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| Margaret Jenkins Dance Company | |
|---|---|
| Name | Margaret Jenkins Dance Company |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Founder | Margaret Jenkins |
| Location | San Francisco, California |
Margaret Jenkins Dance Company
Margaret Jenkins Dance Company is a contemporary dance company based in San Francisco, California, founded by choreographer Margaret Jenkins in 1973. The company has been influential in the development of postmodern dance in the United States, presenting repertory that intersects with the work of Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, and Pina Bausch. Noted for long-term commissioning projects, site-specific works, and interdisciplinary collaborations, the company has toured nationally and internationally to venues such as Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Jacob's Pillow, and Sadler's Wells.
The company's origins trace to the San Francisco avant-garde scene of the early 1970s, alongside institutions like Dancers' Workshop, Intersection for the Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, and contemporaries including Alonzo King and Anna Halprin. In the 1980s and 1990s the company increased its profile through seasons at Seattle Arts Commission, San Diego Museum of Art, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and residencies at Wesleyan University and Smithsonian Institution. Leadership interactions with festivals such as Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Spoleto Festival USA, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Festival d'Automne catalyzed international touring to Tokyo, Paris, London, Berlin, and Sydney.
Margaret Jenkins developed a choreographic language influenced by mentors and peers including Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, José Limón, Alvin Ailey, and Anna Halprin, while engaging composers and artists like John Cage, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, and Terry Riley. The repertory integrates modernist techniques from Paul Taylor and postmodern strategies associated with Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown, alongside theatrical approaches reminiscent of Pina Bausch and visual concepts linked to Robert Rauschenberg and Donald Judd. The company's work emphasizes ensemble kinetics, improvisational frameworks, and collaborations with designers from Es Devlin-style scenography to lighting designers in the lineage of Jennifer Tipton.
Signature works include large-scale evening-length pieces commissioned by organizations such as Cal Performances, The Joyce Theater, San Francisco Symphony, New York City Center, and American Dance Festival. The company has created commissions for arts agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and California Arts Council, and participated in multi-year projects funded by foundations like the Guggenheim Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation. Works have been documented in festivals and venues such as Dance Theater Workshop, Kimmel Center, Zellerbach Hall, and multimedia collaborations presented at Museum of Modern Art and SFMOMA.
The company’s educational outreach has partnered with schools and institutions including San Francisco Unified School District, California College of the Arts, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and San Francisco State University. Programming has included residencies at Juilliard School, workshops at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater-affiliated programs, community projects in collaboration with Asian Art Museum, and elders’ movement initiatives inspired by practices from Anna Halprin and community arts models from Creative Time. Youth and professional training programs have connected with summer intensives at Jacob's Pillow and scholarship initiatives through partnerships with Dance/USA.
The company has collaborated with composers and musicians such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Terry Riley, Ellen Fullman, and DJ Spooky, and visual artists from networks including Robert Rauschenberg, Suzzane Lacy, and Bill Viola. Institutional partners have included Yerba Buena Center, Oberlin Conservatory, Headlands Center for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and international venues like Sadler's Wells and Théâtre de la Ville. Cross-disciplinary exchanges have involved choreographers and directors connected to Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.
Margaret Jenkins and the company have received honors from entities such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim Fellowship, Bessie Awards (New York Dance and Performance Awards), Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, and state-level prizes from the California Arts Council. Tours and commissions have led to critical recognition in publications associated with institutions like New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, and coverage in arts periodicals such as Dance Magazine and Ballet Review.
Operating as a nonprofit arts organization, the company maintains an artistic director, rehearsal directors, a company of dancers, and administrative staff that liaise with producing presenters—including Cal Performances, The Joyce Theater, Kennedy Center, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and international festivals such as Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Spoleto Festival USA. The touring legacy encompasses performances at major venues, participation in cultural exchanges supported by bodies like the United States Department of State, and recordings and archival deposits with institutions including New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Library of Congress.
Category:Dance companies in the United States Category:Performing arts in San Francisco