The 8th Annual CubaCaribe Dance Festival Celebrates Traditional

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: Kyleigh Nevis 831-­‐818-­‐9609 [email protected] Jamaica Itule Simmons 415.279.1034 [email protected] The 8th Annual CubaCaribe Dance Festival Celebrates Traditional and popular dance April 18-­‐29, 2012 Two weeks of dynamic weeks of dance, music, film, master classes & special events in San Francisco and Oakland “Since they adore dancing for social activity and fun, they incorporate dancing into their difficult daily life as often as possible. The draw upon their rich dance cultural legacies which are both broad and deep.”-­‐ Yvonne Daniel ______________________________________________________________________________ The 8th Annual CubaCaribe Dance Festival will present performances, workshops, lectures and a film screening by master and emerging Caribbean and Latino musicians and choreographers, each offering a unique look at the power of people and their use of music and dance to overcome daily trials. WHEN: Thursdays – Sundays, April 18-­‐29, 2012 at various times (www.cubacaribe.org) The theme for this year’s Festival is PODER Popular and looks at the power of the people and the art that they create when they gather, not in conservatories, but in living rooms and in the streets. The secular dances are fundamental to the daily survival of many cultures, traditions and artists themselves. Dance and music serves as a vital form of expression and as a release from daily problems, worries, hard ships. PROGRAM: Week 1 : Poder Popular April 20-­‐22. Dance Mission Theatre, 3316 24th street & Mission, SF Friday April 20, 8pm, Saturday April 21, 8pm-­‐ Sunday April 22, 3pm & 7pm. Family matinee with discount pricing @3pm Sunday April 22 Mixed program A mixed program featuring local artists and a Sunday matinée with youth performances. Local artists include: Cunamacué, Aguacero, Alafia Dance Ensemble, Grupo Experimental Nagó, Rueda con Ritmo, Arenas Dance Company, Las Que Son Son, Rica Salsa, and Dimensions Dance Theater. Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] Grupo Experimental Nagó with Artistic Direction by Temistocles Betancourt of eastern Cuba’s Ballet Folklorico de Oriente. A native of Santiago de Cuba, Temi became a member of the renowned Ballet Folklorico de Oriente in 1978. For thirty years he danced professionally with the company, performing throughout Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Russia, and Africa. Temi danced as primer bailarin from 1979 to 2000 and worked as choreographer and professor with the company until 2000, when he became assistant director. Muriel Johnson is an early childhood educator and storyteller, specializing in multi-­‐cultural folk tales for children. Muriel was born and raised in Salisbury, MD. She grew up in an environment where language was celebrated. Her mother was an English teacher, actress and avid reader. As a child Muriel would sit in awe as her mother would read and tell stories, sing songs and recite nursery rhymes. “I heard Mother Goose, foreign folk tales, Paul Lawrence Dunbar to Shakespeare...a little of everything.” By the age of five Muriel had acquired an extraordinary vocabulary, soaring imagination and gift of expression. As a storyteller Muriel shares her passion and warmth with audiences of all ages: Performing for pre schools, libraries, parties, festivals and churches. She has traveled throughout the United States, the Fiji Islands and lived in Central America. Through her travels she has gathered stories, songs and an appreciation for diverse cultures. Grupo Aguacero is a performance and education project focusing on the traditions and contemporary creative expressions of Afro Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance. “Aguacero” literally means a sudden heavy rainstorm usually followed by a refreshing sky clearing and gust of sunshine. The spirit and practice of Bomba, like an “aguacero,” is intense, healing and promotes life and growth. Bomba is a living cultural music and dance form born in the sugar cane plantations of Puerto Rico over three hundred years ago. Used as a form of resistance and relief, Bomba provided a setting for enslaved Africans and Puerto Ricans to creatively express what they were living through daily as well as an organized means of rebellion against colonial powers. Through cultural resistance and family lineage, Bomba has been kept alive through many years of struggle and persecution. Aguacero is