Movement Arts Festival in San Francisco: An Independent Guide

The San Francisco Movement Arts Festival (SFMAF) was a festival dedicated to movement arts: contemporary dance, physical performance and body-awareness practices. It took place in San Francisco, California, between 2015 and 2022, with Grace Cathedral as its main performance venue. This site is an independent guide to the festival: it gathers information about its history, the venue where it took place, the kind of programme it offered and the dance companies that used to take part.

This guide is not the festival's official website, does not sell tickets and does not represent the former organisers. It exists to preserve and organise publicly available information about SFMAF for anyone researching the event, the dance scene of San Francisco, or the use of religious spaces for artistic performance.

What is the San Francisco Movement Arts Festival?

SFMAF brought together contemporary, modern and experimental dance companies in a movement arts festival format, a term covering dance, physical performance and body-awareness practices. The concept combined live performances with the architectural atmosphere of Grace Cathedral, creating an unusual setting for dance: a sacred space with its own acoustics and high ceilings, rather than a conventional theatre.

History and origins of the festival

The documented editions of the festival cover the period from 2015 to 2022. As with many cultural events of small and medium scale, the programme and the format evolved from year to year, bringing in different companies and artistic proposals. From 2023 onwards the festival's original website was no longer updated, which suggests a pause or the end of the in-person editions. This guide cannot confirm that independently, and readers should check current sources before planning any visit.

Grace Cathedral: the main stage

Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral located in the Nob Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco, known for its neo-Gothic architecture, its stained glass and two labyrinths, one indoor in stone and one outdoor in the garden, used for meditative walks open to the general public. The space is often lent for cultural events, concerts and performances that go beyond religious liturgy, which explains its connection with a movement arts festival.

Programme and artistic highlights

The programme of a festival of this kind typically includes contemporary dance performances, short choreographic pieces and, in some cases, site-specific interventions designed for the particular space where they take place. In the case of SFMAF, that meant the nave and the corridors of the cathedral. Specific details about the pieces presented in each edition vary and are not fully documented in the public sources consulted for this guide.

Companies and participating artists

Dance festivals such as SFMAF usually bring together local and regional companies from the San Francisco Bay Area, often linked to the city's contemporary and experimental dance scene. This guide offers an overview of the kind of companies that take part in similar festivals on the Performers !! page, without attributing participation to any specific company unless it is confirmed by a primary source.

How to plan your visit to the festival

Since the festival has no confirmed editions after 2022, this guide does not provide ticket purchase information or future dates. For anyone researching the event for historical or academic purposes, the Past Events page gathers what is known about earlier editions, and the Tickets page explains how festivals of this kind used to be organised in practice.

Tips for getting the most out of the experience

For anyone visiting Grace Cathedral independently of any event, it is worth setting aside time to walk through the labyrinths, look at the stained glass in natural light, and respect the religious use of the space, which continues beyond any cultural programme.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the San Francisco Movement Arts Festival take place?

In the documented editions, the festival used Grace Cathedral in San Francisco as its main performance venue.

Is the festival free or paid?

This guide has no access to confirmed information about the pricing of past editions, and it does not sell tickets for any event.

What kinds of dance are presented?

The term "movement arts" covers contemporary and modern dance and physical performance in general. The Performers !! page describes the typical profile of the companies involved.

Is the festival suitable for all ages?

There is no confirmed public information about the audience age rating of earlier SFMAF editions.