Nelson premiere kicks off new ODC/Dance season

Rachel Howard, Chronicle Dance Correspondent

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

In 1976, KT Nelson climbed onto a yellow school bus with a group of dancers from Oberlin College and headed for San Francisco. Today, the Oberlin Dance Collective is known as ODC/Dance, and Nelson is one of three women leading a thriving institution that includes a dance company, theater and school.

On Thursday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the always high-energy ODC/Dance opens its 38th home season with the world premiere of Nelson's "Grassland." The dance features a commissioned score by Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos, to be performed live by an all-star quintet, with Zarvos on piano.