Embodiment Project serves to uplift the ancestral and primordial power of dance as an act of resistance, collective healing and social transformation.

OUR VISION

Embodiment Project envisions a world where dance is integrated as a critical dimension of social and cultural revolution. We envision a concert dance landscape in the United States that uplifts underheard and silenced stories, honors the ancestral lineages of its participants, and advances our capacity for collective liberation.

Since its inception in 2008, Embodiment Project’s (EP) has staged ten original evening-length multidisciplinary dance productions including Music of the Actualized Child, and The Isadora Duncan Dance Award-winning Chalk Outlines for its original music by Valerie Troutt. Dance magazine contributing editor Rita Felciano called EP one of the Bay Area’s, “ten companies and artists who challenged expectations and unveiled surprises.”  EP produced Rennie Harris' 18th Annual Illadelph Legends Hip Hop Festival in 2015 and Get Free Festival in 2018 and 2022, which were week-long multi-city street dance intensives rooted in the cultural preservation of Black social dance traditions. EP’s dance films, The Wind Telephone and Chrysalis, sponsored by the SF Dance Film Festival’s Co-Lab and National Center for Choreography Akron was selected by several film festivals including MARFA Film Festival, Bucharest INTL Dance Film Festival and Barcelona’s Choreoscope Dance Film Festival, Screen Dance International. 

EP wrapped up 2016 with the sold-out Seed Language, inspired by Black Lives Matter, which featured both words and in-person appearances by BLM co-founder Alicia Garza and former Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins. San Francisco Chronicle said, "this is an intense performance, a bit like taking a defibrillator jolt to the soul." Ancient Children was commissioned by YBCA and was also presented at The Joyce Theater (NYC). Fjord Review wrote “the hip-hop dance was commanding, the truths delivered unflinching. In case I haven’t been emphatic enough: Call up your local presenter. You need to see this.” EP received a New England National Dance Project National Dance Project to support the premier X RATED PLANET at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and national tour.

HOW WE ACHIEVE OUR PURPOSE

  1. Performance for the concert stage, public spaces, and film

  2. Dance and Culture Education for youth and adults

  3. Community Arts partnerships with social service and movement building organizations

  4. Organizational culture and governance that reflect the social transformation we seek

Current
Classes & Auditions

  • ODC and Embodiment Project are partnering together to relaunch SEEDS for the 2023-2024 academic school year. Learn more here.

  • Hot Spot Series on Fridays @ 10:15-11:45 am @ ODC Dance School

    September 15th - October 27th

    To reserve a spot click HERE

    This class is rooted in dance as a healing practice in celebration of community and reverence for the raw energy of house dance, music, and culture. The class begins with house grooves and foundational footwork, isolations, and Hatha Yoga Āsanas. Dancers are then offered inventive concepts to expand their capacity for storytelling, theatrical expression, and self-discovery, through movement improvisation. Klaymoon’s dynamic choreography draws from various dance lineages including house, modern/release technique, freestyle hip hop, and waacking. The choreography is accessible to students at multiple skill levels to drill across the floor and learn through repetition and somatic integration. The class includes drills across the floor to learn through repetition and somatic integration, and culminates in a cypher where all are encouraged and celebrated to share their own untamed artistic voice. All levels welcome; shoes optional.

    Fridays 6pm-8pm @ ODC Dance School

    Starting Friday Sept 22 - Dec 9

    For more information visit: Global Dance Passport

    The intensive will give participants the opportunity to be a part of a dance-making process that is collaborative, playful, and narrative-based. The culminating performance at the ODC Theater will offer dancers the opportunity to be highlighted, encouraged, and supported as they deepen their performance quality in the context of community. All levels welcome; shoes optional.

    Every Monday | 6:45-8pm PST

    Dance Mission Theater
    3316 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

    Rooted in a reverence for each individual’s untamed and distinctive artistic expression and will emphasize the cipher (freestyle circle) to initiate the raw energy of house dance culture.

    This workshop offers inventive concepts to support artists in honing the core inquiries that drive their individual dance-making practice and deepen their understanding of dance as healing in the context of community.

  • Every Monday 8-10:30 PM PST | $5

    Dance Mission Theater
    3316 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

    RebEarth is a sacred space for exploration, release, empowerment, community healing and one-to-one traditional passing of house dance and culture. Hosted by Rama Hall, Nickii Klaymoon, Jadu, and Zodiak. Featuring guest DJ’s every week.

  • Every Friday | 4:45-6:00pm | Fee: $15

    Lake Merritt Pergola
    599 El Embarcadero, Oakland, CA 94610

    House Dance is a style of dance that originated in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s from underground clubs in Chicago and New York. It is a melting pot of many styles, such as Tap Dance, African dance, Latin dance, Capoeira and Hip Hop, as well as other street dance forms.

    In this class, Rama explores groove, technique, footwork, body control, spins, feeling, connecting to the music, connecting with each other, and more. Rama teaches foundation and concepts, as well as phrases to put the ideas together, and space at the end to explore everything the student has learned.

    This class is outdoors, in front of the beautiful Lake Merritt.

  • Every Friday | 6-9:30pm

    Lake Merritt Pergola, 599 El Embarcadero, Oakland, CA 94610

    Directly after Rama’s class this free weekly community party has an incredible vibe featuring a different Bay Area DJ every week.

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Get Free Festival 2023

GET FREE is a free weeklong hip hop dance festival rooted in the artistry of freestyling, experimental battling, and healing through community practices. At the core of Get Free is hip-hop theater, battle culture, experimentation, and love for our Bay Area street dance community. GET FREE will take place July 2023 at Dance Mission and Yerba Buena Gardens.

Get Free is made possible by the generous support of California Arts Council and San Francisco Grants for the Arts. This festival is presented in partnership with Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.

Our work is made possible through the generous support of:

Our Partners: