Choreographers
Season 9:
Z Space
november 4th-7th, 2026
MERCE CUNNINGHAM
SOLO EXCERPTS FROM SCENARIO, ENTER, AND OCEAN
Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) was a celebrated dancer and choreographer renowned for his groundbreaking work, his lifelong passion for innovation, and his profound influence on generations of dancemakers and artists. Born in Centralia, Washington, he attended the Cornish School in Seattle where he was introduced to the work of Martha Graham and met the composer John Cage who would become his closest collaborator and life partner. In 1939, Cunningham began a six-year tenure as a soloist in the Graham company, and soon began presenting his own choreography most notably on joint music and dance concerts with Cage. In the summer of 1953, during a teaching residency at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed a dance company to explore his innovative ideas. Over the course of his seventy-year career he choreographed 180 dances including such iconic works as Suite for Five, Summerspace, RainForest, Sounddance, Pictures, Beach Birds, BIPED, and Ocean. He also presented nearly 800 Events in museums, gymnasiums, outdoor stages and theaters, beginning in 1964 with the Museum Event No. 1 at the Museum des 20.Jahrhunderts. Cunningham premiered his final work, Nearly Ninety, on his ninetieth birthday. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company remained in continuous operation until its closure in 2011, giving nearly three thousand performances in over forty countries.
In collaboration with John Cage, Cunningham proposed a series of radical ideas including the separation of music and dance, the use of chance operations, and novel ways to utilize film and technology. He collaborated with such renowned artists and composers as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, and Takehisa Kosugi. Cunningham earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts including a MacArthur Fellowship (1985), a Kennedy Center Honor (1985), a Laurence Olivier Award (1985), the National Medal of Arts (1990), and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale (2005). In 2004, he was named Officier of the Legion d’Honneur. Today Cunningham’s work continues to be performed by professional and student dancers worldwide, and Cunningham Technique ® is taught in countless studios and educational institutions.
Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz, 1997. Courtesy of the Merce Cunningham Trust and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library.
BRETT CONWAY
WORLD PREMIERE
Brett Conway is a San Francisco–based performer, choreographer, and educator. He’s a former dancer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, where he had the privilege of working with some of the most influential choreographers in contemporary dance. His performance career also includes significant work with SFDanceworks and San Francisco Opera.
As a choreographer, Brett created his first professional work, The Bedroom, for SFDanceworks in 2019. He later served as co-artistic director alongside Laura O’Malley, commissioning and producing Drew Jacoby’s film Evidence of It All, presented at dance film festivals in San Francisco, New York, and Amsterdam. He continues to serve as an artistic advisor and returned to the SFDanceworks stage last season for Emma Portner’s duet elephant.
Brett’s choreography spans concert dance, theater, and opera, with works for SFDanceworks, the LINES Ballet BFA and Training Programs, and most recently the Merola Opera Program, where he choreographed a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos for the 2026 Merola Summer Festival. He is a stager for Danielle Rowe’s duet For Pixie, created on him for SFDanceworks, and has since staged the work for San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Idaho, and Oregon Ballet Theatre.
Since 2017, Brett has been working with students and professionals alike as a dance educator, coach, and mentor. He serves on the faculty of the LINES Ballet BFA and Summer Programs and The Training Ground SF, and teaches company and community classes for Alonzo King LINES Ballet, ODC/Dance, and Smuin Contemporary Ballet.
Photo Credit: Robbie Sweeny
JERMAINE SPIVEY
WORLD PREMIERE
Jermaine Maurice Spivey was born in Baltimore, Maryland USA and is a graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts and The Juilliard School. He has been a company member of Ballet Gulbenkian, Cullberg Ballet, and most recently Crystal Pite's company Kidd Pivot. He's worked as a guest artist for Hofesh Shechter Company, Robyn Live 2016, and The Forsythe Company as well as a cast member of American Repertory Theater's original production The Shape She Makes conceived by Susan Misner and Jonathan Bernstein. He has assisted and/or staged Crystal Pite's work for companies such as Cedar Lake Ballet, Carte Blanche, Hessisches StaatsBallett Wiesbaden, Netherlands Dance Theater and Paris Opera Ballet. Jermaine has instructed dance all across North America and Europe for professional companies, universities, studios and training programs including USC Kaufman School of Dance, Cal Arts, The JuilliardSchool, UCLA, NYU Tisch, Baltimore School for the Arts, The Performing Arts Project, MOVE NYC, No)one. Art House, Nuova Officina Della Danza and GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, A.I.M. and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He is a 2001 Princess Grace Awardee and a 1998 NFAA 1st Level Awardee. As a choreographer, Jermaine has been commissioned by Salt Contemporary Dance, Rambert 2, LA Dance Project, The Broad Museum, Christina Aguilera Live at The Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil, Sacramento Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Gibney Company, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham and NDT 2. Jermaine has also created and performed two full evening works with partner and collaborator Spenser Theberge titled Rather This Then and Position 3.
