The mission of ABD Productions/Anne Bluethenthal & Dancers is to inspire social change through the arts. Based in San Francisco, our women- and queer-centered multi-ethnic company is committed to the production of new dance works created in collaboration with diverse communities. Our dances grow from deep investigations into the language of movement, using that vocabulary in eloquent, bold, and subversive acts of art. We endeavor to awaken our collective humanity by injecting the possibility of transformation and beauty into complex and challenging subjects, from globalization and genocide to global warming and gender fluidity.
ABD has a long history of Community Arts Practice, Community partnership, and art-making that arises from communities of spirit. In addition to the formal performances, festivals, concerts, artistic collaborations, and benefit performances, ABD has consistently combined their artistic work with community partnerships around issues of social justice and global politics. Bluethenthal's community arts projects ranged widely and include work with:
Borrowing from words by Celeste Miller and Arlene Goldbard, we believe that Community Arts Practice is based on the understanding that cultural meaning, expression, and creativity reside within a community and that the artist is an integral part of community life.
(http://www.abdproductions.org/)