Residency

Now in its 18th cycle, The Studio 210 Residency is a vehicle for Bay Area artists to hone their skills, experiment, and dive into making performance. The residency makes the rare offer of professional mentorship from Deborah Slater, financial support, and peer feedback, in addition to weekly rehearsal space and a culminating performance.

Announcing our Studio 210 Summer 2025 Residents!

Cyrah L. Ward (seer-ah) is a scholar of Black dance, critical race theorist, and interdisciplinary performance maker. Her value of utilizing dance as a tool for fellowshipping community has led her to work with an array of artists, including Crystal Michelle Perkins & DeShona Pepper Robertson of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, MK Abadoo of MK Arts, as well as perform with world-renowned dance company Urban Bush Women.

Deeply rooted in the storytelling tradition, Ward’s work converges Africanist aesthetics within movement and language to transform her art into a vessel for sacred ritual, sociopolitical critique, and Black joy. Ward’s most notable collaboration, “Hoofer’s Memory Lab,” performed at New York City Center with tap dancers Brinae Ali and Gerson Lanza, was described by the New York Times as being “reminiscent of baptismal ritual,” further revealing her commitment to conjuring sacred art.

Her interdisciplinary research involves finding innovative ways to privilege the Black Gaze by activating Black oral traditions and digitized Black Archives. In doing so, her work manifests as embodied performances, sermonic poetry, digital collage art, and immersive installations.

Ward holds a B.F.A. with distinction in dance from The Ohio State University and an M.F.A. in dance from The University of Maryland, College Park"

Photo of Cyrah L. Ward courtesy of artist

Ward holds a B.F.A. with distinction in dance from The Ohio State University and an M.F.A. in dance from The University of Maryland, College Park"

Photo of Cyrah L. Ward courtesy of artist

Tracey is a choreographer, global researcher, and dance filmmaker, born and raised in San Francisco. A central goal of her work is to let people know they are seen and understood—a powerful form of healing. She gravitates to universal themes, and loves to explore them within fantastical, genre-specific frameworks like horror and surrealism. For Tracey, creation is a means of introspection and connection, seeking answers that help her understand her life and the shared human experience.

Through the Studio 210 residency, Tracey will develop a work called "Sikma." With a cast of three, it will tell a story of memory loss through contemporary dance, spoken word, and film, adopting a surrealist aesthetic with dark comedic undertones. The creation process will explore questions like: Who are we without our memories? What is it to fade mentally, but not physically? What is a memory we never want to lose? What does it feel like to be forgotten?

Photo of Tracey Lindsay Chan by DASU Studios

Janesta Edmonds

As a Black nonbinary artist, I create across dance, performance art, analogue/multimedia collage, film, photography, poetry, ritual, and magic. My work is deeply rooted in lineage and lived experience, centering Black stories, voices, and bodies outside the confines of colonialism and patriarchy.

Art is both a ritual and a reclamation for me. I create to heal, to remember, and to imagine new futures. Storytelling—especially through embodied movement and poetic forms—is an ancient practice of survival and transformation. My work weaves together ancestral traditions, symbolism, and speculative visions, offering a space for deep connection, reflection, and liberation.

I am most drawn to themes of ritual, memory, and intuition as ancient technologies that guide us toward personal and collective healing. I engage art as a space for decolonization and energetic alchemy, seeking to restore what has been erased and make visible what has been hidden. My process is deeply intuitive, often shaped by research, trance states, and collaborative experimentation.

I create for those who long to see themselves reflected in narratives of power, beauty, and resilience. Through my work, I invite others into portals of possibility—where the past, present, and future converge, and where Black queer and trans existence is honored as sacred and whole.

Photo by Tristan Crane

Originally from California's San Joaquin Valley, Clairey Evangelho (she/her) researches, performs, and teaches movement with roots in contact improvisation, Noguchi Taiso, apparatus-based and site-specific dancing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Her methodologies are informed by studies in neurophysiology, ecological psychology and her own neurodivergence. Her artistic interest lies at the various intersections of task-based improvisation, failure, transparency, applied neuroscience, and emergent composition. Clairey has produced original dance works with ODC Pilot 74 and SAFEHouse RAW. She's danced with Bay Area-based artists Lizz Roman and Dancers, Agua Doce Dance, Amy Lewis, Carol Keuffer-Moore, and Nketchi Njaka with the DeYoung Museum. In 2024, she completed an apprenticeship with AXIS Dance Company where she performed work by Jorge Crecis as well as co-created and taught curriculum for disability-inclusive dance education around California.

