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resources
Here are some of our community partners, companies, organizations, and institutions. Check out some of the resources we have benefitted from and are interested in- and let us know if you have you’d like to see added to our list!
UC Berkeley Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
“Within the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, we understand performance to be a mode of critical inquiry, a means of a creative expression, and a vehicle for public engagement. Our goal is to produce “the whole artist;” as such, our classes, workshops, and productions challenge students to expand their critical and creative capacities.
The T&PS or D&PS major trains students to begin careers in areas as diverse as those of professional theater (acting, directing), dance (performing choreographing), theater management and design (stage management, and costume, scenic and lighting design), teaching and scholarship in performance-related fields, writing-based fields (advertising, editing), body-based fields of study (health care and somatic practices), law, and social work, especially as it relates to community-based arts projects. Currently, TDPS alum have gone on to careers in television, film, dance, and theater, as well as pursued work in law and medicine.
At a time when scholars and practitioners across a variety of fields call for more cross-disciplinary intellectual collaboration and project-based learning in higher education, we take pride in our daily commitment to collaboration and to the kind of rigorously critical, team-based projects we develop with our students, staff, and faculty both in the classroom and in our production season.
We aim to bridge the divide between practice and scholarship, and to create an environment in which students engage with theoretical and historical material—deepening their work as writers, thinkers, analyzers, and movers.”
“Eveoke Dance Theatre was founded in 1994 by Gina Angelique and Christopher Hall with an original Concert Company of 8 dancers. Programming out of a small studio on the 5th floor of the Ratner Arts Building in downtown San Diego, the organization produced three month long performance works per season and began operating a unique arts education program fueled by the mission to cultivate compassionate social action. In 1997, Eveoke moved to a large 5000 square foot building in the heart of downtown’s East Village and the programs grew exponentially to not only serve on-site students with this unique experience but to serve thousands of youth weekly in extensive outreach programs with city schools and community organizations while still producing evocative dance theatre with an ever-evolving group of talented artists. Eveoke’s access programs ensured a diverse and rich community of artists, students, and patrons. This all holds true today, in Eveoke’s 17th year, now programming out of a beautiful studio in the heart of North Park.
We continue to produce an annual season of original dance theatre works, operate an arts education program aimed at long-term, quality interactions between students and teachers, and provide unique experiences that increase visibility for dance and benefit our diverse San Diego community. We do all this through the lens of our core values: access, intention, and collaboration.”
Canyon Crest Academy Envision Dance Conservatory
“The Envision Conservatory is an extended day program that is available on an audition/interview basis only. Each term, students participate in 90 hours of intensive discipline-specific work and about 15 hours of inter-disciplinary exploration. The Conservatory is designed to challenge our students at the highest possible artistic levels.”
Jason Lee Segal is The Defiance Project’s primary filmmaker and multi-media collaborator. He makes films of all sorts for a variety of different purposes, and has played a vital part in capturing The Defiance Project processes. Jason’s work spans artistic and commercial purposes, and he continues to hone is craft at Chapman University’s film program.
“Deep Waters Dance Theater is an ensemble of performing artists creating work that is rooted in ritual and explores the issues facing people of color and the environment. Drawing from the folklore of our cultural heritages and traditions we are committed to creating dance theater that promotes healing from environmental, sexual and racial oppression. This is achieved through a process that engages in community dialogues, social activism, storytelling and the re-telling of our cultural myths and legends which we believe are the blueprints for our survival. Much of our creative process revolves around an internal ritual and practice that enables us to gain mutual understanding and respect amongst ourselves, and thereby supports each member to develop as an artist and cultural activist committed to social change through art making.”
Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts
“ Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts is a Berkeley, California based dance-theater company founded in 2001 by co-artistic directors Sheldon B. Smith and Lisa Wymore. Their work places the inherent beauty of the body in motion, both choreographed and improvised, in a deeply conceptual and human-centered environment that is supported and enhanced by technology. Smith and Wymore’s research has taken them from studio to stage by way of virtual and real locations on city street corners, desert landscapes, kitchens, canyons and science labs in search of timeless stories of passion, fear, longing, violence, humor and joy. From these investigations Disappearing Acts creates abstract narratives built on a foundation of physical experimentation, improvisation, text, song and digital image. The result is a new aesthetic that is at once oddly familiar, and beautifully odd.”
“Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) promotes understanding, compassion and tolerance among people through the innovative use of dance and theater, as interpreted by the artistic vision and work of Joe Goode.”
