Sarah Bush Dance Project (SBDP) was formed in 2007 to promote innovative artistry and community interaction through the creation and presentation of multimedia dance theater. SBDP generates complex and captivating choreography, layering beauty with compelling issues of place and social justice. The company is rooted in community engagement and is committed to creating dance that in process and performance, embodies the values of its collaborators and tends to the needs, welfare, and spirit of the collaborators, audience, community and environment.
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SBDP has created five critically acclaimed repertory shows in the Bay Area: Home, Rocked by Women, This Land, Spirit & Bones, and Un-Changing Nature.
SBDP’s 2018 production of Spirit & Bones received two Isadora Duncan Dance Award nominations: Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Company and Outstanding Achievement in Music/Sound/Text.
The SF Chronicle said of our sold-out Spirit & Bones premiere, “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.” Of the outdoor landscape series, The Huffington Post said, This Land, “the drama of Bush’s highly charged movement is meant to renew our sense of self, our sense of place and community.” The SF Bay Guardian reviewed Rocked by Women, a coming of age story honoring the history of women’s music, as “a weighty yet explosive expression of the power of an indomitable spirit and embracing courage.” A Homeward audience member reflected, “Homeward stirred memories and longings for relationship, for meaning, for home. Such a feast of choreography.”
“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
SBDP also has a full calendar of community performances and workshops. SBDP is the Artist in Residence at Richardson Bay Audubon Center (2020). SBDP was the opening entertainment prior to the keynote address at National Women’s Studies Association’s 2019 annual conference. SBDP held a 2019 artist residency at Dos Rios, and was the 2018 company in residence at the Berkeley Art Center, using interactive performances to facilitate art appreciation. In 2017, SBDP created, taught, and performed the Wonder Flashmob dance in honor of International Women’s Day and led free, outdoor, all-ages This Land workshops through the East Bay Regional Parks District “Multicultural Wellness” Programs. In 2106 SBDP offered 3 different free outdoor site-specific This Land Oakland dance performances, as well as participating in and providing free performances or workshops for Dance Anywhere, Bay Area Dance Week, and Oakland Dance Festival.
SBDP productions have received funding from the the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, the Zellerbach Foundation, Blum Family Foundation, Meriama Fund, Bernstein Family Foundation, Queer Cultural Center, Clorox Foundation, Open Meadows Foundation, and the Della Davidson Prize. SBDP has held residencies at Berkeley Art Center, Dos Rios, SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts, and Shotwell Studios. Bush’s work has been presented at Concept 23, Dance In Revolting Times (D.I.R.T.), PUSHfest, West Wave, Women On The Way, Global Women’s Rights Forum, National Women’s Music Festival, National Queer Arts Festival, Olivia Travel cruises, Summer Feast, Summer Performance Festival (SPF)9, SF Movement Arts Festival, and San Francisco International Arts Festival. Domestic and International performance locations include Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Dos Rios, Moab, Madison, New York City, Washington DC, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Stockholm.
“Homeward is an intriguing, heartfelt look at human connections and the ways people feel at home; it left the audience thinking about its own versions of home long after they left the studio.”
— The Daily Californian
Praise for This Land
The SF Chronicle described This Land as, “ A paean to the beauty landscapes of Oakland”…“exuberant and visceral choreography.” Dance Europe Magazine named This Land a Critic’s Choice selection for “premiere of the year.”
“Against these spectacular, constantly shifting backdrops, infiltrated by ambient sounds and intentional music, the drama of Bush’s highly charged movement is meant to renew our sense of self, our sense of place and community.” (The Huffington Post)
Reviews of Rocked by Women
The SF Bay Guardian wrote: “Rocked is a weighty yet explosive expression of the power of an indomitable spirit and embracing courage… a warm, skillfully created, and generous show that just might become a Mother’s Day tradition,” and The Huffington Post added, “A monumental work, which would reverberate just as powerfully in an opera house as it did in the intimate Dance Mission Theater.”
CORE VALUES: Diversity, Excellence, Authenticity, Accessibility, Community, Empowerment, Versatility, Innovation
Sarah Bush Dance Project 