Zero Gravity Dance Theater, Inc.

Zero Gravity Dance Theater, Inc. (ZGDT) was a 501(c)(3) charitable and educational non-profit organization from 1997-2008. Incorporated in 1997, ZGDT was dedicated to advocating dance through presenting and producing dance performances, instructional workshops, publications, or via other means or media through which ZGDT may facilitate the viewing and celebration of the art of dance. ZGDT's primary objectives were:

to sponsor and present public performances of choreography and interdisciplinary performance;
to disseminate educational materials about dance and other related art forms through publications, demonstrations, lectures or other media;
to sponsor and present instruction in dance techniques and interdisciplinary performance composition, through classes, workshops and programs; and
to engage in and provide facilities for others to engage in the promotion of the arts, generally.

After its founding in July of 1997, ZGDT produced 5 performance showcases: The Marin County Festival of Dance 1997 with CPCollaborations, Inc., Marin's 21st Century Dance Collaboration 1999 and 2000 with Dance Outré, Inc., and Marin's 21st Century Dance Collaboration 2001 and 2002 alone. These projects showcased the work of 100+ choreographers and composers, and 300+ performers. ZGDT also co-sponsored a series of educational workshops as part of the 1997, 2001, and 2002 showcases. And it created 2 web sites -- one to showcase and interview artists of all disciplines {cre8tivez.org} -- the other to disseminate information on the showcase performances {marindance.org}.

ZGDT was founded by Director Hilary Kretchmer, who choreographed, performed and produced dances and evenings of work singularly and under the name "Hilary Kretchmer and Dancers" from 1984-1996, and two works under the auspices of Zero Gravity Dance Theater, Inc. from 1997-2000.

ZGDT created Marin's 21st Century Dance Collaboration annually from 1999 to 2002. This project originally started in 1995 as The Marin County Festival of Dance (MCFoD); ZGDT's Director Ms. Kretchmer and Cynthia Pepper of CPCollaborations, Inc. (CPC) co-founded and co-produced MCFoD together in 1995 and in 1997 under the fiscal receivership of CPC. MCFoD was an all-day choreographers' performance showcase taking place at an outdoor amphitheater seating 600, which incorporated the participation of food and dance-related vendors, preceded by a day of instructional workshops and an evening of dance films. As a director on the board of CPC and as co-producer of these festivals, Ms. Kretchmer primarily led grantwriting and fundraising. Both projects received the Marin Arts Council's Community Arts Grant (MAC's CAG). Those first productions were launched on small seed grants and the kindness and generosity of many individuals. After 1997, Ms. Pepper decided against future production of MCFoD, and instead developed the dance film festival, Footage, that had been introduced in 1997 as part of MCFoD.

In 1998, Ms. Kretchmer convinced Lorien Fenton of Dance Outré, Inc., a non-profit organization, to co-produce the festival in the following year, in order to share fiscal receivership to maximize income and grant eligibility. In 1999, ZGDT received tax exempt status and MAC's CAG to revive the festival and the project was booked at the Marin Center Showcase Theater, (seating 309), for a 2-evening run. The project was retitled to convey its new mission: to bring choreographers and composers together to premiere original collaborative works. In the fall of 1999 Marin's 21st Century Dance Collaboration opened, showcasing 12 choreographer/composer teams to sold-out audiences both nights. In 2000, Dance Outré applied for MAC's CAG (ZGDT was ineligible) and received it, and M21CDC officially became annual. The project was again successfully produced and received. In late 2000, ZGDT became eligible for grants other than or in addition to MAC's CAG, and the project became the major program of ZGDT alone, as its sole fiscal receiver and producer in 2001 and 2002. In 2001, ZGDT brought this important showcase to the attention of the Marin Communty Foundation, who awarded ZGDT $10,000. 2001 was a fabulous show and it seemed that the project would flourish. Unfortunately, because of the economic downturn in California and beyond during 2002, the Marin Community Foundation decided to cut ZGDT's funding in 2002, stating that it had cut everyone's funding, and gave it $2,500 just weeks before the performance in September of 2002. Although this saved ZGDT from financial disaster, it also made the project ineligible for grant money in 2003 -- because the $2,500 actually came from the Marin Arts Council's 2003 Community Arts Grant funding. This made ZGDT ineligible for funding from both MCF and MAC in 2003. ZGDT also lost critical funding from floundering small businesses and individuals who were having financial difficulties during same period, and the 2002 project was the first year that the project operated in the red. There was little hope of local funding for Marin's 21st Century Dance Collaboration in 2003 through ZGDT, so ZGDT's founder and director Hilary Kretchmer gave ZGDT's Associate Director Lorien Fenton the green light to take the project on and attempt to revive it under her non-profit organization, since her organization was eligible for funding. All of this coincided with the director and founder moving to Eugene, Oregon at the end of 2002, so it seemed right for the Marin-based project to remain with Dance Outré and Lorien Fenton in Marin, and go forward with new leadership and a fresh format. In order to apply to a larger base of funding sources, Dance Outré moved the project to San Francisco, where it runs today as Fort Mason's Cowell Theater as Collaboration! Dance and Music.

Without a major project in California, ZGDT decided to close as a California non-profit.