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Program Details 

A Brief History of Up and Down (2024) 
Choreographed by Brenda Way 
Lighting and Projection Design by Alexander V. Nichols* 
Costume Design by Kyo Yohena 
Music: Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Chad Lawson / J.S. Bach 
Dancers: Full Company 
*Member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 of the IATSE 

Choreographer’s Note
A Brief History of Up and Down reflects on the aesthetic evolution that has taken place in dance over the fifty-five-year lifespan of ODC/Dance, from simple movement to virtuosity.  

Unintended Consequences (A Meditation) (2008) 
Choreographed by Brenda Way 
Music: Laurie Anderson* 
Light & Scenic Design: Alexander V. Nichols 
Commissioned: The Equal Justice Society  

*Music used with the generous permission of the artist  

 Unintended Consequences (A Meditation) premiered in 2008, set to music by renowned performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson. Commissioned by the Equal Justice Society, an Oakland, California-based organization working to transform the nation’s consciousness on issues of race and social justice, Unintended Consequences “offers a cutting critique of human relationships, and of how easily we become isolated” (The New York Times). The work considers the effects of America’s fetish of individualism and its perversion into “every man for himself.”  

Inkwell (2024) 
Choreographed by Kimi Okada
Projection Design by Yuki Izumihara 
Costume Design by Maya Okada Erickson 
Additional Costume Design by Kyo Yohena 
Lighting Design by Thomas Bowersox 
Sound Design by Miles Lassi 
Music: Raymond Scott, Caravan Palace, Django Reinhardt, Lizzy & the Triggermen 
Dancers: Full Company  

Choreographer’s Note
Inspired by the dark cartoon world of Max Fleischer in the 1920s and 1930s, Inkwell explores the power of a demagogue over an unwitting human and the path from seduction to indoctrination. 

About ODC/Dance

Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way, who trained under the legendary George Balanchine, ODC (Oberlin Dance Collective—named after Oberlin College in Ohio) loaded up a yellow school bus and relocated to San Francisco in 1976. Her goal was to ground the company in a dynamic, pluralistic urban setting. ODC was one of the first American companies to return, after a decade of pedestrian exploration, to virtuosic technique in contemporary dance and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions for the repertory. 

ODC/Dance Company consists of ten world-class dancers and performs its imaginative repertory for more than 50,000 people annually. In addition to two annual home seasons in San Francisco, recent highlights include appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival in New York, MODAFE Festival in Seoul Korea, Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, and past standing-room-only engagements in Europe, Russia, and Asia. Way’s work was selected by Brooklyn Academy of Music for the Inaugural Dancemotion Tour in 2010. 

The company has been widely recognized for its rigorous technique and for its numerous groundbreaking collaborations with composers Marcelo Zarvos, Bobby McFerrin, Zoë Keating, Zap Mama, Pamela Z, and Paul Dresher; writer/singer Rinde Eckert; actors Bill Irwin, Geoff Hoyle and Robin Williams; visual artists Andy Goldsworthy, Wayne Thiebaud, Jim Campbell, and Eleanor Coppola; and welder/bike designer Max Chen. 

 


Dance Series Sponsors 

Betty Hum & Alan Yudell and Karen & John Voris

Karen & John Voris

Dr. Mischa Cohen-Peck

location

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts | Virginia G. Piper Theater
7380 E 2nd St
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

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Contemporary Dance Series package

The 2024–25 Dance Series includes groundbreaking movement and contemporary companies rooted in the classical form, from ODC Dance to Alonzo Kings LINES Ballet to Martha Graham Dance Company to Circa.

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Choose any four (4) or more shows presented by Scottsdale Center for the Arts and receive 10% off each ticket. Scottsdale Arts ONE Members will receive one (1) free drink ticket along with their purchase in addition to 10% off each ticket. Only one (1) drink ticket will be provided per show per membership. Drink tickets can be picked up from the box office at the first of the selected shows.

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