Theater capacity is limited for this program.


Free and open to the public. Face masks covering nose and mouth (without valves) are required at all times. We strongly recommend that all visitors choose N95, KN95, or surgical masks.


Berkeley Dance Project 2022: Shifting Live Dance to the Screen

Proof of Vaccination Required

Ticket holders are required to provide proof of vaccination—to the maximum extent for which they are eligible—for entry into the Barbro Osher Theater.

Drawing on their years of exploration at the intersection of choreography and technology, Bay Area dance companies Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts (SWDA) and Kinetech Arts collaborated with dancers at UC Berkeley to create two original films. This event will feature a premiere screening of these films and a panel conversation with choreographers Weidong Yang, Daiane Lopes da Silva, Sheldon Smith, and Lisa Wymore with Videographer Ben Estabrook, and Assistant Videographer Swetha Prabakaran.

In Search of an Outcome investigates the similarities between machine learning and the creative choices used in making dance improvisation. Some of the improvisation methods used are in conversation with Anna Halprin's RSVP Cycles—paying particular attention to the role of iteration and feedback when attempting to find an optimal performance outcome. The piece also examines how we form ourselves in relationship to our environment, other people, and the time and place within which we live. SWDA co-created the piece with eight dynamic dancers who explore computer augmented movement instructions and seek connections between themselves and their environment. [Directed by Sheldon B. Smith and Lisa Wymore]

Detour observes that the arrow of time is in constant motion like a river flowing into the ocean. However, as we move forward, it often feels as if we are moving backward. The piece is a reflection on two years of uncertainties, fear, and solitude, as well as a continuation of ongoing research on non-deterministic technologies, scientific concepts, and choreography. Kinetech Arts developed the piece in collaboration with seven dancers and four musicians, who brought playfulness and tenderness to the piece. Detour invites the audience into a space that is both familiar and strange. [Directed by Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang]

Presented by UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.

Participants and topics are subject to change; visit Berkeley Arts + Design (artsdesign.berkeley.edu) for the most up-to-date series information.