Photo by Mike Filanc

Announcing Summer 2024 Residents...

Nico Maimon & Kat Lin

Learn more about them + their projects here.

Culminating Performances:
July 26 & 27, 2024, 7pm PDT
In-Person & Livestreamed
In-Person @ Studio 210
3435 Cesar Chavez #210 San Francisco, CA
$15-$50
Purchase in-person tickets here/Purchase livestream tickets here

Tickets on Sale Now!

In-Person Tickets

Livestream Tickets

About the Studio 210 Residency

The Studio 210 Residency supports Bay Area artists looking to develop a new project or deepen their practice by providing space to make their work, professional mentorship, an artist stipend, and a culminating performance to share their projects and connect with new audiences. The residency is intended as a vehicle for artists to hone their skills, experiment, and dive into making performance. It is currently open to dedicated artists of ALL performance disciplines (dance, music, theater, etc.)

Each artist in residence receives:

Six hours of free rehearsal space a week for eight weeks (48 hours total) in Studio 210 located at 3435 Cesar Chavez in San Francisco;
Weekly one-on-one mentorship with Deborah Slater. Slater will periodically attend rehearsals as desired by the Resident;
Two performances of 20 minutes or fewer per Resident with audience discussion and feedback. The final presentation does not have to be a completed piece. These performances can be explorations of ideas, a work-in-progress, or a showing of fragments of work. This is not a space for polishing existing work;
High quality photos + edited 2-camera video documentation of the culminating performance
An artist stipend provided by DSDT.

Who can apply to the Studio 210 Residency?

The Studio 210 Residency is open to artists in all performing arts disciplines (e.g., dance, theatre, music, etc.). Groups/ensembles may apply but will need to identify a primary contact in the application and will need to clearly describe who will be involved and in what capacity in their project description.
Applicants must have three years of professional experience in their field. This does not include work done in college. If you do not have three years of professional experience and are interested in applying, please contact the Residency Manager Elizabeth Zepeda at residency@deborahslater.org. If you have fewer than three years of professional experience, please DO NOT submit an application before discussing with us.

About Winter 2025 Guest Mentor, Yayoi Kambara

Yayoi Kambara started her career as a professional dancer and currently directs and produces multi-media performance works, including film and XR. Kambara was recognized by Opera America as a female stage director and received an Isadora Duncan Dance Award in Outstanding Achievement as a co-interrogator of Dancing Around Race. kambaraplus.org / dancingaroundrace.com

Kambara was a company member with ODC/Dance from 2003–2015. After she retired from full-time dance performance, she completed the 4th APAP Leadership Fellows Program Cohort and led a year-long Community Engagement Residency for Bridge Live Arts. "Aesthetic Shift" was an exchange dedicated to interrogating and analyzing the overlap between equity values, creative practices, and organizations. This research inspires her to lead her creative practices as social practice.

Her dance project IKKAI means once: a transplanted pilgrimage, commissioned by the San Jose Japanese American Citizens League and awarded a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Hewlett 50 award, premiered in 2023. IKKAI shares the experiences of those illegally incarcerated during World War II and dares to dream of a collective future where this kind of injustice will never happen again.

She produced 二度と(NI DO TO): an XR pilgrimage, sharing the choreographic research for IKKAI and celebrating the resilience of Japanese Americans. Audiences learn obon dance by Nobuko Miyamoto as an interactive hologram, view a 360 film created at Manzanar, hear poetry from a Janice Mirikitani Zoltar-type machine, and reflect on current/future solidarities with communities facing xenophobic policies. 二度と was co-commissioned by Georgia Tech Arts and will be shared at the San Jose Japanese American Museum April 18-June 29, 2025.

We are thrilled to offer the opportunity of this mentorship to our Winter 2025 Residents. Yayoi's love of dance and excitement to work with artists as a movement dramaturg and sounding board in the creative practice is invaluable to any performing artist in developing work.

Summer 2025 Residency Dates

Application due: Friday March 14, 2025 at 5pm PDT

Artists in Residence: June 2-July 26, 2025

Residency Performance: July 25-26, 2025

Apply here for Summer 2025!

