abstracting Blackness and race in American society. Influenced by writers such as Hanif Abdurraqib, bell hooks, &  Robin D.G. Kelley this work seeks to physicalize the weight and quandary of cultural affiliation. Using personal storytelling, rich physicality, deep humor and soulful music the work takes a non-linear approach to performance that poses questions and delights in ambiguity.

About the Artists

Davarria Ford (Performer/Collaborator) is a Black and queer dance artist born in Hayward, California, he began dancing at a young age for fun and was originally self taught. Davarria earned his B.F.A. in Dance from San Jose State University in 2022, where he honed his craft even more through the University Dance Theater pre-professional company. Davarria has been fortunate enough to work with many renowned choreographers such as Kyle Abraham, and Doug Varone to name a few, as well as performing around the Bay Area with seymour::dancecollective and Syndicate, a competitive hip hop team. Davarria relocated to New York City recently and continues to spread his love for dance with both Gotham Dance Theater and Camille A. Brown and dancers. His journey is rooted in a constant pursuit of growth as he aims to inspire change within his community, fueling his passion by learning from others while sharing his knowledge and love for movement.

Abigail Hinson (Performer/Collaborator) is a San Francisco-based movement artist, educator, choreographer, and lover of people. Her work strives to cultivate joy and better understand the human experience. Abigail most identifies within a Contemporary framework with influences ranging over years of training in studios, clubs, and other social contexts. Styles she’s studied and enjoys fusing include Commercial Choreography, Contemporary, Modern, Ballet, Jazz, Breakdancing, Liturgical dance, Contact Improvisation, Gaga, West Coast Swing, and Butoh.

Johnny Huy Nguyễn (Performer/Collaborator) is a Vietnamese multidisciplinary dance artist based in unceded Ramaytush - Ohlone territory (SF) and son of courageous refugees. Representing Grim Reminder Crew from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and fluency in street (i.e. Black Vernacular) dance, contemporary dance, and martial arts, he weaves together movement, theater, media, spoken word, ritual, and installation to create physical works that investigate masculinity, lineage, and intergenerational trauma through a healing lens. Nguyễn is a 2023 United States of Asian America Festival Featured Artist, 2022 Isadora Duncan Dance Award recipient, and 2021 APAture Festival Featured Artist. His work has been presented by API Cultural Center, 500 Capp St, and Asian Art Museum. His dance films have shown nationally and internationally - Contact Dance International Film Festival (Canada), Dance Camera Istanbul (Turkey). Instagram: @johnny.huy.nguyen. ww.johnnyhuynguyen.com

Danielle Noda (Performer/Collaborator) began her dance training at NCDC under the direction of Jen Bradford. Noda was awarded the Virginia Ann Excellence in Dance Scholarship which allowed her to continue her training at San Jose State University and perform as a company member of University Dance Theater. Noda received her BFA in Dance from San Jose State University with the “Above and Beyond” and “Pandemic Pandemonium” award for her performance and artistry in dance. She is currently a company member with SjDanceCo. Noda has danced professionally for Kara Davis, Nhan Ho, Rogelio Lopez, Diane Frank, Jenni Hong Dance, Maria Basile, Jhia Jackson, Conni Mckenzie, Natasha Adorlee, Kt Nelson, Hsiang Hsiu Lin and seymour::dance collective. Outside of the studio, Danielle is passionate about collaborating with artists of other disciplines. Noda also works as a Flexologist at StretchLab and utilizes her dance training to help clients with mobility.

Chafin Seymour (Director/Performer) is originally from Brooklyn, NY. He has had the pleasure to perform with Sage Ni’Ja Whitson/The NWA Project and Anneke Hansen Dance among others. As a choreographer, under seymour::dancecollective, Chafin’s work has been presented throughout NYC and nationally at venues such as Center for Performance Research (CPR), Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place, Livestream Public, Gibney Dance, The Wild Project, New York Live Arts, Movement Research at Judson Church, ODC Theater, The Ohio Dance Festival and The American Dance Festival among many others. The collective works on a project-to-project basis with a rotating roster of curated artists. The collective’s most recent evening length production BRIAR premiered at the ODC Theater (SF) in Fall 2024.  Chafin has taught contemporary forms at Gibney Dance in NYC since 2015 and at ODC San Francisco since 2023. He was an inaugural Ann & Weston Hicks Choreographic Fellow at Jacob’s Pillow in 2018 and was commissioned by The American Dance Festival and Limón Foundation to create ‘Suite Donuts’ for the Limón Dance Company in 2020. He has also created commissions for Modern American Dance Company (MADCO) in St. Louis, LINES Ballet Training Program (SF), and Fresno State University (CA) among others. He holds a BFA with Distinction in Dance from The Ohio State University and an MFA in Choreography from the University of Iowa. Currently Chafin resides in the Bay Area, CA and serves as an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance at San Jose State University.

