Info for Guest ChoreogrAphers

This year's festival is split up between two days. To accommodate more pieces in the performance, we have split up the rehearsals into two days: Friday evening and Sunday morning. The performance for all pieces will be Sunday afternoon. 

Performance: Sunday, September 27th, 2026

Rehearsals: Friday, September 25th & Sunday, September 27th, 2026

Free Dance Classes: September 25th & 27th, 2026

Where: Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, CA

About

SpARC Dance Festival, hosted by ArcTangent Dance, aims to amplify South Bay Area choreographers, dancers, and artists. Making dance visible and available to our community is key to growing our artistic community. 

We are looking for professional-level choreographers and dance groups/companies/ensembles to perform in our showcase. Included in the festival are free, public dance classes available to the community on Friday and Sunday.

Who Should Apply: Professional-level choreographers and dance groups/companies/ensembles. Special priority is given to those who are either based in or originally from the South Bay. Emerging and mid-career choreographers are strongly encouraged to apply!

If you don't have all the details of your piece ready, feel free to add whatever details you have. 

Criteria for applying

• Pieces should not exceed 8 minutes. 

• Any dance style is encouraged to apply! 

• What do we mean when we say the South Bay Area? We know this can mean something different to different people, especially when so many of us commute around the Bay and foster connections in many communities. For our festival, any cities or towns in and around Santa Clara County or Silicon Valley (i.e. Sunnyvale, Campbell, Milpitas, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Fremont) are a good way to think about it. Of course we love for our friends in Santa Cruz and the other 8 Bay Area counties to apply as well! 

• Special priority will be given to applicants who have a strong connection to the South Bay Area. This means either rehearsals based in Santa Clara County or dancers who trained, grew up, live, or work in the area. 

• This year, we are only accepting applications from choreographers and dancers 18 years or older.

• In your application, please be ready to share a video of your proposed piece and a description of the piece (more details below).

• Please limit your application to 1 piece from each group/choreographer. If you are a choreographer representing more than one group/company, you can fill out a separate application for each group/company.

• Please have your application complete by May 3, 2026. We will inform you by email from mid-May mid-June of our decision. If you need more time, please reach out for an extension. 
   

What to Expect 

• Tech rehearsals are in 20-minute increments per piece. They take place between 5-9pm on Friday Sept. 25th, and between 10:30am and 2pm on Sunday, Sept. 27th. Coming to a tech rehearsal is a requirement of participating in the performance.

• There are two free dance classes offered this year. One on the 25th at 6:30-7:30pm, and the other on the 27th at 2:30-3:30pm. These classes take place on the theater stage. Please encourage your dancers to take these classes to warm up and to build connections with other dancers and community members. 

• 3:30 Call Time (on Sunday)

• 4:00 pm Performers Meeting/Bow Practice (on Sunday)

• 4:30-7:00pm - Dance Showcase (on Sunday)

If you have any questions, please email contact@arctangentdance.com.

Application due May 3rd, 2026 by 11:59 PM.

We will inform acceptance by email in mid-May to Mid-June.

Please reach out if you need more time to complete your application.