Winter 2025 Residency Show Ticket Info

Residency FAQ

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Andrea Rodriguez

Panelist

Andrea Rodriguez is a Xicana-Mexican-American multidisciplinary artist from San Francisco’s Mission District. A dancer, choreographer, actress, producer, and filmmaker, she creates work that blends her cultural roots with a deep passion for movement. Andrea holds a BA in World Arts and Cultures/Dance from UCLA and an MFA in Interactive Media from USC. She has performed with Viver Brasil in Disney California Adventure’s Viva Navidad Parade and served as a Game Producer for Zumba Fitness video games, which sold over 9 million units. Andrea starred as Consuelo in “On Your Feet!,” Oakland, Woodminster Theater. She is a two-time recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission Artist Grant (2020, 2023). Her full-length multimedia production La Rumba No Para premiered at ODC Theater, exploring themes of love, loss, and healing through a salsa love story set in La Misión. Through her work, Andrea inspires audiences to rise, move, and connect.

Fe Bongolan

Since 1992, Fe Bongolan is core member, writer and dramaturg for Rhodessa Jones and The Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women/HIV Circle. Her acting credits include “The Trail of Her Inner Thigh” by Erin Cressida Wilson at Campo Santo Theater – winner of the TBA’s Glickman award for best new play, ‘State Without Grace’, ‘Happy Birthday’, and “The Trojan Women” at Asian American Theater. She also performed with the Asian American Art Ensemble’s “A Song for Manong”, and Teatro ng Tanan’s “Kin” at Teatro Campesino. Fe has been assistant director to Rhodessa in African-American Shakespeare Company’s production of “Lysistrata” and production assistant for “Xtigone” an adaptation by Nambi Kelly of Sophocles “Antigone”.

Alyssandra Wu

Panelist

Alyssandra Wu is an ambitious choreographer, teacher, and arts administrator whose experience encompasses a broad range of skill sets. In the past, she has worked administratively for companies such as AXIS Dance Company, Robert Moses’ KIN, and Nancy Karp + Dancers; in addition to teaching at institutions such as Alonzo King Lines, Ramon Moreno School of Ballet, and Mobu Dance Studio. She is the current Communications & Development Manager at Joe Goode Performance Group. Alyssandra continues to run and create work for her dance company Alyssandra Katherine Dance (AKD), which has showcased work across London, New York, Arizona, Southern CA, and the Bay Area. During her debut, Alyssandra was listed on londondance.com as one of the most promising emerging choreographers of the year and upon her return to the Bay Area in 2016 her work was chosen as the audience choice award for PUSHfest. She currently holds a masters degree from London Contemporary Dance School and a bachelor’s degree in World Arts & Culture/Dance from UCLA.

Elizabeth Zepeda

Panelist

Elizabeth Zepeda (she/her) is a Bay Area native and proud graduate of the Saint Mary's College of California (SMC) and Mills College dance programs where she earned her BA and MFA in Dance, respectively. Eli has been part of the Bay Area dance scene for more than 20 years, but her first professional dance gig was with Deborah Slater Dance Theater! Most recently, she's been honored to perform with Slack Dance, Blind Tiger Society, Paufve Dance, and Nancy Karp + Dancers, and she is a founding member of Angela Demmel & Dancers. In addition to being the Studio 210 Residency Manager, Eli is also the Youth Program Coordinator at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, where she's excited to introduce young people to the beautiful community of dancers in the East Bay. When she's not dancing, Eli loves to sew, read, cook, and hang out with her guys–Jaime, Gabriel, and Rocky.

Deborah Slater

Panelist

Deborah Slater director and choreographer, has worked in dance/theater for over 40 years. She is the Artistic Director of DSDT, a multi-media dance company, creating visually gorgeous, acrobatic, talking dance dedicated to the creation of full-length works exploring social issues, science and art through original dance, text and music. Slater co-founded Studio 210, a performance/rehearsal/class

space, celebrating its 44th Anniversary in 2024! She is the producer/mentor for the Studio 210 Residency Program, now in its 18th cycle. Selected commissions/ residencies include SF MOMA, USF Dance & Social Justice and the Exploratorium. Awards/grants include Izzies, a Della Davidson award, NEA grants, Rainin, Gerbode, CAC, Wattis & GFTA www.deborahslater.org

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