La ALTERNATIVA (formerly MOTIONLAB) is a vessel/laboratory/vehicle for training, performance and production, directed by dancer Kathleen Hermesdorf and musician Albert Mathias and based in San Francisco. The mission is to create and instigate work of deeply integrated sound and motion within a process that is vigorously intertwined and viscerally transmitted. The directors are committed to collaboration among mediums and connecting with artists - locally, nationally and internationally - to bridge art forms and communities and to bring the fruits of these connections to San Francisco. The company has received support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and CASH/Theatre Bay Area in San Francisco, and recently finished a 5-year Artist Residency at ODC Theater.

 
La Alternativa BioHistory.html
Alternative ConservatoryAlternativeConservatory.html
Schedule 2010Schedule2009.html
Kathleen Hermesdorf KathleenHermesdorf.html
Albert Mathias AlbertMathias.html
Up Coming EventsUpComingEvents.html
Press Press.html

“...Some of the city’s finest dancers, stunning stage design, and a wealth of ideas, always delivered with an off-beat twist.”

-Rachel Howard, SF Examiner

"... Articulate, innovative movement designed to communicate shared meanings ..."

-Ann Murphy, SF Weekly


"(Hermesdorf) can phrase brilliantly ... and integrate individual moments into long, buttery streams of movement."

--Allan Ulrich


"Mathias is no ordinary composer ... (he) offers music and movement of real promise."

--Octavio Roca, The Chronicle