San Francisco modern dance company ODC/ Dance seamlessly transforms ballet, modern dance and everyday movements into its very own language. No doubt this will be a major draw for many when their new season opens on March 13 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Three of the 11 ODC/Dance dancers — Daniel Santos, Yayoi Kambara and Quilet Rarang — are Asian American, and they say being in a mainstream dance company has allowed them to share their love of dance with national audiences through a universal medium that transcends race.
Japan-born Kambara was a track-and-field athlete in college, but found she enjoyed ballet classes. “[My parents] were not so interested in me becoming a dancer, but they also believed that whatever I was passionate about was where I would succeed,” she said. “I definitely don’t think they envisioned a performance career, but they are very supportive and come to most shows.”
ODC/Dance dancers Jeremy Smith, Yayoi Kambara; Quilet Rarang
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At one point, she was injured and had considered quitting, but her parents told her to gambatte, the Japanese term for “try harder” and “keep working.”
Rarang, who was born in the Philippines, similarly had the full support of her family, who enrolled her in ballet lessons at age 11. “When I was very young, my mother would always bring me to dance performances, and I remember imitating what I saw afterward,” Rarang said.
Santos, however, never wanted to be a dancer. “I thought about being an architect or a doctor, and that just came along with growing up in a Filipino household with many lawyers and doctors.”
As a way to get out of physical education classes at the time, Santos started dancing in high school and then studied dance at the University of Oklahoma. Later he moved back to the Bay Area where a former ODC/Dance dancer encouraged him to take classes with the company.
“My parents had never seen me dance at that point, and so there were many issues,” he said. “They would ask, ‘How come you’re not taking this class or that class.’ Now they’re super proud. The first time I saw myself on a poster, I thought, ‘Wow, I made it, and now I have something to show my parents!’”
The three said that race did not play a dominant role in auditioning for various dance companies.
“I chose to work with ODC because I enjoy the athleticism and content of the work,” Kambara said. “While it is not specifically Asian American, I think it speaks to a large audience and is accessible to different people. More important to me is how the audience sees me as an Asian woman in this modern dance company. I always notice other Asian dancers in other companies and feel really proud.”
Santos said race was never a factor in joining a dance company, but he has become more interested in exploring his race through dance since joining ODC/Dance. “Now that I am in a company with a diverse group, I am interested in Filipino dance companies,” Santos said. “When you dance with your best friend [who shares the same culture], you get to bring these cultural aspects in. It’s the same as dancing with people with the same background — you develop a sort of kinship that not everyone can understand.”
Rarang sang a Filipino folk song with Santos in K.T. Nelson’s Water Project last season. “It’s very fulfilling and uplifting to have my background from the Philippines incorporated in a dance piece,” Rarang said. “The repertory embraces all cultures. To see that on stage is very striking and beautiful.”
