About the Show
What the Hell Happened in San Francisco? (Bay Area Premiere)(2024) is an evening-length work of dance-theater wrestling with idealism, dreams, and disillusionment. Malinda LaVelle and Emmaly Wiederholt met in 2008 in San Francisco while trying to “make it” as contemporary dance artists. They burned that dream bright and fast, living and dancing together for several years before moving on to other schemes. Fast forward to 2021 and Malinda and Emmaly found themselves fortuitously living in the same city once again–this time Albuquerque. On a hot summer night relaxing in Emmaly’s backyard, they reminisced about the experience of living in the Bay Area as young dance artists. Malinda sighed and said, “What the hell happened in San Francisco? We should make a piece about it.”
What was this experience of moving to the big city to pursue their dreams really about? When did disillusionment set in? What was the cause of the disillusionment? Why does that time in their lives still reverberate
