WDS2.1

Concept & Direction: Charlie Slender-White

Choreography: Keanu Forrest Brady, Erin Coyne, Jonathan Kim, Charlie Slender-White, and LizAnne Roman Roberts

Performance: Keanu Forrest Brady, Erin Coyne, Jonathan Kim, and LizAnne Roman Roberts

Lighting Design: Del Medoff

Music: Erik Satie

Costumes: Sporadic Assembly

WDS2.1 is a work-in progress derived from the development of FACT/SF’s upcoming evening-length work, The Waves, premiering as part of ODC Theater’s season this coming April. The Waves, an expansive, intimate, surreal, and impressionistic contemporary dance about sound waves, light waves, brain waves, and intersubjectivity. Click here to get your tickets now!

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.

Erin Coyne is a San Francisco-based dancer, choreographer, and educator. Originally from the Chicago area, Erin received dual degrees in Dance & Education, as well as, a Masters in Education from the University of Minnesota. Since then, she has had the pleasure of working with Paufve Dance, Lizz Roman & Dancers, Kinetech Arts, and FACT/SF, among others. She has also presented her own work at various venues around the Bay Area, including her most recent production, the dance + social event, Flight.

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!

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 35 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.

Radio Vision [excerpt]

Choreographed and Performed by Helen Wicks

Text: Oral History with Joseph Gershenson by American Film Institute - Interviewed by Irene Atkins Kahn 

Music: Mentone Productions 1933-39 musical shorts distributed by RKO, Nu-Atlas Productions

Orchestra: Joseph Gershenson

Sound Collage: Simon Linsteadt

Radio Vision is a solo performance by Helen Wicks that combines oral histories with movements and sounds from 1930s primary sources, including musical shorts produced and performed by her ancestors. The piece references both the American Film Institute’s interview with Wicks’ great-grandfather, music supervisor Joseph Gershenson and a personal interview with his colleague, musician and producer Quincy Jones. Radio Vision explores technology in entertainment and performance over the past 100 years.  

About the Artists

Helen Wicks is a performance historian and choreographer. She is Founder and Artistic Director of Helen Wicks Works, a performance platform that uses ancestral research, aerial, dance, and circus to create spellbinding experiences for multigenerational audiences. Her work explores epigenetic memory, vaudeville's influence on pop culture, and the conflation of news and entertainment. Wicks Works has been commissioned and presented by Bay Area Discovery Museum, Salesforce Tower Top, Z Space, SF Aerial Arts Festival, SF International Arts Festival, Triskelion Arts, and more.  Next up: Radio Vision (full version) in NYC this April!

Farewell

Choreographed by Victor Talledos

Performed by Camille Henrot

Music: “No Need to Argue” by Richard Walter

This piece started as an exploration of movement, tasks about breaking habits and exploring uncomfortable and unconventional pathways for the dancer, without enough time to think about and plan on it but mostly an immediate reaction to the task given. During the process, the piece started to become alive bringing something deeply related to the idea of saying goodbye… to someone, to a place, to life perhaps? It’s a breaking point on someone’s mind, but the resolution might still be uncertain. A work in progress to further be developed and incorporated into a full evening show with my collaborators ‘The Straw Dogs’ in a full evening performance coming up this year.

About the Artists

Camille Henrot, born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, is a freelance dancer and design engineer based in the Bay Area. Since 2019, she has collaborated closely with Victor Talledos in both company works and intimate creative investigations, drawn to his curiosity-driven process and nuanced physical dialogue. A company member with Printz Dance Project, she is currently collaborating in the creation of new work for the company’s 25th anniversary season. She has also performed as a guest artist with FACT/SF and Robert Moses’ Kin. A recent Carmel Dance Festival fellow, Camille continues to engage with new artistic communities through immersive research and collaborative creation worldwide.

Victor Talledos is an international artist based in San Francisco. He began his dance training at Conservatorio de Danza in Mexico City and graduated from Escuela Superior de Musica y Danza de Monterrey, Mexico. In 2008, he moved to NYC to attend the Ailey School. Victor has performed for Proyectos en Movimiento and Ballet Moderno de Mexico-Las Bestias in Mexico. In 2010, Victor relocated to San Francisco and became part of the Bay Area Dance community, working for Robert Moses’ Kin Dance Company, Labayen Dance SF, and RAWDance SF, among others. Victor has shown work in venues like Ailey Citigroup Theater and Dance New Amsterdam for the “Latin Choreographers Festival” in NYC, and Dance Mission Theater for the “Latin American Contemporary Choreographers Festival,” Safe House Arts, and Cowell Theater. He has been a guest choreographer for Ballets de San Juan in PR, Labayen Dance, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, and City College of SF. He is currently an instructor at the San Francisco Ballet School and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. He has also been faculty at Berkeley Ballet Theater and Dominican University, and a guest teacher at Mills College and San Jose State University. Victor is also a visual artist, part-time model, and photographer.

the water’s wide

Performed and Choreographed by Melissa Lewis Wong

Dramaturgy and Sound by Lawrence Tome

Special Thanks To:

Kat Cole, w/Amaya and Max; Danny Nguyen; Kim Ip - Dramaturgy and Performance Support

Cristina Chavez - Wardrobe and Prop Support

Loryn Barbeau - Voice Lessons

Eric Garcia - Show Mapping Inspiration

Joy ChenYu Lewis

As I revisit my 2024 project made with my mother Joy (花和霧 flowers and fog) -- I'm asking, what echoes into the present? what happens after the end? what was unsaid, and what still wants to be birthed?

