ODC’s Second act

Paul Parish

When Brenda Way brought the Oberlin Dance Collective to San Francisco in 1976, she didn't think that one day she'd have to revive the city's entire modern dance scene. But with ODC's $9.5 million building opening this month, she's aiming to do just that.

While the city still attracts its share of top talent, the buzz about modern dance is seriously down. Audiences are dwindling, Way points out, in part because the Chronicle no longer even has a staff dance critic. "The public is losing interest in dance," says Way. "We're under siege. This building is part of a strategy for survival."

Way turned five run-down shops, including an old laundry and a garage, into the mother ship of the Bay Area dance world. Complete with five new studios that can double as performance venues, a dance-injury clinic, a library, and offices for other small dance companies, the ODC building may be the local dance landscape's saving grace. Way, for one, is optimistic: "Coming together under one roof might be the way to get through this thing. The donors have shown they're behind us."