Sarah Bush Dance Project (SBDP) creates bridges to the world we want to live in. We are an intergenerational and multiracial dance company that celebrates queer artists, community, and culture. Through the creation and presentation of emotive choreography and interdisciplinary art, we evoke critical conversations around social justice, equity, environment, and place. In everything we do, we strive to nourish, honor, and empower every body.
MURMUR
MURMUR is an evolving, site-adaptable dance theater experience that explores our multifaceted relationships with birds. The project emerged from a collaborative Artist Residency between Sarah Bush Dance Project and Audubon California (2020–2022), during which nine dancers immersed themselves in the study of a beloved bird species, cultivating deep relationships with avian life and the landscapes they inhabit.
In spring 2025, SBDP premiered a new iteration, MURMUR: Winged Belonging. With support from the Arts in California Parks grant, the work traveled to five parks across Northern California, pairing performance with a Bird Language Practice facilitated by Weaving Earth, and inviting audiences into embodied listening and ecological connection.
MURMUR continues to grow, reaching people through its call to reconnect—with birds, with one another, and with the vast more-than-human world that sustains us. To bring MURMUR to your park, festival, or community gathering, visit our Booking page to hire Sarah Bush Dance Project.
Sapphic Salon
Sapphic Salon offers a sweet sexy empowering affirming space for queer community to gather on Valentine’s weekend. Sapphic Salon is SBDP’s next installment of our Sapphic series, which draws on Sapphic as an umbrella term that includes lesbian, bisexual, and pansexual trans femmes, mascs, nonbinary folks and cis women. Yet unlike these sexualities, “sapphic” strives to conjure an experience more akin to an intention toward attraction – one oriented less to any specific gender identity and more to the fullness of a potential lovers’ humanity.
Check out the SIZZLE reel from 2024!
2024 SBDP GALA: World-building in celebration of queer joy, resilience, & community!
Hear from SBDP artists and collaborators about how we are living into our mission and see highlights from our 17th season.
Sapphic Sunday Service: Queer Immersive Dance Sanctuary
Sapphic Sunday Service was a GLORIOUS day! We celebrated Pride with euphoric dance performances, queer choir, and drag in a welcoming queer-friendly church. Enjoy these stunning photos captured by Amal Bisharat @amalbphotography.
Our art bolsters a resilient hope for humanity.
SBDP has created six critically acclaimed repertory and nature-based shows in the Bay Area: Homeward, Rocked by Women, This Land, Spirit & Bones, Un-Changing Nature, and MURMUR. Learn more about our WORKS.
“Dance makers want to reflect the zeitgeist in their productions. But every so often the planets align, and a long-planned work ends up tapping the cultural climate so aptly that it doubles as a rallying cry.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
Gallery
Give to SBDP!
For 19 years, Sarah Bush Dance Project (SBDP) has created groundbreaking dance and art for the Bay Area community. We are proud of our incredible cadre of 25 diverse artists, with a majority who identify as LGBTQIA++. Your support of SBDP is vital for the dancers and artists to create extraordinary performances. Please generously donate to SBDP so we can continue to create and move!.
NEW VIDEO: Don’t Be Afraid ft. KJ Dahlaw and Sarah Bush
MURMUR: Black Crow ft. Richelle Donigan
SPIRIT AND BONES
Since 2007, Sarah Bush Dance Project has produced six critically acclaimed repertory shows in the Bay Area: Home, Rocked by Women, This Land, Spirit & Bones, Un-Changing Nature, & MURMUR.
Recent newsletters:
New Video – Don’t Be Afraid - Performed & Choreographed by Sarah Bush and KJ DahlawMovement & Performance Consultants: Dominique Hargrove and Elyse Selvarajah
Videography and Music: Be Steadwell
Sarah Bush Dance Project 