Review: Tether Dance Project presents Escapement, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco, July 10-12, 2026

Creating an evening-length work with a cast of 12 dancers is a complicated undertaking for even the most seasoned choreographers. It is audaciously ambitious for the fresh-faced trio of Tatianna Steiner, Ella Wright, and Teo Lin-Bianco, whose contemporary dance company, Tether Dance Project (Tether), was born out of a UC Berkeley student venture in late 2023. Returning to Joe Goode Annex less than eight months since their promising inaugural showcase Flux & Form, Tether delivers a tour de force with Escapement, a 75-minute/2 Act contemporary dance.

Every seat and a row of floor cushions are full as the Tether co-directors take the stage to greet us.  Providing a bit of framework through which to approach the piece, Steiner introduces the theme, exploring the “imprints of human connections,” and defines escapement as the mechanism that controls the transfer of energy from the power source to the counting mechanism in a watch or clock.

Lin-Bianco, Steiner and Wright are credited as the choreographers and directors of Escapement. That is a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and while all the cooks show promise, it may contribute to the varied sections feeling not fully integrated. The full-cast sequences have a slick commercial dance attitude, while the entrancing centerpiece duets and solos, for featured artists Ava Shannon and Tai Lum, are richly emotive and deeply personal and consequential.  Moments where the dancers use the walls as dance surfaces to climb up or roll against felt like they belong to a third ethos.

Set for Tether Dance Project's "Escapement" Photo: J. Norris

The piece opens with bustling large ensemble dance in which synchronized group work is punctuated with smaller subgroups’ independent experimentation within the whole. Eerie cool sidelights reveal a grid of 9 chairs, set in 3 orderly rows. Occupants sit squarely upon them, their fingers diddling furiously over computer keyboards resting in their laps.  The ticking of a clock, yields to a pulsing beat, and the insistent rhythmic slap of 9 heels tapping in unison. Wearing a variety of business casual tops and pants, they are anonymous laborers.  Individuals sag forward, or tilt sideways.  Rising up, this youthful workforce rebels.  Pooling their chairs, they craft a play-structure which spurs bursts of group play with cartwheels and trust-falls springing from its center.

Atop the chair platform, they clump shoulder-to-shoulder. Metropolitan commuters in a packed elevator, the ensemble juts their heads out and back in a shared cadence, like so many chickens. They are caught in a type of physical group-think until they are lifted one-by-one from the mass to freedom. In flight, each person adopts their own midair shape, some frog-like, others rocket-sharp. The choreography displays the tension between the requisite dull sameness of corporate employees and the free-spirited self-direction of student life.   Nervous energy is released as hungry lunges lead to bared teeth chomping down on one’s own forearm.

A soundscape of city street life accompanies a sequence of linear pacing and sharp direction-changing pivots which fills the space. The lyric “maybe we can find out, where did we go,” repeats. Patterns shift and chaos intrudes as passing pedestrians now brush shoulders while resisting eye contact or reaction.  Six couples form, with one in each pair perched upon the bended knee of their partner. The duos mirror and support one another for a time before a single person loses the thread and walks off leaving their mate, now unbonded, to saunter off as well.  Sequentially all the partnerships dissolve emptying the stage for Lum and Shannon’s in-depth encounter.

In contrast to the strongly directional shafts of sidelight with which designer Riley Richardson lights the company, warm dappled sunshine washes the inquisitive faces of Lum and Shannon suddenly alone onstage.  Androgenous, with buzz cut hair, but for their height difference, they are interchangeable at first glance. Playful and unpredictable, Lum flows through space organically, while Shannon’s gestures are sharp, with limbs most often full-extended or bent at ninety-degree angles.  Lum’s fingers twinkle as they describe the essence of some exciting thing, while Shannon’s digits are merged into flat inflexible blades. A soft piano jazz accompanies these two, drawn to each other despite, or perhaps because of, their stylistic differences.   Lum and Shannon are both magnetic performers who convey full-hearted engagement with each other, as the audience hangs on each interaction.

Observing Lum, Shannon is cautious but curious. They speak separate movement languages, but yearn to communicate more fully. They say opposites attract and watching these two study, accept, appreciate, mimic, and adopt attributes of the other’s approach is captivating.  Manipulating Shannon’s body, Lum seeks to teach them how to be free.  The task is arduous for both the teacher and the learner, but perseverance pays off and when Shannon’s back melts and they soar archingly, high atop Lum’s shoulder. The audience whoops in shared delight at the joy of their connection.  The question of losing oneself in another arises as Shannon and Lum experiment with each other’s technique. I find myself wondering, when, or for whom, do we choose to leave our comfort zones? How much adaptation is too much?

In Escapement, as in life, both individuals and groups present opportunities for assimilation or resistance. Following one another, the ensemble circles, rolls, and slides full-bodily across the floor, jumping up quickly to recover in ever faster rotations of communal business.  Lum is captivated, watching and then aping their movements, eager to join a subset, yet failing to fit in.   Is this sad or a triumph of sorts?

Escapement concludes with a less-structured version of the heel-thumping, keyboard tapping workplace dance, perhaps suggesting a less black-and-white and more balanced approach, where order and freedom each have a place.

Cheers to this next generation of dancemakers, for setting their sights high and working in concert to achieve great things. While Escapement feels a bit overlong, and I am unsure about the necessity of 2 acts, this Tether’s sophomore offering is capably danced from start to finish. The choreography is interesting and engaging, effectively exploring the theme of how people’s presence impacts one another. The production values are strong.  May they continue to develop and thrive here in the Bay Area.

Ava Shannon (L) & Tai Lum (R) in front of cast of Tether Dance Project's "Escapement" Photo: J. Norris

Review by Jen Norris, published July 11, 2026

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Production Credits

Tether Dance Project presents Escapement

Friday, July 10 – July 12, 2026

Joe Goode Annex - 401 Alabama St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Directed and Choreographed by Teo Lin-Bianco, Tatianna Steiner, and Ella Wright

With contributions from the cast

Soloists

Ava Shannon and Tai Lum

Ensemble

Ash Abe, Corinne Dummel, Emma Lowe, Ella Wright, Elizabeth Wiehe, Isabella Soo-Hoo, Monique Jonath, Talia Sheinkopf, Tatianna Stiener, Teo Lin-Bianco

Music By

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Herbert, Rival Consoles, Floating Points, Felix Laband, Djrum,

Dani Siciano, Duke Ellington, Move D

Lighting Design by Riley Richardson