San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)

Dance world leaping to make a big return

- By Rachel Howard 7:30 p.m. March 29-31; 8 p.m. April 1-2; 3 p.m. April 3. $37-$110. UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. 510-642-9988. www.calperform­ances.org

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is back! Lines Ballet is back! Margaret Jenkins Dance Company is back!

Forgive the exclamatio­n points, but there’s a feeling of resurrecti­on and rebirth in the Bay Area dance world this spring. Sure, digital dance was better than nothing, and kudos to every dancer and troupe that showed fortitude through the long months of practicing ballet barre at the kitchen counter and hosting yet another live stream. But dance is about the presence and power of the live human body. And oh, what a return live dance is poised to make in the coming months.

Oakland Ballet Company: Oakland Ballet Company has come through the pandemic with its community ties stronger than ever. For its annual spring season, Artistic Director Graham Lustig is working with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center to present the Dancing Moons Festival, celebratin­g new work by Asian American and Pacific Islander choreograp­hers. Oakland-born Michael Lowe, known for elegant works like his award-winning “Bamboo,” will offer a new quintet on a program with Juilliard school creative associate Caili Quan, San Francisco dance theater experiment­ers Megan and Shannon Kurashige, and Kennedy Center “Next 50” arts leader Phil Chan.

7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, March 24-25; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26. $40-$45. Asian Cultural Center, 388 Ninth St., Oakland. 8 p.m. April 1-2. $20-$68. Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. www.oakland ballet.org.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: The awe-inspiring Ailey dancers are returning to Cal Performanc­es at UC Berkeley after the pandemic hiatus, and they are bringing a treasure chest of choreograp­hy. Old-school Ailey lovers will want to catch the all-Ailey program featuring his classic

“Cry,” “Blues Suite” and “Pas de Duke” (as in, of course, Duke Ellington).

Lovers of innovation will want to see the program featuring Jamar Roberts’ futuristic “Holding Space” and Aszure Barton’s bold “Busk.”

Opening night will celebrate Robert Battle’s 10th anniversar­y as artistic director, featuring seven of his works set to the music of Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder.

Of course, every program finishes with the rousing “Revelation­s.”

ODC Dance Downtown: Marking its “50-plus” anniversar­y (because the pandemic denied the company a chance to celebrate the anniversar­y properly in 2021), San Francisco’s most establishe­d modern dance troupe at last returns to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with a roster of highenergy, charismati­c dancers in ebullient, large-group works.

The company has labeled its two programs “On Renewal” and “On Reflection.” Each features a now-classic work by founder Brenda Way and a new work by a guest choreograp­her. Program A offers a world premiere blending hip-hop and modern dance by Dexandro Montalvo, while Program B features ballet-based Amy Seiwert.

7:30 p.m. March 31, April 2 and April 7-9; 8 p.m. April 1; 3 p.m. April 3 and 10. $25-$150. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Blue Shield of California Theater, 700 Howard St., S.F. www.odc.dance/ downtown

Robert Moses’ Kin: Like his urgent, rapid-fire dances, Robert Moses’ creative energies never seem to rest. His works, premiered at the Black Choreograp­hers Festival, and then with his company, founded 27 years ago, often explore, in a compelling­ly frank way, his experience of race in America. During the pandemic he released a film of “The Soft Solace of a Slightly

Descended Lost Life (Suck It),” based on a long, poetic text that laid bare his rage and exhaustion at news reports of yet more Black Americans killed by police. “Soft Solace” now makes its way to live performanc­e, where it includes an immersive environmen­t with hanging sculptures by Eugene Korsunskiy and projection­s by Ian Winters.

7:30 p.m. April 1-2; 2 p.m. April 3. $15-$45. Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Ave., S.F. www.presidioth­eatre.org/ show/2022softso­lace

Alameda Waterfront Park Launch

Fest: Long in the making, a beautiful new waterfront park is opening on the site of the former Alameda Naval Air Station. To celebrate, Rhythmix Cultural Works and West End Arts District have programmed a free festival packed with East Bay dance.

The free, 3½ -hour spectacle is set to include modern dance company Fog Beast, acrobatica­lly trained ensemble 13th Floor and dances from Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian and other cultures performed by the College of Alameda’s dance students.

Axis Dance, a nationally lauded troupe comprising disabled and nondisable­d dancers, will probably be a highlight, along with several drumming ensembles.

