“A poignant, touching piece about the beauty of everyday life, the power of family love, and the complex pull of memory.”
- San Francisco Examiner

Just Ahead is Darkness is Sharp & Fine's newest “play for dance.” A devised work for six performers and four musicians, Just Ahead is Darkness draws on the Japanese and Japanese-American tradition of remembering the dead to tell a poignant and magical tale about family, love, loss, and the eternal return of ghosts.

Premiere: February 7-9, Z Space, San Francisco

Your Sister Turns Into a Lion is an evening-length narrative dance piece about two sisters and what happens when one of them turns into a lion. Built on spoken text devised by the cast, the show is a hybrid of real memories and surreal fiction, a story told in acrobatic phone calls to next of kin, an interrogation presided over by a conductor, the unabashed savagery of beasts, and the tender folding of maps.

Choreography & Direction: Megan Kurashige & Shannon Kurashige
Cast: Sonja Dale, Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Chelsea Reichert, Sarah Dionne Woods-LaDue
Composer: Jordan Glenn
Vocalist: Ina Woods
Musicians: Arjun Mendiratta, Cory Wright, Crystal Pascucci
Lighting: Allen Willner
Costumes: Emily Kurashige

Featuring a cast of five dancers and a band of four musicians playing live, All Roads Are Lined With Teeth is part dance and part play, a surreal story about a woman who flees a crumbling world for a journey on which she encounters memories transformed into teeth, slow motion long distance runners, and houses built from benches. Created in collaboration with London-based playwright Amber Hsu and Oakland-based composer Aram Shelton.

Premiere: April 7-10, 2016 at ODC Theater in San Francisco

Dancers: Sonja Dale, Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Chelsea Reichert, Jane Selna

Musicians: Jordan Glenn, Teddy Rankin-Parker, Aram Shelton, Cory Wright

A short piece for three dancers. A series of small dances with spoken text from William Shakespeare and music scored live by a solo saxophonist.

Premiere: June 29 & 30, July 25 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance as part of the 2015 SFCD Summer Dance Series

Performers: Emily Jones, Rachel Laws, Chelsea Reichert, Jane Selna, Joshua Marshall (tenor saxophone), Aram Shelton (alto saxophone)

Five dancers and four musicians come together to tell the story of a young innocent who ventures into the forest and meets a wolf.

Premiere: October 2014 at ODC Theater in San Francisco

Performers: Marissa Brown, Katharine Hawthorne, Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Carson Stein, Theo Padouvas (cornet), Max Judelson (cello), Joshua Marshall (saxophone), Aram Shelton (clarinet).

Based on "Queen of Knives," a poem by Neil Gaiman. An evening-length work that examines love, loss, and regret through the mysterious lens of stage magic.

Premiere: December 2013 at Z Space, San Francisco.

Performers: Eric Garcia, Katharine Hawthorne, Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Shannon Leypoldt, Carson Stein, Megan Wright.

A collaboration with opera singer Ina Rae. A physically rigorous exploration of love and song and dance.

Premiere: July 2013 at Z Space in San Francisco as part of the SFCD Summer Dance Series.

Performers: Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Shannon Leypoldt, Ina Rae, Carson Stein, Kelvin Vu, Sarah Woods, Megan Wright.

A collaboration with writer Kat Howard that combines dance with spoken text.

Premiere: July 2012 at Z Space in San Francisco as part of the SFCD Summer Dance Series.

Performers: Josianne Fleming, Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Sarah Lyman, Carson Stein, Kelvin Vu.