Photo Credit: Owen Scarlett
YUE YIN
A Measureable Existence
Encore of Season 8 Bay Area Premiere
WE ARE PROUD TO WELCOME THE RETURN OF A MEASURABLE EXISTENCE, A 17-MINUTE, INTENSELY PHYSICAL DUET THAT EXEMPLIFIES YIN’S DISTINCTIVE CHOREOGRAPHIC VOICE. THIS SEASON THE WORK WILL BE COMMISSIONED FOR A RANGE OF BINARIES.
Yue Yin is a choreographer, founder and artistic director of YY Dance Company and the creator of FoCo Technique™, a unique contemporary form of dance movement rooted in Chinese classical and folk dance melded with the complexity and diverse influences of the immigrant experience. She began her training in Chinese classical and folk dance in Shanghai, China at the prestigious Shanghai Dance Academy and completed her MFA in dance at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2008. In 2018, Yin founded YYDC, a non-profit contemporary dance company dedicated to the teaching, production and performance of her original choreographic work. The overall vision for YYDC is to showcase this signature, diverse movement style in original, emotionally charged and culturally influential performances nationally and internationally.
In addition YYDC: creates original commissioned and repertory works for a wide range of companies and schools including Martha Graham Dance Company, Gibney Company, Philadelphia Ballet, Boston Ballet, BalletMet, Limon Dance Company, Balletto Teatro di Torino, Oregon Ballet Theater, NW Dance Project, Whim W’him, Bruce Wood Dance, Ririe Woodbury Dance Company, 10 Hairy Legs, New Dialect, Backhausdance and more.
YYDC works with educational institutions such as Juilliard School of Dance, Tisch School of the Arts, Princeton, USC Kaufman School of Dance, Purchase, Marymount, George Mason, Point Park, West Michigan and more. Yin teaches regular classes in FoCo Technique™ to dancers and general public alike and cultivates a broader interest in contemporary dance by presenting artistically engaging, culturally and socially conscious works.
Yue Yin was the recipient of the 2021 Harkness Promise Award. This prestigious award recognizes her innovation in choreography and education. She was the winner of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2015 International Commissioning Project, winner of the 2015 BalletX Choreographic Fellowship, and winner of Northwest Dance Project’s 5th Annual Pretty Creatives International Choreographic Competition in 2013. Yin’s work has been commissioned from acclaimed organizations such as Gibney Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Oregon Ballet Theater, NW Dance Project, BalletMet, Boston Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Limon Dance Company, Alberta Ballet, Balletto Teatro di Torino, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Juilliard School for Dance, USC Kaufman School of Dance, Tisch School of The Arts, Princeton and more.
Photo Credit: Steven Trumon Gray
STAGERS
NAT WILSON
A MEASURABLE EXISTENCE
Nat Wilson is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in Brooklyn, New York, whose work focuses on cross-cultural communication and a passion for expansive physicality. In 2016, they joined Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, giving them the opportunity to perform and teach around the world, including China, Peru, South Korea, and India. Since 2020, they have lived and worked in New York as a freelance dance artist, continuing to share their love of dance in New York and on tour. Nat works closely with Yue Yin as a dancer in YY Dance Company, certified FoCo Technique™ instructor, and repetiteur for Yue Yin’s choreography. Nat is also a valued member of kNoname Artist | Roderick George and Boca Tuya, among other freelance work. In 2026, they founded Jackalope Dance as a home for their choreographic vision and platform to connect to new audiences. Nat is always happy to connect on Instagram via the handle @natattax
Photo Credit: Joan Dwiartanto