about SHELTER
The creators (Alexander Reneff-Olson, Valentina Reneff-Olson, Danielle Rowe, and Garen Scribner), inspired by social distancing guidelines in the era of COVID-19, originally envisioned producing a dance film based on a reconceptualization of Hey Mami, a piece choreographed and performed by Danielle Rowe (former Principal, Houston Ballet, Australian Ballet, NDT) and Garen Scribner (former Soloist, SFB, NDT) in 2015. The selection of this piece seemed especially appropriate given that it was created for DanceFAR collaboratively via the internet, which was necessitated by Danielle and Garen living on opposite sides of the country. Only in the final hours leading up to the performance were they able to rehearse together physically, and the resulting duet reflects that physical distance between the dancers, yet also captures their intangible connection.
The City and County of San Francisco's 12 hour advance warning on their order for the public to “shelter-in-place” forced the creators to pivot their concept. The gravity of the situation at hand began to become apparent, and instead of running to the grocery store, Alexander Reneff-Olson asked Joseph Walsh to meet him and Valentina at the theater. In a short amount of time, they captured the final moments of dance that the War Memorial Opera House would bear witness to for the foreseeable future. As cities all over the world began to issue their own shelter-in-place mandates, the creators began reaching out to ask dancers across the globe to participate in this project, with the intention of capturing artists' resilience in the face of unprecedented times. The creators commissioned the music arrangement for the film from Thomas Lauderdale, bandleader and founder of Pink Martini. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, played by gifted 13-year-old pianist Jacob Van with improvisations from Lauderdale, accompanies the dancers both on stage and at home.
There isn't a soul on Earth whose life has not been affected by COVID-19 in some way. Professional dancers and performing artists contribute to the cultural lifeblood of our communities, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are not currently able to perform in traditional venues. Bans on large gatherings and mandates to self-isolate have become necessary for public health, which has abruptly left many artists at a complete loss for employment and income. However, in the midst of this incredibly uncertain time, dance remains a life-affirming and intrinsically human medium of expression, offering solace and metaphorical shelter to dancers everywhere. SHELTER provides a glimpse of 26 professional dancers around the world reflecting upon this moment in time, physically apart but connected through dance.
The creative team
Alexander, born and raised in San Francisco, CA, is a professional ballet dancer as well as a director of photography and co-founder of Reneff-Olson Productions. He joined San Francisco Ballet as an Apprentice in 2011 and was promoted to the Corps de Ballet in 2012. Specializing in capturing the performing arts, he has been a professional photographer since 2009 and has been engaged as photographer, videographer, and editor by numerous performing arts organizations including Post: Ballet, San Francisco Dance Works, Dance FAR (For a Reason), San Francisco Ballet, and San Francisco Dance Film Festival. In 2018, Alexander was a co-creator and the photographer for Second Cast: An Exploration in Drag, a calendar featuring Bay Area-based performing artists that raised money for LGBTQ charity organizations. Reneff-Olson Productions released its first dance film, “A Flower,” in 2019 at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival.
Garen Scribner is a New York based writer, performing artist and producer. He is the creator, EP and host of the TV series Broadway Sandwich (Emmy Nomination) and creator/EP for And The Nominees Are for ALL ARTS network (PBS + WNET). He starred as Jerry Mulligan in the Broadway and National Tour productions of An American in Paris , and as Tony in West Side Story , Gabey in On the Town and the Monotony soloist in the first revival of Jerome Robbins Broadway . As a dancer, Garen was a soloist with the San Francisco Ballet and later with Nederlands Dans Theater I. He has appeared with Deborah Cox, Les Twins, Santana, Michelle Branch, Jennifer Lopez and been featured in roles on TV in Ray Donovan (SHO), Katy Keane (CW) and commercial campaigns for Valentino, Moncler, L’Oreal, EmergenC, and the NY Lottery.
Danielle Rowe was born in Shepparton, Australia and trained at the Australian Ballet School. Rowe has created works for San Francisco Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater’s SWITCH program, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Co.Lab Dance (featuring dancers from American Ballet Theater), Ballet Idaho, Grand Rapids Ballet, SFDanceworks, Diablo Ballet, Oakland Ballet and Berkeley Ballet Theater. She also choreographed for the award-winning dance film Sirens Tango ( featuring principal dancers, Sasha de Sola and Luke Ingham of San Francisco Ballet), and the cross-disciplinary immersive theater productions of FURY (a collaboration between San Francisco Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and indie-pop band YASSOU) and Before You Had A Name (a collaboration between Barak Ballet, San Francisco Ballet principal, Sarah Van Patten, violinist, Heather Powell, and multi-media artist, Alisa Lapidus). Rowe has been dubbed a “choreographic storyteller” (Toba Singer, Culture Vulture) and her work “merits much praise” (Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle). Her choreographic style has been described as “using a myriad of intricate hand and arm gestures that built on each other like the blocks in a Jenga game, along with a rich, flowing, contemporary ballet movement aesthetic” (Steve Sucato, culturedGR) and “impressing with the clarity of it’s intentions and the easy use of a multi-lingual vocabulary” (Rita Felciano, Danceview Times). From 2001-2015 Rowe was a Principal Dancer with the Australian Ballet and Houston Ballet, and also danced with the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater. She originated roles in creations by Paul Lightfoot/Sol Leon, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Alexander Ekman, Crystal Pite, Marco Goecke and Medhi Walerski and worked with choreographers Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, Hans van Manen, Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Bruce. Rowe has also performed in works by Kenneth McMillan, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Mark Morris and Nacho Duato as well as the title roles in Giselle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She is the former Associate Artistic Director of SFDanceworks.
Rowe lives in San Francisco, California.
Valentina, born and raised in San Francisco, CA, is an actor, dancer, and a co-director of Reneff-Olson Productions. Valentina has a background in classical ballet and contemporary dance. She trained at City Ballet School - San Francisco, The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's Trainee Program, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Professional Program. She is currently an actor and dancer represented by MDT Agency Inc. She has danced in several mainstream music videos including AFI’s “Get Dark” and Habstrakt’s “The One”, and is featured in commercials for brands including Adidas, Goodwill, and Rakuten. Valentina began studying photography and filmmaking as a child under the guidance of her brother Alexander. As a young adult, Valentina began working professionally as a photographer, videographer, art director, and producer. In 2019, Valentina co-founded Reneff-Olson Productions with her brother Alexander to serve as an all inclusive media production company for the performing arts.
