RAWdance aims to perform works which expose an intimate, honest core, the essence of our relationships and identities. Committed to driven, visceral movement, the company explores the power and vulnerability of the human body. RAWdance, envisioned by co-founders Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein, strives to craft pieces balancing dance with theatrical elements and athletic movement with intellectual themes.

History

In 2004, after 6 years of collaboration both as dance partners and choreographers, Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein formed RAWdance. With a focus on the human body and its place in society, RAWdance has pursued new approaches to performance, working both inside and outside the security of traditional dance venues. Rachel Howard, of the San Francisco Chronicle, has called the company “sexy and solid.” Rita Felciano of the San Francisco Bay Guardian exclaimed the company’s work for the WestWave Dance Festival 2006 “exemplified the vitality of local dance.”

Since forming RAWdance, Ryan and Wendy have created 16 new works for the company, including four full-length pieces; they have showcased their choreography throughout San Francisco at venues including ODC Theater, Project Artaud Theater, Dance Mission Theater, Union Square Park (for the Jewels in the Square series), Jon Sims Center for the Arts (including an AIRspace residency in spring 2005), CounterPULSE (including a Winter Artists residency, 2005-2006), and in New York City at Joyce SoHo, Spoke the Hub, and WAX. The company made its international debut at the 2009 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. With funding from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, and CA$H Program of Theatre Bay Area, RAWdance has chosen to use alternative spaces for several of the company’s home seasons, such as the Center for Sex and Culture in 2005, Belcher Street Studios gallery in 2006, and the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall in 2009. Blurring the lines around traditional performance, this has also allowed the company to reach new audiences and develop a community following. Furthering efforts to involve and engage a community base, in December 2007, the company launched the biannual CONCEPT series, an informal and intimate salon of contemporary dance, at the James Howell Studio in San Francisco. The series focuses on accessibility, showcasing works by some of the city’s most talented professional dance artists in a casual environment complete with coffee and snacks.

RAWdance is in the middle of a three-year residency at ODC Theater, one of the premiere centers for dance in San Francisco. The Artistic Directors were recently named as finalists in the 2010 SF Weekly Mastermind competition, and awarded a 2010 CHIME (Choreographers In Mentorship Exchange) grant, a project of the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company.

GRANTS AWARDED

In 2010, the Foundation supported Hiding in the Spaces Between, a full-length collaborative piece fusing new media with live dance, exploring the changing role of authenticity in a technological world, to premiere at ODC Theater in February 2011.