Cross-bay visitors can ride the new route from the San Francisco Ferry Building for $4.50, then catch a free shuttle to the park.

1:30-5 p.m. April 9. Free. Waterfront Park, Alameda. www.westendart­sdistrict.org

Risa Jaroslow & Dancers: In 2018, New York transplant Risa Jaroslow created the Elders Project at Oakland’s Destiny Arts Center, offering movement training for senior women that connected them with the young dancers the center served. Now Jaroslow is moving that exploratio­n to the stage with “Talking Circle,” a dance featuring six women ages 25 to 78, in which they investigat­e the question “What will we risk for freedom?”

7:30 p.m. May 12-14 and 19-21; 4 p.m. May 15 and 22. $20-$35. Counterpul­se, 80 Turk St., S.F. risajarosl­owdance.org

Lines Ballet: Alonzo King’s ballets are seemingly everywhere these days, from his recent creations for American Ballet Theatre and ballerina-of-the

moment Tiler Peck, to vintage King being revived at the National Ballet of Canada and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Fortunatel­y, his own Lines Ballet is still very much rooted in San Francisco, and it is celebratin­g its 40th anniversar­y with a rich consortium of frequent collaborat­ors. Grammy Award-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer will sing live in a world premiere with a new score by jazz pianist Jason Moran, a MacArthur Foundation genius grant winner. These may be impressive talents, but the real power of King’s work lies in the vulnerabil­ity and humility he draws from his exquisite dancers.

7:30 p.m. May 13-14 and 18-21; 5 p.m. May 15 and 22. $35-$100. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Blue Shield of California Theater, 700 Howard St., S.F. www.linesballe­t.org

San Francisco Ballet’s “Swan

Lake”: San Francisco Ballet wraps its season and says goodbye to retiring

Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson with his production of “Swan Lake.” It’s a full-scale staging featuring all the iconic choreograp­hy for the flock of white swans, and the Black Swan’s bravura pas de deux. The dancers are worldclass, and the Tchaikovsk­y score could hardly sound better than when played by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.

8 p.m. April 29-30 and May 6; 7:30 p.m. May 3-5; 2 p.m. May 1 and 7-8. $29-$448. War Memorial Opera House, 3000 Van Ness Ave., S.F. www.sfballet. org

ODC Theater’s State of Play Festival: This nine-day panorama of Bay Area contempora­ry dance is an opportunit­y to sample what’s fresh and upand-coming on the local scene and beyond. The 16 artists and companies taking part range from the daredevil athletics of Megan Lowe Dances to the bold, performanc­e-art-adjacent experiment­alism of Oysterknif­e. Mainstays of San Francisco like Nina Haft & Company will appear alongside visitors like Little House Dance of Portland, Ore.

June 2-11. $15, with discounts for festival bundles. ODC Theater, 3153 17th St., S.F. odc.dance/stateofpla­y

Margaret Jenkins Dance Company:

An anchor of the San Francisco dance community for nearly 50 years, Margaret Jenkins has since 2006 collaborat­ed with companies based in India, China and Israel. Now these groups and her own fiercely focused ensemble all converge, live, for “Global Moves.”

The work investigat­es what it would be like to live in a world without boundaries, from the vantage of one very particular place, San Francisco’s Presidio, with the action transpirin­g both inside the Presidio Theatre and outside, offering vast views of the national park.

The Dresher Davel Invented Instrument Duo, led by longtime Jenkins collaborat­or Paul Dresher, contribute­s the live sound score.

8 p.m. June 16-18; 3 p.m. June 19. $2050. Presidio Theatre, 99 Moraga Ave., S.F. www.presidioth­eatre.org/ show/2022global­moves

 ?? RJ Muna ?? Sisters Megan and Shannon Kurashige, co-founders of Sharp & Fine, will perform as part of Oakland Ballet Company’s Dancing Moon Festival.
RJ Muna Sisters Megan and Shannon Kurashige, co-founders of Sharp & Fine, will perform as part of Oakland Ballet Company’s Dancing Moon Festival.
 ?? RJ Muna ?? Shuaib Elhassan of Alonzo King Lines Ballet, which is turning 40.
RJ Muna Shuaib Elhassan of Alonzo King Lines Ballet, which is turning 40.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States