ODC/Dance Downtown:
7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, March 23 and 25; 5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 26; 6 p.m. gala Friday, March 24. Through April 2. Performance $25-$80. Gala $95-$600. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard St., S.F. (415) 978-2787. www.odc.dance
For more about “What We Carry What We Keep,” read Arts & Ends on
Choreographer Brenda Way got inspired to create her latest piece after reading a New York Times review of “The Keeper,” a show at New York’s New Museum filled with objects, photographs and ephemera that artists had held dear for 30 years.
She wondered why we hang on to certain things and discard others, and how both can define us.
“I was thinking about what we keep — not just material things but also what attitudes, what politics, what habits — about holding on and letting go. What we carry, what we keep,” says Way, explaining the origins of her new work for ODC, called “What We Carry What We Keep.”
The esteemed San Francisco dance company she founded in 1971 premieres the 30minute work at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater the second week of ODC’s 46th season, next Thursday, March 30, to April 2. The first week, ThursdaySunday, March 23-26, features the premiere of “Blink of an Eye” by ODC co-artistic director KT Nelson.
“I get rid of stuff. My husband keeps things,” says Way, who began the process of making this piece by sending a questionnaire to about 30 people she knew, asking them what they would grab if their house was on fire, what they would keep if they were breaking up with a partner or moving to a smaller place.
“There were some wonderful and funny responses,” says the choreographer, who had to laugh at the response from a woman who said that in the event of a split, she would keep her mate’s credit card. Others, of course, were more serious, involving children and memories.
“I used those answers as a prod for choreography,” Way explains. “I gave the dancers some of the answers to those questions and asked them to make phrases from the idea. I responded to what I saw,” tweaking and shaping those movement-phrases, drawing them out or speeding them up, putting them together with other actions to build the piece.
The words that best characterize the movement vocabulary for this particular piece are “effort, holding, carrying, getting rid of,” she adds. “It’s very physical. I hope people get the resonance that’s it’s not just about material stuff. It’s also about relationships, about holding on and letting go in a bigger way.”
The work — whose soundtrack includes a ticking clock and music by the Books, the 1990s American duo that used found sound — will be paired with Way’s 2016 piece “Walk Back the Cat.” It’s inspired by muralist Thomas Hart Benton’s 1930s paintings of everyday American life, often portraying Midwesterners. The dancing will be accompanied live with 1930s jazz-infused music by composer Paul Dresher.
“It’s an interesting time to be thinking about Middle America, because we haven’t paid enough attention to it,” says Way, alluding to the recent presidential election.
For more information, go to www.odc.dance.
Jazz and more
SFJazz has booked some major names for the 35th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, which runs June 6-19 at various Hayes Valley venues. Among them is pianist Fred Hersch with guitarist Julian Lage, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, drummers Jack DeJohnette and Antonio Sanchez, saxophonists Chris Potter and Donny McCaslin, singer Lizz Wright and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.
The jazz center’s Summer Sessions, set for July 13-Aug. 20, include performances by the Sun Ra Arkestra, vocalist Jane Monheit. There is also a four-day festival dedicated to the music of composer John Luther Adams, who will be on hand.
For more information, go to www.sfjazz.org.
Swinging San Jose
The 28th annual San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, an eclectic bash on 10 downtown San Jose stages Aug. 11-13, also presents a mix of touring stars and Bay Area stalwarts, including trumpeter Chris Botti; R&B saxophonist Maceo Parker; George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic; singer Angélique Kidjo’s tribute to Celia Cruz with Cuban percussionist and singer Pedrito Martinez; organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s trio; and Jazz By Five, a quintet with saxophonist Javon Jackson, pianist George Cables, trumpeter Randy Brecker, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
For more information, go to www.summerfest.sanjosejazz.org.
Brazilians and blues women
The subtle Brazilian guitarist and singer Vinicius Cantuaria, a New Yorker whose associates include Brian Eno and Brad Mehldau, brings the seductive music of bossa nova giant Antonio Carlos
Jobim to Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage on Wednesday, March 29. The next night, same stage, singer Pamela Rose’s all-women band performs her theatrical show, “Blues Is a Woman.”
For more information, go to www.thefreight.org.