Production Details

"In Response" is Alyce Finwall's movement interpretation of J.S. Bach's Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor--and all of the complexity and depth that it entails. The piece was created for solo dancer and violinist. "In Response" is performed by dancer Sasha Gologorskaya and violinist Serena Fan. The piece was originally created for ODC Theater's Pilot program, March 2014.

Alyce Finwall Dance Theater was established in 1999 by artistic director and choreographer, Alyce Finwall. The mission of AFDT is to blend an unabashed movement language with dramatic expression to create a powerful vehicle for theatrical dance. Originally based in Minneapolis, MN, where her work was presented at the Southern Theater, Walker Art Center, Weissman Art Museum and for Ballet of the Dolls, AFDT has produced more than 40 works throughout the company's twenty year history. In NYC, AFDT presented many new works at such venues as P.S. 122, Dance Theater Workshop (New York Live Arts), White Wave Theater, 92nd Street Y and the Joyce SoHo. In 2007 AFDT moved to San Francisco where it has become an important participant in the Bay Area dance community and continues to present work across the U.S.

Artist Biographies

Alyce Finwall (choreographer)
Alyce (pronounced like “Elise”) experiments with process to create works that address the psychological and surreal states of contemporary culture as well as the richness and turbulence of our interior lives. Alyce has been making dances since 1994, developing a uniquely creative and theatrical style, noted for having an “impressive and accomplished choreographic symphony” by the SF Examiner and a “fierce fluidity in performance and a brooding surrealism in the choreography” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She started Alyce Finwall Dance Theater (AFDT) in 1999, having produced over 40 original works, and has also had the great pleasure of collaborating with many diverse artists on works for both stage and film. Alyce is also an arts educator and currently an adjunct professor of dance at Santa Rosa Junior College and is the Director of Moving Arts Academy of Dance in San Francisco.

Sasha Gologorskaya (dancer)
Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Sasha trained at the San Francisco Ballet School under Pascale Leroy, Yoira Esquivel Brito, Shannon Bresnahan, and Tina LeBlanc. She has attended intensive programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Arts Umbrella, and Springboard Danse Montreal. Sasha holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance with a Concentration in Ballet Performance and a minor in Psychology from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, State University of New York. There, she performed repertory and new works by George Balanchine, Michelle Thompson-Ulerich, Margo Sappington, Norbert de la Cruz III, and Bettijane Sills. In her third year of studies, Sasha was selected to study abroad at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in Hong Kong. Sasha performed in Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival 2018 with a featured role in Luca Veggetti’s reimagined version of Jerome Robbins’ Watermill. In the fall of 2019, Sasha joined Menlowe Ballet for their production of It’s a Wonderful Nutcracker.

Serena Fan (violinist)
Serena Fan is a 14 year old student of Annamarie Arai. Serena has been studying violin since she was five. She is also a violinist with the California Youth Symphony.