Interstitial

Concept & Direction: Charlie Slender-White

Choreography: Charlie Slender-White with significant contributions from the performers

Performers: Keanu Forrest Brady & LizAnne Roman Roberts

Music: Trentemøller

Costumes: Sporadic Assembly + Pivot Group

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.

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 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 40 original works. Charlie's choreography has been commissioned by ODC Theater, CounterPulse, the US Department of State, and numerous others. He is one of 56 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.

Un/Rerooted

Movement Collaborators: Anniela Huidobro, Dani Oblitas, and Sandy Perez

Original Music by Aster Reyes, Craig Ymson, and Lorenze Cordova

Un/Rerooted is a meditative performance as an exploration of borders, community, and connection with our ancestral land and roots. How can we reconnect with ourselves, our identity, and our spirit to rebuild cultural connections and community? What was lost (individually and collectively) and how do we find it again? What rememberings do we hold within ourselves where the body becomes a site of resistance and memory? The performers embark on a journey of isolation, ritual, gates, connection, and migration to find these answers for themselves and as a collective.

This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.

About the Artists

Anniela Huidobro (Movement Collaborator) is a Mexican dancer, choreographer, and dance educator with over 10 years of experience. She graduated from the Mazatlán Professional Dance School (EPDM), directed by the Delfos Contemporary Dance Company. Anniela is currently based in Chicago, where she teaches dance at various schools and cultural centers throughout the area. Her artistic work explores the emotional and physical connections between humans and the Earth, blending diverse movement styles with improvisation. She was a finalist in the 2025 Lab Artists Program of the Chicago Dancemakers Forum.

Dani Oblitas (Movement Collaborator; they/she) is a dance artist, choreographer and educator based in Chicago, IL. She is passionate about making movement accessible to all, and views dance as a life affirming act of both community cultivation and individual embodiment. They graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in both Dance and Environmental Studies. Dani has performed with Liz Sexe Dance, We Are Collective, Helen Lee, kt Williams, and Ishti Collective among others. Currently, they are a collaborator and performer with 773 Dance Project, Sildance/Acrodanza, and Albany Park Theater Project's Port of Entry. Dani has presented work at Links Hall as a CO-MISSION Resident for 2024/2025, Marvelous Monday, Short Stack Film Festival, and the Transilience Festival. In 2024, they completed the Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques® teacher certification with Molly Shanahan/MadShak.  

Sandy Perez (Movement Collaborator) is a multi genre movement artist from Chicagoland who began her professional dance career in Nashville in 2022. She worked as a company member with DancEast Collective and Found Movement Group, presented work at Kindling Arts Festival, the Animata Arts Residency showcase, Jello Dances, and Oz Arts’ Brave New Works Lab with Arelys Hernandez. In Chicago, she has had the privilege of working under Chih-Jou Cheng, Philip Wood, 773 Dance Project, and now Dani Oblitas. She is currently focusing most of her training in street styles this year while working as a work study at Rhythmhood.

& neither am I

Choreography by Heather Dutton

Performed by Heather Dutton and Abigail Linnemeyer

Sound Design by Wilder Troxell

Music: Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani, Doin’ it Right by Daft Punk

Costume Design by Jessica Fails

& Neither Am I is a dance theatre piece that explores themes of gender performance, fluidity, conflict and liberation in the context of gender-queer identities. It is a playful and honest attempt to capture the awkwardness, silliness, and grief that comes with navigating a body that cannot completely contain the self. How do queer & gender-queer individuals learn to hide inside of our bodies? How do we learn to fully inhabit them - and what might that look like? 

