Oberlin Dance Collective (ODC Theater)
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"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: San Francisco, CA
Founded: 1971
Mission: ODC's mission is to inspire audiences, cultivate artists, engage community, and foster diversity and inclusion through dance.
Tags:
bay area, arts & culture, production, theatre, dance education, dancers' clinic, pilates, dance company, art space
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Brenda Way.
Dancing since the age of 3, dance has always been a means of expression for Oberlin Dance Collective founder Brenda Way. At the height of the 60s when political and social movements were reaching new heights and boundaries were being broken in the arts, Way realized that movement could mirror and further express her political ideals. She was invited to…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
n/a
Total Revenue:
$4,605,116
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Website:
E-Mail:
Elizabeth AT odcdance.org
Phone:
415-863-6606 x117
Facebook:
Address:
351 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
Twitter:
Story:
Why is Oberlin Dance Collective based in San Francisco and not Oberlin? What is the story behind it?
Oberlin Dance Collective was formed by Brenda Way in 1971 as a collective of artists at Oberlin College in Ohio where the name ODC originates (Oberlin Dance Collective). Adventure, a certain irreverence and the joy of moving were key ingredients to the core philosophy of their founding members. In 1976, the sixteen dancers, painters, writers, photographers and musicians of the collective bid farewell to Ohio, piled into a big yellow bus and came west to San Francisco to find a context for their artistic vision and social ideals.
Now one of the most active centers for dance on the West Coast, they are unique for their fully integrated program vision and far-reaching impact. Their two building campus, which will have eight studios, 2 performance venues and several office suites, is home to a world-class dance company, a professional, pre-professional, and recreational dance training program, a Healthy Dancer’s Clinic, and a nationally regarded presenting venue.
(Learn more about this organization at: http://www.odcdance.org/about.php)
Expert Reviews of Oberlin Dance Collective (ODC Theater)
Evidence of Impact Summary:
ODC, a premiere modern dance company, has, over its nearly 40 years of existence, provided resources, venues, technical assistance, and promotion to thousands of dance, music, and theatre companies as well as individual dancers, visual artists, choreographers, composers, performance artists, and technicians. It is unique in the US in creating an integrated teaching, rehearsal, workshop, and performance venue serving not only its core company but was developed with the goal of sharing it with the entire community.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Oberlin Dance Company is an all-around strong organization: their leader is excellent, their staff is strong, they are successful at fundraising, they are involved in and their efforts benefit the community, and they have a good board. All-in-all, they are a leader in the community.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
In general, experts had very few areas for improvement for ODC. Some experts felt ODC should improve their staff management after a period of growth. They could also do more to collaborate with local organizations and try to increase their visibility within their community.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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ODC has built a dance school and theater that are the foundation of the dance community in the Bay Area. ODC provides dancer training, rehearsal space, artist residencies, performing opportunities, health services, and key support for Bay Area dance artists. | ||
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ODC, a premiere modern dance company, has, over its nearly 40 years of existence, provided resources, venues, technical assistance and promotion to thousands of dance, music, and theatre companies as well as individual dancers, visual artists, choreographers, composers, performance artists, and technicians. It is unique in the US in creating an integrated teaching, rehearsal, workshop, and performance venue serving not only its core company but was developed with the goal of sharing it with the entire community. | ||
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ODC thinks big picture -- they have a professional education program that feeds directly towards professional work yet is inclusive and responsive to all. Theirs is an arts immersion, cradle to grave, arts for all umbrella programs that recognizes the collective community process that good dance-making is. They have both their own company and sponsor courses, classes, performance workshops, and emerging choreographers as an umbrella organization. They link activity to facilities development, to schools, to outreach, to critical, and historical work. They build outstanding dancers and outstanding programming. They embrace dance traditions and populations across a wide spectrum. Their staff is constantly working to improve teaching, support teachers, support new work of others in addition to their own substantial work. | ||
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ODC is the premier modern dance organization in the Bay Area and one of the best in the country. Bucking the fiscal trends, it has built a great new facility that is heavily used by the community, runs excellent education programs, hosts and promotes visiting productions, tours widely, and draws large audiences to its own performances. | ||