About the Artists

Melissa Lewis Wong (they/she/他) is a Bay-Area-based queer Chinese American performer and arts worker. Deuce Lee is their drag persona, occasionally haunting Clutch the Pearls. Melissa has been working + performing in Yelamu (SF) since 2010 with various Bay Area organizations + artists, most recently including DETOUR, Hope Mohr, Rebecca Fitton, & KRIMMS DANCE PARTY. Melissa is a founding member of ABG, a collective of queer diasporic Asian-American friends. They will share a next 20-30min iteration of this work for NAKA Dance Theater’s Live Art In Resistance Festival at Eastside Arts Alliance: April 17-19, 2026 - please come, and share any feedback from tonight! @lemelissa

Primal Instinct

Directed by Ishika Seth

Choreographed by Akshay Radia, Amit Patel, & Ishika Seth

Music by Akhil Joondeph

Performed by Akshay Radia, Amit Patel, Sakshi Prabhu, & Sanjana Kerketta

Costumes by Ishika Seth

This work is inspired by the movements and characteristics of various animals challenging ideas of what is civilized versus uncivilized. In the midst of political turmoil, questions of terrirory, ocuupation and greed emerge. Looking at imagery of herd mentality, dominion, and hunting, animal behavior becomes an allegory for human behavior.

About the Artists

Ishami is a contemporary dance company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that blends South Asian and global dance forms. Our mission is to center queerness, women’s voices, and experiences of the South Asian diaspora. We blend tradition with modern storytelling and spark conversations through art. We straddle the line between commercial and experimental, traditional and contemporary, beautiful and provocative. Performance highlights include our production “Pehchaan'' that premiered in 2023 and toured to New York in 2024 and Chicago in 2025. Ishami has been featured at the Asian Art Museum, World Arts West Festival, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Fresh Meat Festival, Queering Dance Festival, and San Francisco Pride. We have collaborated with San Jose State University, Bay Area Independent Chinese Dancers, Noorani Dance and organizations including Maitri, Narika, Home of Hope, and Art Together.

Sticks in Mud

Choreographed and Performed by Lily Gee and Mackenzie Nye

Music arranged by Alex Lafetra Thompson, featuring original compositions, “Cruise into Oblivion” by Berbel Nobodius and “Ballad of the Spirits” by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru and Maya Dunietz

Mack and Lily recently created a new work centered around the theme of grief. Their duet explores mutual care, emotional processing, and the experience of grief puberty – the inevitable coming of age one experiences when they must learn to grieve for the first time. As life-long friends Lily and Mack are curious how their relationship keeps them afloat in times of hardship.

About the Artists

Lily Gee is a hapa dance artist and arts administrator with deep roots in the Bay Area. Her work investigates Asian-American futurism, femininity’s inherent ferocity, queer embodiment, and her own quest for freedom. Beginning her choreographic career at thirteen with a defiant exploration of gender, she has since produced original dance works with ODC Pilot 74, Battery Dance Festival, Kearny Street’s APAture Festival, SanSan Kwan’s Portals, Tether Dance Project’s Flux & Form, SAFEHouse Arts RAW, and Shawl Anderson’s Youth Ensemble. Using the stage as a means to humanize both performers and the audience, she understands a successful choreographer as an apt and sensitive facilitator. Her performance credits include projects with Paufve Dance, SanSan Kwan, Nol Simonse, Shaunna Vella, Blind Tiger Society, Raychel Hatch, Gabby Wei, and Hannah Littman. Ornate, expansive, and heartfelt, her movement pulls from her modern dance training and affinity for flying through the air and floor. She holds a B.A. from Vassar College in Science, Technology, and Society as well as correlates in Dance Performance and Mathematics. Currently with UC Berkeley’s the Division of Arts and Humanities. Lily has worked in arts event production and communications since 2020.