About the Artists:

Heather Dutton (Choreographer and Performer; she/they) is a Brooklyn based queer and gender fluid dance theater artist driven by a deep fascination with human nature. Their multidisciplinary approach to movement calls on their background in theater, comedy, creative writing, and a range of dance techniques. Most recently, she was an artist in residence with the American Dance Festival and premiered a new work at Flushing Town Hall with the support of Mare Nostrum Elements. Their work has also been presented at Arts on Site, Here Arts Center, Dixon Place, LPAC, the Tank, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and more.  She holds a B.A. in Dance (Choreography and Education) from Muhlenberg College, where she also minored in Women’s and Gender Studies. Dutton is the director of emerging company, Middle Child Dance Theatre. IG: @middlechilddancetheatre, @featherrbutton

Abigail Linnemeyer (Performer; she/they) is a Brooklyn based performer. She is invested in her improvisation practice and drawn to works that call on partnering, and athleticism. Her queer identity inspires her research into gender in process and community outreach. She is currently working with, m i c c a, Alex Schmidt, Michelle Thompson Ulerich, Heather Dutton, and Kinesis Project Dance Theatre. In recent years, she has worked on projects with Johnnie Cruise Mercer/TheREDprojectNYC, MICHIYAYA Dance, VALLETO, Kayla Farrish, Elizabeth Dishman, Megan Flynn, Mark Dendy, and Grounded Aerial Dance Company. Abigail is eager to continue to pursue her desire to work in environments that center collaborative values and actively work to uplift queer communities.

River Bermudez Sanders (they/them; Production Manager) River is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist and arts administrator with credits from around the Bay Area including work with San Francisco Playhouse, Golden Thread Productions, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company, Hillbarn Theatre, and more. Recent acting work includes SF Playhouse’s TheCurious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (u/s Voice 3 and 5), andBerkeley Playhouse’s Jesus Christ Superstar (King Herod). Recent directing work includes The Laramie Projectat Theatre Rhinoceros (co-director w/Elio Amador). They’ll next be onstage in limp wrist on the lever with Crowded Fire Theatre. When not at FACT/SF or in rehearsal, they can be found tending to their tomato garden and their bonsais. IG: @_riverberate_; www.riverberate.com

Jess Brown (Production Assistant)is a thoughtful, curious creative. She grew up moving in the hills of the Santa Ynez Valley, and is a recent graduate of George Mason University. With a BFA in dance and minor in well-being, she is passionate about interdisciplinary arts research, mindfulness based teaching practices, and dancing outside. She is continuously inspired by her time spent with Christina Robson, Lewis Cooke, Kendra Portier, Joy Davis, David Dorfman, Doug Varone, David Zambrano and Shannon Gillen. Her work is earnest yet slightly tongue in cheek as she believes everything deserves to be questioned. 

Del Medoff (Lighting Designer) designed the lights. He loves designing lights. He also loves the redwood forests of California, playing board games, craft beer, and short walks on the beach. His dislikes include... Well, let's not get into all that. A fun fact about Del is that during the tech for weekend one, he wore earbuds and listened to music while walking down the street for the FIRST time in his whole life. It's so “right there in your head”... I don't know how y'all do it.

Quinn Todd (Stage Manager) has been in the Bay Area for 5 years. Quinn has worked in the queer drag night life scene since the beginning of the pandemic with dozens of drag artists like Mary Vice and Mocha Falalatte as a resident show stage manager for shows such as Pillows, Folsom, and Polly’s Follies. The logistics and wrangling the performers together as well as setting stage for each person struck a burning passion for stage management and production logistics. They’ve been in theatre production for the last 2 years working at Cutting Ball and now Stage Manage the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot which has helped fine tune their craft.

Mary Clare Blake-Booth (she/hers) - Lighting Technician

Taylor Rivers (he/him) - Sound Technician

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, and 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 Theater Resident Curator Maurya Kerr

ODC Theater Resident Curator Zaquia Mahler Salinas

ODC Fellow
KT Nelson

ODC Chief of Staff Garth Grimball

Director of Production Thomas Bowersox

Production Coordinator Chris Chamberlin-Miner

Audience Services Manager Katya Oleinikov

Theater Associate, Outreach Coordinator
Shayna Ann Howlett

Director of Marketing & Communications
Sophie Leininger

Publicist
John B. Hill

FRONT OF HOUSE STAFF:

AJ Ong Cortez, Senior Associate

Faith Alexis Dalton, Senior Associate

Callie Norberg, Senior Associate

Hannah Cohen

Johnny Cox

Sophia Grimani

Price Little

Leilana Majri

Valerie Mendez

Annika Mikk

Azriel Perez

Sydney Katheryne Scott

brooke terry

Hannah Woolfenden

ODC TECHNICIANS:

Taylor Rivers

Mary Clare Blake-Booth

Colin Johnson

Heather Romanowski

Shy Baniani

June Whitehorse

Crystal Liu

Angelina Costa