This page offers an overview of San Francisco's dance companies: the kind of participants historically associated with movement arts festivals such as SFMAF. The information here describes the general profile of the local dance scene, not an official list of companies that performed at a specific edition of the festival, which this guide cannot confirm independently.
Contemporary dance companies in San Francisco
San Francisco is home to one of the most active contemporary dance scenes on the US West Coast, with professional companies performing in the city's theatres and alternative spaces. Festivals such as SFMAF usually draw on this local circuit to form part of their programme, alongside invited companies from other regions.
Modern and experimental dance groups
Beyond contemporary dance in its more technical sense, the San Francisco scene includes groups linked to historical modern dance and to experimental practices that combine movement, improvisation and, in some cases, multimedia performance. A festival held in an unconventional space such as a cathedral tends to attract exactly this kind of experimental proposal, which explores the relationship between body and architecture.
Emerging and established choreographers
As in other cities with an established dance scene, San Francisco combines choreographers with long careers and emerging names who are starting to perform at festivals and local showcases. Medium-sized festivals, as SFMAF appears to have been, usually work as an entry point for early-career choreographers alongside more established names.
Styles represented at the festival
The term "movement arts" is deliberately broad and covers everything from technical contemporary dance to physical performance closer to physical theatre. This breadth allows a festival to bring varied proposals together under one event, rather than being limited to a single dance genre.
How companies are selected
This guide has no access to the selection process used by SFMAF's former organisers to invite companies. At similar festivals, it is common to combine direct invitations to companies known in the local scene with, in some cases, open public calls for proposals.
Collaborations and special projects
Performances designed specifically for the space of Grace Cathedral, exploring the nave, the side aisles or the presence of the meditation labyrinths, fall into the category of site-specific projects, in which the choreography is created for the location rather than simply adapted to it.
Frequently asked questions
Which San Francisco dance companies have taken part in SFMAF?
This guide has no confirmed list of companies by edition of the festival; the publicly available information on this point is limited.
Does the festival accept applications from new artists?
There is no confirmed public information about current application processes, and this guide does not represent the organisers of the event.
Are there performances by dance companies from other cities or countries?
Festivals of this size usually combine local companies with occasional guests from outside the region, but this guide has no confirmation of where the companies that took part in SFMAF came from.