“After working as an independent choreographer in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. Katie Faulkner created little seismic dance company in December of 2005. Within the first year of its formation, little seismic was invited to perform in several festivals including San Francisco’s West Wave Festival, the Monterey Dance Festival, the Renaud-Wilson Dance Festival and 8x8x8. Deemed by Allan Ulrich, dance critic for voiceofdance.com as “a talent headed for capital letters” and “a choreographer we will hopefully see much more of in seasons to come” by Mary Ellen Hunt of IN DANCE, Faulkner quickly established herself as a choreographer to watch within the Bay Area dance community. little seismic has performed in venues and festivals throughout Northern California, received generous support from granting agencies, and has been awarded residencies at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA , ODC Theater in San Francisco, CA, Marin Headlands, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography in Tallahassee, FL.”
“Founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women (UBW) seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. We do this from a woman-centered perspective and as members of the African Diaspora community in order to create a more equitable balance of power in the dance world and beyond. We do this by facilitating the use of art as a means of addressing issues of social justice and encouraging civic engagement. Based in Brooklyn, we aspire to ensure continuity by strengthening and expanding our international community via ongoing professional education, development of new audiences, nurturing young talent and presenting bold, life-affirming dance works in a variety of settings including at our annual Summer Leadership Institute”
“Mojalet Dance Collective is an internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company that performs with a passion to share the beauty of expression through movement and artistic collaborations. The work performed by the professional company varies from large ensemble work to intimate duets and solos using strong elements of design, musicality, and athletic movement. Themes range from abstract, to the intimacy in relationships, and the pure beauty of movement.”
“Performance arts are an integral part of a well-rounded education. This after school program seeks to promote physical and emotional health, build confidence and self-esteem, and foster team-building and collaboration by hiring professional working local artists to instruct teenage students in dance. Consequently students will be provided a premiere dance education and mentorship opportunities with professional artists while learning a new art form and demonstrating proficiency through performance opportunities.”
“Dancers’ Group promotes the visibility and viability of dance. We serve San Francisco Bay Area artists, the dance community and audiences through programs and services that are as collaborative and innovative as the creative process itself. In response to the needs of its constituents, Dancers’ Group has evolved to fulfill a dual function as a service organization and as a presenter of performance opportunities that maximize the visibility of dance in the Bay Area.”
“Dance Camera West (DCW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and developing the vibrant art of dance media. DCW connects diverse cultures and environments through its exploration of dance on screen, bringing hundreds of challenging and provocative films to Los Angeles from around the globe, effectively bridging the gap between the uniquely influential Los Angeles film community and the significant local dance populace. Even more importantly, Dance Camera West utilizes the accessible nature of dance as a non-verbal art form to reach across cultural, geographic, and socio-economic divides by making a special effort to engage a wide range of Los Angeles audiences of varying ethnicities and interests, offering everyone a chance to experience the thought-provoking thrill of dance media.
Globally speaking, Dance Camera West is one of only a handful of organizations that presents dance media, and the only one of its kind on the West Coast. Given that distinction, DCW has been fortunate to partner with some of the most prominent venues and organizations throughout the Los Angeles area. Co-presenters have included the Getty Center, REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Directors Guild of America, the Hammer Museum, and many others.”
“The Z-Lab is run by Lisa Wymore, Associate Professor of Dance/Choreography withing the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley. The Z-Lab explores tele-presence, co-location, real time media within performance, and embodied media technology.”
“Jordan Halsey is a multi-disciplined designer with an extensive history of bringing ideas to fruition, either through real world construction with an advanced knowledge of cinematic, theatrical and architectural construction techniques,or through digital content creation with over ten years of computer driven design and animation experience using state of the art software with an emphasis on the modeling, lighting, texturing and rendering of hard surface geometry.”
“AN ORANGE DOOR is located in a studio space in the Glassell Park area of Los Angeles and serves as a forum for experimentation for artists and non-artists alike. Through the presentation of exhibitions, installations and workshops, we seek to examine the intersection of art, science and the semiotic relationship that leads them to inform one another.”
“If you want to “look good, feel good, do good,” we’ve got you covered.StyleSubstanceSoul.com is the website for women seeking world peace, food for thought and a really great pair of shoes. We promise you’ll find lots of new ideas about living a life of passion, compassion and action. And you just may make some great new friends along the way. We have!”———————————————————————————-Here are analyses of interviews conducted by director Sophie Needelman with various members of the professional arts, dance, and choreographic communities. These interviews serve as resources from research of both business and artistic facets of the dance community.
The Defiance Project uses the creation, expression, practice, and performance of dance to explore what it means to defy. The company behind this project manifests defiance in both the form and function, and process and product of the work it does.
