presents
May 21 & 22, 2022
Duboce Park, San Francisco
Concept & Direction
Charles Slender-White
Choreography & performance
Keanu Brady, Katherine Neumann, LizAnne Roman Roberts, Charles Slender-White
production management
Jax Blaska
Costumes
Sporadic Assembly
Signal is a free, site-specific, outdoor contemporary dance performed throughout San Francisco's Duboce Park. Its runtime is approximately 20 minutes. Signal is the second annual installment of FACT/SF’s work to bring more dance to more neighborhoods through San Francisco’s public parks. We launched this effort in 2021 with Diffusion in Glen Canyon Park.
The area that is now Duboce Park was originally designated in the late nineteenth century for a site of the “San Francisco Female Hospital” that was never built. In 1900, to commemorate a colonel who had died, Duboce Park got its name and was opened to the public. In 1906, it became one of the larger “Tent City” sites for people who had lost homes in the earthquake.
This is, of course, not the oldest history of what is now called Duboce Park. Like all of San Francisco, Duboce Park sits on unceded lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone people. They and their descendants are the traditional stewards of this land whose dispossession and forced removal remains one of many dark blights on the American story.
To honor the history of this land, and the work of those fighting to retain their culture and connection to it, in 2022 FACT/SF has begun to pay annual land taxes to the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, currently set as 0.5% of our operating budget. We recognize that this is just a beginning step, and that monetary donation only goes so far in addressing and holding accountable the wrongdoing of the past. We welcome community insight about additional methods to pursue, and we encourage our peer organizations and our network of audience, donors, and collaborators to also think critically about how they can support indigenous rights movements in their area.
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, Director & Performer
Charles Slender-White (he/him) 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 founded FACT/SF in 2008, and he 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 a Guest Curator and Resident Strategist at ODC Theater. He graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and English Literature.
Keanu Brady, Performer
Keanu (he/all) discovered dance at the age of 15; hit by the epiphany, he taught himself to dance after swooning over Channing Tatum in the movie Step Up. He received his BFA from the University of Utah (UofU), and has been working professionally since 2014 with artists Graham Brown, Steven Kaplowitz, Scotty Hardwig, Tzvetta Kassabova, Sara Shelton Mann, AXIS Dance Company, Kinetech Arts and LEVYdance. Keanu has been dancing with FACT/SF since 2018 and couldn't be happier. He is so grateful to continue to be a part of the company and develop the evolving dance ecosystem here in the Bay.
Katherine Neumann, Performer
Katherine Neumann (she/her) is a dancer and choreographer based in San Francisco. She holds a BFA in contemporary dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Katherine has worked professionally with FACT/SF, Robert Moses’ Kin, the Mari Meade Dance Collective, ka·nei·see | collective, Stephanie Unger & Artists, Alyssa Mitchel, Alex Law, Hannah Ayasse, and Hannah Young.
LizAnne Roman Roberts, Performer
LizAnne (she/her) fell in love with dance at age four after seeing Giselle on TV in her hometown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Honored and humbled to have been working in the profession of her dreams for over twenty years, LizAnne has been collaborating with FACT/SF for the past decade. She has performed locally in the Bay Area for over fifteen years, and has participated in tours as close to home as Santa Cruz, CA, and as far as Sofia, Bulgaria. LizAnne thanks you for coming to share the work and this beautiful outdoor space with FACT/SF today.
Jax Blaska, Production Manager
Jax Blaska (they/she) is a San Francisco-bred, East Coast-baked creative collaborator now living in Oakland/Huichin, traditional Chochenyo Muwekma Ohlone land. As a theatremaker, they create work that is collaborative & curious, queer & feminist, and balances ritual & spectacle. They do administrative, research & archival, and production management work with various Bay Area artists and organizations, including FACT/SF, Seth Eisen (EyeZen Presents), and Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens (E.A.R.T.H.LabSF). They hold a BA with honors from Yale University.
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
Images by Robbie Sweeny