Review: ODC Theater presents: FACT/SF: The Waves, April 24-26. 2026 ODC Theater, San Francisco, CA

I am a bit intimidated by the idea of San Francisco-based contemporary dance company, FACT/SF’s newest work, The Waves.  With concept and direction by company founder and Artistic Director Charlie Slender-White, The Waves is inspired by a novel of the same name written by 20^th Century literary pioneer Virginia Woolf, whose philosophically introspective novels I have found difficult to understand. Will I find the dance similarly impenetrable? Or will this translation into movement shed new light on Woolf’s approach? Will my scant knowledge of Woolf’s purpose harm or help me? What of the audience members who care not for inspirations, who don’t read programs or attend pre-show lectures?

There is good news. No advanced study is required to enjoy Fact/SF’s The Waves. The dance, crafted by choreographer Slender-White and his collaborators, performers LizAnne Roman Roberts, Keanu Brady, Erin Coyne, and Jonathan Kim, speaks in compelling contemporary movement phrases.  This abstract dance allows for many interpretations. The most successful viewer will apply their own logic and experience to the episodic work which toggles between solos performed in a distant stained glass lined room, and small ensembles of 2-4 dancers, revealed in designer Del Medoff’s crystalline light against a black void in the foreground.

That said, my passing familiarity comes via encounters with “Mrs. Dalloway” and “To the Lighthouse.” Each features Woolf’s pioneering style of stream-of-consciousness narration featuring multiple characters’ introspective monologues, which may flow from dialogue to unspoken interior thoughts without clear delineation.  Those with some Woolf knowledge will see how, as Slender-White says, her novel became “a duet partner, interlocutor, and inspiration,” for the performance piece.

The set created by a laundry list of design and construction partners, including Maryam Rostami, contains two spaces. In the rear right, there is a light-filled room cut into an otherwise solid black wall.  With angled fun-house-like walls of reflective panels, painted in thick wavy lines of blue and turquoise that rise from the floor, it is a sea turned on its side. This space, which I thought of as “the chamber,” is only used by individuals. Within its glowing surfaces, dancers experience moments of contemplation, as well as longer periods of self-examination, which they reveal in fervent solos. 

Jonathan Kim, downstage, in The Waves. Photo by Marie Hamel

We begin in the chamber: a streak of light accents the wall, as if cast through a high window. Roberts brooding, arms crossed over her chest, strikes an austere figure, almost monk-like in long black robe, until a lunge reveals long limbs emerging from the deep side slits of her gown.  With a swift crossfade, the chamber drops to blackness and the action moves to the foreground where, eventually, four identically dressed dancers churn and windmill in synch with each other.  Pivoting and rotating around themselves, following the momentum of whipping arms, these persons are well-matched but not yet interactive. They embody circular movements with their heads rolling, bodies swirling and legs fanning. Separate characters or segments of one being, it is ours to determine.  

FACT/SF, The Waves. Photo by Marie Hamel

Very episodic, the action switches between chamber and forestage in unpredictable but distinct segments.  A series of brief individual dances inside the chamber, separated by moments of darkness, is followed by a duet of interdependence as Kim rolls over Brady’s shoulder one moment and then in a reversal of dependence, Kim clutches a fetally-tucked Brady across his lap. 

Dancers move to and from the floor with ease. Laying on their sides, their stiff top legs are lifted at the precise angle to create a straight diagonal from toe, along body and extended arm, to fingertip. Later a pair pauses to sit side-by-side, knees bent to form an equilateral triangle that echoes the line of their canted torsos supported on stiff back-leaning arms. 

The Waves is performed to Max Richter's beautiful post-modern, minimalist recomposition of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Pleasingly, Richter loops sections of Vivaldi’s late-Baroque work, revisiting phrases in much the same way as Slender-White returns to movement sequences.  Bird song, flowing water and other sounds of nature weave through the evocative score.

Jonathan Kim, left, and Keanu Brady in The Waves. Photo by Marie Hamel.

While I discover no emotional relationships between the performers, an overall feeling of religiosity, or respect for ritual, emerges for me. Perhaps rising from the music, the austere clothing, or from the moments of reflection, such as when the quartet sits on their heels, bodies erect, one hand tucked behind their backs, the other placed across their hearts.  The contrast of horizontal floor shapes to the towering teeter of the mincing steps upon the balls of their feet with ankles crossed, keeps the movement engaging. The recognition of repeating shapes, such as the clutching of one’s own neck, and patterns of cascading windmills moving forward and back, is rewarding.   

The dancing is marvelous throughout.  The four are almost constantly moving, either dancing in view or moving to be in place for their next chamber reveal. The stamina and skill necessary to perform so much complicated synchronous dance is formidable. While I am pleased to encounter such a mature work at FACT/SF, where I have come to expect eye-catching costumes and lyric-rich pop-tunes, my only complaint is, that at 65 minutes, the piece felt a third longer than necessary for me.  The experience of truly fine abstract dance, such as FACT/SF offers us here, is highly personal. It is possible that even longer viewing might have led to an ecstatic experience.

Review by Jennifer Norris, published April 27, 2026

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Production Credits:

ODC Theater presents: FACT/SF: The Waves

ODC Theater April 24-26. 2026

Concept & Direction: Charlie Slender-White

Performers: LizAnne Roman Roberts, Keanu Brady, Erin Coyne, Jonathan Kim

Choreography: Charlie Slender-White in collaboration with the Performers

Lighting Design & Technical Direction: Del Medoff

Set Design and Creation: Charlie Slender-White, Del Medoff, Maryam Rostami, Chloë L. Zimberg, Jonathan Kim, Erin Coyne, Greg Reft

Operations Manager: River Bermudez Sanders

Music: Max Richter

Costumes: Sporadic Assembly

Rigging: Greg Reft

With insights and contributions from Elizabeth Abel