FACT/SF’s 2026 Summer Dance Lab is August 12-16, 2026, at ODC Theater in san francisco
The 2026 Lab is a Countertechnique-focused workshop taught by Charlie Slender-White. Each day includes a two-hour Countertechnique class and a one-hour Deep Dive module. This year’s Lab is designed for dancers to be able to attend as many or as few days as they would like.
OVERVIEW
The 2026 FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab is designed for dancers new to Countertechnique and for those who have already had some experience with the practice. Within an open, investigative environment, participants will spend 5 days learning and experimenting with Countertechnique and the application of Countertechnique tools to heighten awareness, distill intention, have fun, get sweaty, and explore unknown terrain. Like all of FACT/SF’s workshops, the Lab is intentionally inclusive and non-competitive.
Dancers can register below for the whole workshop or just a few days. Dancers attending all five days of the Lab will also receive complimentary tickets to attend the 2026 FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival. FACT/SF Artistic Director and Countertechnique Teacher, Charlie Slender-White, is the lead instructor for this year’s Lab.
DAILY SCHEDULE & DETAILS
In Person (August 12-16):
August 12, 10am-1pm
August 13, 10am-1pm
August 14, 10am-1pm
August 15, 10am-1pm
August 16, 10am-1pm
LOCATION
ODC Theater
3153 17th Street (at Shotwell)
San Francisco, CA 94110
ODC Theater has all-gender bathrooms.
TUITION
$40/day or $150 for the full workshop. Dancers can register by paying their tuition via Venmo or PayPal below.
Attending all five days is less expensive than attending four days
FACT/SF Members receive 20% off
Dancers who have attended past Winter or Summer Dance Labs receive 20% off
Dancers who have attended past Labs and are FACT/SF Members receive 40% off
FACT/SF has already selected 1 dancer to receive a scholarship and 1 dancer to receive a work study opportunity to the 2026 Lab.
TO register
The FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab is designed for curious advanced and professional dancers. Dancers do not need to send in application materials as in prior years, and can instead simply register below for all five days of the workshop or just one, two, three, or four days.
Questions or requests for more information should be directed to Charlie Slender-White at cslender@factsf.org
VENMO
Please calculate your tuition, including applicable discounts, and send the full amount along with your name, email address, and phone number. Pay via Venmo: @factsf
PAYPAL
Choose from the options below based on whether you are paying the full price, receiving 20% off, or receiving 40% off.
accessibility
The FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab is intentionally inclusive, and FACT/SF continues to evolve and develop our accessibility practices. For 2026, that includes being in conversation with participants re: COVID safety and risk as well as any other access needs or accommodations participants might have. Our goals are to create a space that removes as many barriers as possible, acknowledge each dancer as a whole person, and accommodate the needs of as many dancers as possible.
Please email cslender@factsf.org with any questions about accessibility and/or to share access needs. We will also send out a form to gather access needs anonymously for participants who do not wish to share their needs with attribution.
SELECTED PARTICIPANTS
Once payment has been processed, participants will receive a Welcome Packet. Information will include: area attractions, directions, public transportation, parking, Lab Detailed Schedule, and supplemental information on Countertechnique.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Scholarships and Work-Study opportunities for the Summer Dance Lab were available as part of our 2026 Fieldwork Applications, which are now closed.
QUESTIONS
If you have any questions or would like like to inform FACT/SF of any access needs, please email us at cslender@factsf.org.
ABOUT COUNTERTECHNIQUE
By continuously and sequentially directing and counter directing parts of the body through space, Countertechnique allows the moving dancer to work with an ever-changing dynamic balance. This dynamic balance reduces the pressure on the overall body structure and can be changed at any given moment. The consistent use of the counter direction in all movements is key to the technique; both the awareness and application of this principle is trained throughout the Countertechnique class. The Countertechnique theory is organized around two principal notions: the ‘toolbox’ and ‘scanning’. The toolbox is the systematically organized collection of tools for body and mind with which Countertechnique works, often visualized as a virtual map that dancers carry with them. Scanning defines the process of dancers continuously and actively observing their mindset and body in order to choose the most appropriate tool(s) from the toolbox for the situation they find themselves in. Scanning allows dancers to make active use of the toolbox in their daily practice of training, rehearsing and performing. Countertechnique was developed by Anouk van Dijk throughout her twenty-five year career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. Over the last fifteen years, the knowledge and experience she gained – in constant dialogue with her dancers – was gradually transformed into a detailed theoretical system and a teaching method, which now together form the Countertechnique system.
In the 2026 FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab, Countertechnique will be taught by Charlie Slender-White.
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Charles Slender-White. Photo by Robbie Sweeny.
CHARLIE SLENDER-WHITE has been a Countertechnique practitioner for 21 years, and became a Certified Teacher in 2012; there are 60 Teachers worldwide. Charlie has taught Countertechnique at the American Dance Festival, Velocity Dance Center, University of Calgary, Loyola Marymount University, the University of San Francisco, CSU East Bay, L’Artere (Quebec City), Circuit-Est (Montreal), Love-In (Toronto), Chunky Move (Melbourne), and at numerous dance centers throughout the SF Bay Area. He began his dance career in 2006 with Tatiana Baganova’s Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2008, he returned to his native California to start FACT/SF in order to make his own contributions to innovation and excellence in contemporary dance. Over the past 18 years, Charlie has created 42 works, with commissions by the US Department of State, ODC Theater, CounterPulse, Acid Rain (Chelyabinsk), Dialogue Dance (Kostroma), the Yekaterinburg University of the Humanities (Yekaterinburg), and others. Described as ‘utterly absorbing’ and ‘mesmerizing’ (SF Bay Guardian), Charlie’ work with FACT/SF has been performed throughout California, in Portland (Oregon), Seattle (Washington), Durham (North Carolina), Sofia (Bulgaria), Belgrade (Serbia), Zagreb (Croatia), Skopje (Macedonia), and in 7 cities across Russia, working with the US Department of State to share contemporary American culture with local Russian communities as part of their ‘American Seasons’ Program. From 2021-2022, Charlie served as ODC Theater’s Resident Strategist for Curation and Creative Partnerships, and he co-curated the 2022 ODC Theater Season with amara tabor-smith. Throughout 2012, he was a mentee of Elizabeth Streb as part of CHIME Across Borders at the Margaret Jenkins Dance Lab. Charlie graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and English Literature.
Banner Image Alina Fejzo