Megan Lowe Dances

Just a Shadow
2025 at ODC Theater

Megan Lowe, a dancer with short brown hair wearing a beige lace dress, jumps into the air, with the shadow of Shira Yaziv arching above her.

AJ Gardner arches backward and floats above the group, with the shadow of Megan Lowe jumping behind him.

Shira Yaziv, a dancer caught mid-air in a back flip, with the shadow of Megan Lowe behind her.

(Back by Popular Demand)

Just a Shadow

April 4-6, 2025

Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm

Sunday at 3:30pm

ODC Theater

3153 17th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Artistic Direction by:

Megan Lowe

Created and Performed by:

AJ Gardner, Sonsherée Giles, Megan Lowe, Marica Petrey, Frances Teves Sedayao, Roel Seeber, and Shira Yaziv

Lighting Design by:

Ray Oppenheimer

Rigging Design by:

Dave Freitag

Photos by:

RJ Muna

Get Tickets to "Just a Shadow"

Read Press Release

See More About Our Collaborators

Read 2024 "Shift the Script" Interview

Back by Popular Demand and Adapted to ODC Theater with a Brand New Live Music Set

Just a Shadow is a performance journey that celebrates life, and honors memories of lost loved ones. The project brings together 7 powerful artists — AJ Gardner, Sonsherée Giles, Megan Lowe, Marica Petrey (brand new duet), Frances Teves Sedayao, Roel Seeber, and Shira Yaziv — to share 6 distinct duets that highlight the unique strengths of each collaborator, including contemporary dance, site-specific dance, turf dance, contact improvisation, vertical dance, and live music. Through dance performance, MLD provides a platform for catharsis, empathy, and collective understanding, fostering connections that transcend individual stories and unite us in a shared journey toward solace and healing.

This project aspires to nourish the soul, support healing, acknowledge resilience, celebrate life, and honor the memories of loved ones. It welcomes diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, recognizing that the narratives surrounding death and processing grief are multifaceted and deeply personal. Through dance performance, MLD aims to provide a platform for catharsis, empathy, and collective understanding, fostering connections that transcend individual stories and unite us in a shared journey toward solace and healing.

Megan Lowe Dances was the featured artist of Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s 27th Annual United States of Asian America Festival, which made Just a Shadow possible. This project is also support by California Arts Council, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, FACT/SF, and generous individual donors. MLD is fiscally sponsored by Dancers’ Group.

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Reflections from Our 2024 Audience

“Just a Shadow' took me on a whole journey, not only through the all too familiar feelings of grief and loss, but also into the spontaneous joys of life, all the while beautifully showcasing diverse dance forms and the resilience of the human spirit. This is an absolute must-see!"

My-Linh Le | Director, Mud Water Theatre

Watch Just a Shadow Trailer

Images by Vita Hewitt of Just a Shadow Premiere, May-June 2024

Megan singing in front of a shadow screen, with the shadow of Frances Teves Sedayao behind her, and the backs of AJ Garnder and Josh Icban.

Frances Teves Sedayao dancing in front of a shadow screen, with Megan Lowe's shadow dancing behind her.

Frances Teves Sedayao and Megan Lowe standing next to each other.

Megan Lowe dancing in the beams of Joe Goode Annex.

Sonsherée Giles balancing on Megan Lowe's thighs.

Sonsherée Giles dancing in a pool of light, surrounded by branches.

AJ Gardner being lifted into the air by Megan Lowe.

Megan Lowe lifting AJ Gardner upside-down.

Shira Yaziv arching back with a green monster mask covering her eyes.

Shira Yaziv with a green monster mask covering her eyes, sitting in Megan Lowe's lap.

Megan Lowe lifting Shira Yaziv on her hip.

Megan Lowe and Roel Seeber floating in space, suspended by rope and harness.

Roel Seeber bouncing off a wall, suspended by rope and harness.

Roel Seeber lifting Megan Lowe, suspended by rope and harness.

Megan Lowe and Josh Icban with his guitar, walking and singing.

Megan Lowe and Josh Icban with his guitar, sitting and singing.

Megan Lowe and Josh Icban with his guitar, walking and singing, with five dancers moving around them.

7 dancers sitting together in a circle, in a pool of light.

Megan Lowe being lifted into the air and walking over 5 dancers.

Frances Teves Sedayao being lifted into the air by 5 dancers.

The entire cast of Megan Lowe Dances' "Just a Shadow" taking a bow.

Some exciting reasons to come see the Just a Shadow, even if you have seen it before:

This endeavor aims to recognize and celebrate our individual and collective resilience, acknowledging the inevitable challenges of death, while embracing the miracle and beauty of life. The project welcomes diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, recognizing that the narratives surrounding death and processing grief are multifaceted and deeply personal. By engaging with these themes through dance performance, anyone in our audience touched by the shared human experience of mortality can resonate.
There will be a brand new duet, featuring the incredible music and performance of Marica Petrey of Girl Swallows Nightingale!
We will be adapting the work to ODC Theater, including evolving the captivating vertical dance duet with Roel Seeber (with rigging by Dave Freitag) to the space, and sharing an innovative new site specific creation with Sonsherée Giles!
There are improvisational elements in both the powerful duet with turf dancer AJ "Dopey Fresh" Gardner and the skillfully humourous contact improv duet with Shira Yaziv, so the performance is different every time!
You came to our final show last year, and missed seeing the heartfelt magic that is Frances Teves Sedayao, so definitely need to see her this time!
Ray Oppenheimer's lighting design is totally amazing, and world building!
You missed the show last time, and don't want to miss it this time. :)
You loved the work before, want to see it again, and share it with your friends, family, and colleagues.
You want to support Megan Lowe Dances and all our amazing collaborators, and continue growing this big beautiful SF Bay Area dance community together!

Sonsherée balances on one foot while leaning backwards with her other leg reaching up to the sky. Her shadow is behind her, eerily similar, but different.

Roel Seeber balances on one foot while falling backwards in space. His shadow is behind him, eerily similar, but different.

Shira Yaziv balances on one foot while holding Megan Lowe upside down in her arms. Their shadow is behind them, eerily similar, but different.

Back to Works

MEGAN LOWE DANCES

Just a Shadow
2025 at ODC Theater