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ODC is a not only a top notch nationally recognized dance company, but has completed outreach programs in education. It has successfully partnered/fundraised to buy property to house themselves, to build a large set of studios and a theatre, and to serve as a center place for all kinds of dance training. | ||
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They provide space, expertise, and opportunity for artists. | ||
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They offer a broad range of dance education opportunities to the community. They offer professional development, performance, and production opportunities to Bay Area's emerging choreographers and dancers like their PILOT program. They seek and encourage collaboration amongst a wide range of artists both locally and nationally. | ||
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Their performances and education/instructional programs are of very high quality. | ||
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The artistic "campus" developed by Brenda Way (which combines dance studios, rehearsal studios for the resident company, classes, and several other smaller companies, offices, and the new theater) is having a very big impact on both artists and audiences. Their programming in the theater is very wide ranging, including dance and music, and hopefully in the new theater, more theatrical productions. ODC Dance Company has a long tradition of youth programming that is very effective. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Leader in the Community |
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Artistic Director, Brenda Way, is a dedicated community leader whose vision has strengthened dance as a whole in the Bay Area. Another strength is the dedicated core staff who have been with the organization for over 30 years, allowing for consistency in vision and management. | ||
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Their leadership lives the model of collective effort. They know how to leverage their strengths into creating new programming. They think big enough to have a big impact. They position themselves regionally as well as locally. They offer their facilities in support of other artists rather than seeing them as competition. | ||
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ODC's leadership makes it possible for artists to share their work and their ideas, experiment, risk, and grow. | ||
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They are well-organized with a clear vision. They provide a venue that is well-used to benefit the greater dance community through performance programs, developing dancers and administrators, and understanding other aspects of dance. | ||
All Around Strong: Leadership, Mission, Finances, Management, Community Involvement |
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ODC has benefited from a clear and powerful mission, leading directly to stable and consistent leadership, excellent management, rock solid finances, and unwavering commitment to community in all its forms. It also has an exceptionally dedicated and active board of directors. | ||
Successful Fundraisers |
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ODC has inspired leadership on the part of its founder, Brenda Way. It has somehow figured out how to combine income-producing activities with highly successful fundraising campaigns. | ||
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Persistence on the part of Artistic Director Brenda Way has been a strength. They have been incredibly effective at fundraising which ultimately benefits a very large community. They are great leaders in advocating for the performing arts and have been successful at generating support from individuals and corporations that don't typically support the kind of work produced within the context of ODC. | ||
Great Leader and Staff |
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They have very organized and intelligent leadership. The organization has a beautiful web site to see all that they have to offer. They are working on greater outreach to the non-dance community. | ||
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Their space adds a vibrant, warm, and welcoming atmosphere in the Mission of San Francisco. It's also a culturally diverse neighborhood. They seem to have a great programming and operations staff. | ||
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They have excellence in both their artistic and educational staff. | ||
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This is an organization that I have always admired, and one that is growing, building, and touring despite this brutal recession: now that's leadership! | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Improved Staff Management/Organization |
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ODC could use improvement in the area of staff management and organization. The growth of the organization over the last few years has been remarkable and the infrastructure needs to manage the growth accordingly. | ||
Improve Visibility in Community |
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Their visibility in the local community may have slipped a bit in recent years. | ||
Collaborate More Locally |
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They could focus more on community collaborations/outreach. | ||
Quicker Response Time |
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Sometimes there is very slow communications from the theater staff to artists working in the theater (but this could be dealing with complex fiscal uncertainties). Sometimes the artistic direction of ODC Dance company's repertory appears to be oriented to crowd-pleasing as opposed to making something with deeper integrity or investigating movement possibilities. (However, this may be a key to their success.) | ||
Leadership
Brenda Way
Executive/Artistic Director
Executive/Artistic Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.