Summer Dance Festival

FACT/SF SUMMER DANCE Festival overview

The FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival is part of FACT/SF Fieldwork, a set of programs that nourish the contemporary dance ecology by providing opportunities, support, and material resources to fellow artists. In addition to the Festival, Fieldwork currently includes Production Support Grants, Fiscal Sponsorship, Summer Dance Lab Scholarships, and our touring platform, PORT (Peer Organized Reciprocal Touring).

The Festival brings together an array of contemporary dance works by choreographers from the Bay Area and beyond. The purpose of the Festival is to juxtapose a variety of works to spur dialogue, support artists and artistic growth, and present to audiences a range of perspectives. In its inaugural year, the Festival was described as “a very strong debut and a great addition to the SF dance festival circuit.” - Heather Desaulniers, DanceTabs

Donofrio Dance Co presents BETTY at the 2023 FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival. Photo by Robbie Sweeny

present work with us in 2024

The 2024 FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival will take place at ODC Theater from August 23-25, 2024. FACT/SF will curate local & visiting choreographers to share work on a mixed-bill with FACT/SF. Each choreographer will present 8-12 minutes of finished work. We aim to curate a festival that includes artists from diverse geographical regions, so choreographers do not need to be Bay Area-based. Applications for the 2024 Summer Dance Festival are included in our Fieldwork Application process, now open through November 3, 2023 (or until 50 applications are reached).

Selected choreographers will each receive:

$1,500 presentation fee
$750 travel stipend for artists from outside the Bay Area
Full production support
6 complimentary tickets
Photo and video documentation
Limited marketing support
Inclusion in the FACT/SF season calendar

Our curatorial priorities are to:

Engage BIPOC artists and LGBTQ+ artists
Engage artists with a track record of making high-quality work
Juxtapose works of local and non-local artists
Support artists and works that are viable relative to artist’s capacity, artist’s history, and the scale of the Festival

Alfonso Cervera performs RP at the 2023 FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival. Photo by Robbie Sweeny

application process

Fieldwork 2024 applications are now open through November 3, 2023, or until we have reached capacity at 50 applications.

Click here for application information.

Applications for curation into the Summer Dance Festival will be considered as part of the 2024 Fieldwork Open Call for Proposals. We have streamlined the application process for all of our Fieldwork programs, so artists may now apply for any or all of the 2024 opportunities to get involved during one process. All Fieldwork applicants who complete the application process will receive a $30 honorarium to recognize the time and labor involved in preparing their application. For more information, please see the Fieldwork page.

In addition to completing the application, applicants must:

Identify as a maker of contemporary dances
Engage in two-way and open communication between our respective teams to facilitate and deepen our relationships as fellow artists
Adhere to a policy which prohibits and prevents discrimination against people on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, physical disability, veteran's status, national origin, ancestry, or socio-economic status

2023 festival artists

weekend 1

Founded in 2018, the Shaun Keylock Company (SKC) is one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading contemporary dance companies. It is the resident dance company of Conduit Dance, Inc. based in Portland, Oregon. Led by award-winning choreographer and director Shaun Keylock, the company has been an originator of many unique projects and collaborations, from staging the first queer chamber opera “When the Sun Comes Out” to preserving the archives of community dance elders. In the progressive, independent spirit of Portland, its aim is to advance the artistry of contemporary dance and queer performance while fostering an exchange of ideas between artists and communities.

weekend 2

Alfonso Cervera holds an MFA in Experimental Choreography from the University of California, Riverside. He’s a Queer first-generation Mexican American choreographer, performer, educator, curator, and activist. Along with his degree, he holds professional certifications in Asana Yoga, Reiki Healing, and is the Executive Director of Show Box L.A. His research and specialization as an independent movement practitioner focuses on the conversation between queerness, Ballet Folklorico, and Afro-LatinX social dances in a contemporary auto-biographical embodied experience that he calls Poc-Chuc. Poc-Chuc, an emerging and inclusive dance technique developed by Cervera, weaves these techniques as a pedagogical tool to create representation for marginalized communities.

Mia J. Chong is a choreographer and dancer from San Francisco. Mia currently collaborates with Post:ballet while freelancing throughout the Bay Area. Her work has been performed by Post:ballet, BODYSONNET, NYU Tisch, UC Berkeley’s Chamber Chorus, and more. Mia danced with ODC/Dance, Robert Moses’ Kin, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, and Concept o4. She received a Princess Grace Award and Chris Hellman Dance Honor, among other honors. Mia earned a BA in Social Sciences from NYU and is currently pursuing an MS in Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship at Northeastern University.

Taylor Donofrio / Donofrio Dance creates delicate and intricate dance works for the screen, stage, and for public spaces. Donofrio’s approach to dance incorporates a psychoanalytic perspective, exploring one’s inner landscape and how it connects to our relationships and understanding of the world. Taylor examines new approaches to performance through artistic exchanges, her work informed by collaborators from various disciplines. Currently based in Los Angeles, where she received her MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts, Donofrio has worked as a choreographer in NYC for the past decade. She founded her own Contemporary Dance Company, Donofrio Dance Company in 2010 in Brooklyn, NY. Since, Donofrio’s work has been presented at Triskelion Arts, CPR, FLICfest, INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival, 92Y, WestFest, Gibney Dance, Jacob Burns Film Center, Red Rock Screen Dance Film Festival, Governor’s Island, and Heidi Duckler’s Ebb & Flow.

Emily Hansel is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, dance teacher, arts administrator, and artist advocate whose work centers the dancer’s experience. Originally from Rochester, MN, Emily received their BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida.They currently dance for Post:ballet, SFDanceworks, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Christy Funsch, and David Herrera Performance Company. Recently, Emily created new work for Post:ballet, received an SF Artist award from the SF Arts Commission, self-produced her first evening-length choreographic work, Four by Four, at ODC Theater, and was named an Individual Artist Fellow by the California Arts Council.

chinchin hsu (she/her/她), was born and raised in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. moved to the U.S. in 2004 and now resides on Ramaytush lands; a southeast asian immigrant, a teaching artist, now a dance mama of two little humans. she has trained in tai-chi, chinese martial art, chinese ballet, western ballet, various modern techniques, improvisation and composition. chinchin is curious how imagination and motherhood combine themselves in this process of creativity and how they will manifest a stage sharing performance today. she is delighted to be in this dialogue with Brianna in imagining ways to destabilize discomfort within our constant changing female-by-birth bodies.

Brianna Elyse Torres (she/her) is a Boricua movement artist, child of the diaspora, healer, platano lover, and birthworker currently rooted on Lisjan Ohlone lands. Brianna is an alumni of Laguardia Performing Arts High School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. She is a deep believer in movement as a way to heal, grieve and access collective joy. Brianna is excited to share new work with Chinchin Hsu. She is deeply appreciative Chinchin's spirit, friendship, intention and collaborative nature.

Founded in 2022 by Héctor Jaime, Xochipilli Dance Company is formed by a group of dancers from the Bay Area with different backgrounds and gender identities, who explores, creates, and performs original contemporary ballet pieces. As an emerging company they are looking forward to expanding their network and fundraising. Their work focuses on the exploration of self-discovery through nature, showcasing the textures, intentions, architecture, and fluidity of gender expression that is reflected in nature.