ONSTAGE
What: ODC/Dance鈥檚 Dead Reckoning and What we carry What we keep
Where: Royal Theatre
When: Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $29-$85 at the Royal McPherson box office, by phone at 250-386-6121 or online at rmts.bc.ca
Note: A free, pre-show chat will be held at 6:45 p.m. in the Royal Theatre lobby prior to both performances
Brenda Way, founder and artistic director of San Francisco鈥檚 ODC/Dance company, has made significant inroads in modern dance over several decades.
A former ballet dancer of considerable renown who studied under George Balanchine at the age of nine, she switched to post-modern choreography in the late 1960s and founded the Oberlin Dance Collective out of Oberlin College in Ohio, her alma mater, in 1971.
When tax incentives in San Francisco made a move to the Bay Area possible, Way did so in 1976. The rest is modern- dance history.
After developing the company, Way settled on the idea of an arts and culture outpost. 鈥淎 dance company has got to have a place to work. It鈥檚 not like a theatre troupe, where you can work in the bottom of a pizza place,鈥� Way said.
鈥淰ery early on, I focused on trying to secure a place for us.鈥�
In 2005, Way oversaw the completion of ODC Commons, a collection of studios and performance spaces in the Mission District, a project that began in 1979. The Commons comprises 35,000 square feet 鈥渇or art and art-making and training鈥� spread over a city block.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a little culture town, which wound up being prescient because the real estate market has gone through the ceiling,鈥� Way said. 鈥淲e could never have done that today, if we were just arriving, so we鈥檙e in the position of helping the next generation, who can鈥檛 do this, find their way artistically.鈥�
Every year, 15,000 students pass through the doors of ODC Commons.
Way is bringing the latest creation from ODC/Dance to Victoria this week, a pair of performances crafted by herself and fellow resident choreographer KT Nelson.
The performances at the Royal Theatre will marry Way鈥檚 piece What we carry What we keep to Nelson鈥檚 Dead Reckoning for the first time since their creation.
鈥淲e try to program what we think would be interesting to the place we鈥檙e going,鈥� Way said. 鈥淥ur intention is to speak in a way that will communicate with wherever we are going.鈥�
What we carry What we keep took its cue from a show about keepsakes at New York鈥檚 New Museum, while Dead Reckoning was inspired by climate change.
鈥淲hen you make work, at least in a modern company, it has to have personal meaning to you,鈥� Way said.
鈥淚 have a pretty good sense of humour, so joy is an important thing to me. But you have to go with what鈥檚 true to your own spirit and character. When we look at how we treat the world, do we treat each other the way, too? That鈥檚 the question KT asked in making her work. It鈥檚 a very handsome-looking piece. But it鈥檚 also provocative. I think it asks questions we should be asking.鈥�
For Way, these are serious questions. She hopes performances by her company can at least start that conversation, while being entertaining.
鈥淧art of the artists鈥� charge is to engage people in thinking as well as feeling. Art is always about feeling, but I think there鈥檚 also a dimension of provocation that鈥檚 appropriate.鈥�
