AUGUST 2025 - YELAMU (SAN FRANCISCO, CA)
the way home is an upwards spiral
is an experimental, site-responsive work that centers body autonomy, land sovereignty, and our right to choose.
In these paradigm-shifting times, how do we embody the reciprocity that will bring us back into right relationship with the earth? What stirs in our subconscious—beckoning us to divorce from respectability and divest from patriarchy, once and for all? If we have been here before, who are we reaching back towards? And what are they singing now? Bridging street dance, concert dance, and devotional practice, this timely work invites audiences to move, shift, shake, and quake alongside the earth and her children.
commissioned and presented by Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
Choreography + Artistic Direction: SAMMAY
Sound Design + Live Musical Performance: JoJo Ramirez, Joshua Icban, ET IV
Costume Design: Jamie Cardenas
Set Design: Stephanie Gancayco
Production + Stage Manager: Charito Soriano
Production Assistants: Lynie Abadilla, Sharleen “Boomer” Ignacio
Dance Collaborators
Dre “Poko” Devis
Cece Egidi
Danielle Galvez
Amber Julian
Laila Shabazz
Vi Vu
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the way home is an upwards spiral (2025) is the third and final ritual for thrivation, a series that Dizon initiated at Yerba Buena Gardens in 2021.
Photos by Robbie Sweeny