Mackenzie Nye is a queer somatic based movement artist born and raised in Berkeley currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Grounded, cathartic, and energetic, their work centers the visceral experience and memory as an initiation point for movement generation. Improvisation and narration are fundamental to their development processes. Mackenzie utilizes dance as a way to move through deep emotional experiences. Growing up in the Bay, Mackenzie started out as a young B-girl training thoroughly in the umbrella of hip hop for much of their youth, as a teen Mackenzie transitioned to modern and ballet. They were a member of the pre-professional youth company Shawl-Anderson Youth Ensemble. In 2023 Mackenzie completed the Limón training program and has since been based in New York. As a freelance dancer there they have worked with Sasha Marlan-Librette, Kanami Kusajima, The Kingdom Dance Company, Hannah Littman, Geetika Kumar, Soap Impressions, Lu Munteanu, and Brooklyn Arts Council recipient Petra Zenki. Mackenzie has also presented their own solo work at Green Space, Spoke the Hub, PMT House of Dance,  Arts On Site, and Green Lung Studio. Their artistry has been recognized and supported through residencies at The Sable Project, The Field Center, and Groundworks Space. 

Folly of the Fool

Choreographed and Performed by Matty Mx!/Matt Barry

About the Artists

Matty Mx! // Matt Barry (They/Them) is a queer interdisciplinary performance artist based in the Bay Area. Matty weaves together movement, sound, drag, and film into thematically enriched surreal landscapes that center queer embodiment, authenticity, and community joy. Their artistic practice is rooted in collaboration and creative risk taking; continuously exploring new facets of the mediums & spaces they occupy. They are a LINES Ballet Training Program Alum, family member of Clutch The Pearls drag house and a proud collaborator with UNA Productions and Detour Productions. Matty's work has been shown at showcases such as GLIMPSE and FLUX&FORM. In Bay Area night life they have performed at iconic spaces such as: Oasis, The Stud, Clutch The Pearls, PRINCESS, and SF Pride Main Stage. They are excited and honored to be presenting work in the FACT/SF Winter Dance Salon.

Something to hold onto

Choreographed and Performed by Sophie Minouche Allen and Maggie Costales

Sound Design by Chien-An Yuan

Something to hold onto is a work-in-progress duet co-created by Maggie Costales & Sophie Minouche Allen with sound by Chien-An Yuan. It’s a collection of earnest misdirections and soft collisions that keep us figuring it out in real time. Take the detour with us.

About the Artists

Sophie Minouche Allen performs, choreographs, teaches, and collaborates throughout Chicago and beyond. She imbues playfulness and nuance in all her endeavors and loves to make people smile. In addition to her independent projects, Sophie has had the pleasure of performing with INSÉKTA, Robin Davis/The Human Experience Dance Project, Helen Lee/Momentum Sensorium, The Seldoms, Bob Eisen, Darling Squire, Niko8, Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, and many others. Her choreography has been commissioned and/or presented by FACT/SF, Symbiosis Arts, The College of DuPage, Thodos Dance Chicago/DanceWorks Chicago, Midwest RADFest, Detroit Dance Exchange, Side Street Studio Arts, and COMMON conservatory among others. Sophie is on faculty at The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet, teaches dance to the figure skaters of Oakton Edge Skating Academy, teaches open classes throughout Chicago, and is honored to have guest taught at several companies, universities, and organizations such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival and Winter Dance Lab, The University of Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, Chicago Movement Collective, Western Michigan University, Denison University, DISCO RIOT, and many others. Sophie holds a BFA in Dance and BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Michigan. She is also a certified Countertechnique® Teacher. www.sophieminouche.com / IG @sophieminouche

Maggie Costales is a New York City based dance artist, teacher, and dramaturg and earned her B.F.A. from The Boston Conservatory in 2018. She became a certified Countertechnique® Teacher after successfully completing her teacher training in August of 2023. Maggie currently teaches Countertechnique® at Gibney Dance Center, Peridance Center, and Mark Morris Dance Center. She has guest taught at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Adelphi University, and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and was a guest lecturer at Rutgers University. Maggie was a teacher at the 2025 FACT/SF Summer Dance Lab and co-leads bi-annual workshops at Groundworks.Space in upstate New York. Additionally, Maggie is an original co-founder and dramaturg for PVMNT alongside Christopher Kinsey. She is the administrative and production assistant to Joy and Alex Davis (The Davis Sisters) and has collaborated with them since 2019, both in their duet collaborative as well as individual artists. As a freelance dancer Maggie has done projects with Takehiro Ueyama of TAKE Dance, Alexander Davis Dance, and joyproject (Joy Davis) and is currently dancing for Thryn Saxon of SAXYN Dance Works. www.maggiecostales.com / IG @magscostales

Chien-An Yuan is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Ann Arbor, MI. Yuan runs 1473, a record label specializing in improvisation, electronics, and collaboration. He is also a founding member of IS/LAND, a performance collaborative composed of AAPI movers, artists, and collaborators. Yuan launched the inaugural KYLYN AAPI Arts & Culture Festival in 2024. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, NewCity, Salon, ArtSlant, Huffington Post, and WNYC. Past performances and exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, The Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC), Gene Siskel Film Center, Elastic Arts, Convivium 33, Museum of Chinese in America NYC, Syrup Loft, Zhou B Arts Center, Asian American Cultural Center of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hyde Park Art Center, and Gallery 312. www.chienanyuan.com / IG @chienanyuan