founded and directed by Shefali Shah with musical direction by Hector Lugo and the collaboration of Bay Area artists practicing, studying, and performing Bomba and other Puerto Rican folkloric traditions. Aguacero came together in 2007 with skilled musicians and dancers of the genre as a way to create and share new original works in Bomba and to share perspective and expressions of the genre rooted in the teachings of our masters and ancestors. Aguacero was featured in the 2008 West Wave Dance Festival at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and has collaborated and performed with Los Pleneros de la 21 from New York City, members of La Familia Cepeda, as well as other renowned masters and practitioners from Puerto Rico. Cunamacué's mission is to promote the continuity of Afro-­‐
Peruvian culture, representing it not as a point in time, but as a living, vibrant and evolving form whose music and dance can be used as a means of expression. A reflection of its new environment, the San Francisco Bay Area, Cunamacué uses Afro-­‐Peruvian movement vocabulary as well as movements inspired by modern dance aesthetics and dances of the African Diaspora to communicate themes that are universal to the human experience. Cunamacué is dedicated to sharing Afro-­‐Peruvian dance with the community through performances, school residencies, and youth programs. Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] Arenas Dance Company is a Cuban folkloric and popular dance company directed by Cuban-­‐
born Susana Arenas Pedroso. Arenas Dance Company has performed throughout the United States and local performances have included the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival (2006, 2007), CubaCaribe (2005, 2006) and various colleges, such as Chico State. Susana Arenas Pedroso began her artistry in dance at age 12 when she took the opportunity to study at the Casa de la Cultura inMatanzas, Cuba, and began dancing professionally with Terra Virgen in 1991 and in 1992 she joined the theater and dance troupe Alafia Ire. She danced with Oched Olorum in 1993, and in 1994 she joined world renowned Compania Folklorica Raices Profundas as a soloist. After settling in the Bay Area, she merged her two former companies (Olorun and Sandunga Cubana) into Arenas Dance Company (2004), a company with a commitment to sharing Cuban culture in an accessible form for a wide audience. Alafia Dance Ensemble: Valerie Watson founded Alafia Dance Ensemble (ADE) in 1995 because of a desire to showcase the intricate beauty of African Haitian Dance and Music. As a professor of Dance at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) since 1980 and a 3rd generation Dunham dancer and teacher, Ms. Watson began the company with students from African Haitian classes she taught at CCSF (a process that continues). Over the past 15 years Alafia Dance Ensemble has had the honor to perform in many venues which include: 30th San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, Haitian Flay Day Celebration at Ashkenaz, La Pena Cultural Center, Great American Music Hall, Presidio’s Golden Gate Club, Konbit 2nd Annual Haitian Dance, Music and Arts Festival, Cuba Caribe, Fort Mason’s Cowell Theater, and CCSF Dance Concerts. Las Que Son Son, founded in 2006, is a San Francisco based, all-­‐women dance company performing a broad repertoire of Cuban dance genres ranging from contemporary popular to traditional folkloric. In 2008, Las Que Son Son began working with Cuban dancer and choreographer Yismari Ramos Tellez, and in 2009 Ramos assumed the role of artist director of the company. LQSS dancers have studied with the prominent Cuban, Haitian, and Brazilian dance instructors of the San Francisco Bay Area, and are trained in such dance forms as flamenco, ballet and modern. The company's performance history includes San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival (2008, 2009); CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010); Storm of Roses (2008); San Francisco Salsa and Rueda Festival (2009, 2010, 2011); and numerous club events and private soirees. The mission of Las Que Son Son—to study and perform dance in a collaborative environment—is based on the notion that dance is a vital artistic practice that shapes community and builds solidarity among diverse cultures, ethnicities and ages. Week 2 : Oil and Water April 27-­‐29. Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St, Oakland. Friday April 27, 8pm, Saturday April 28, 8pm-­‐ Sunday April 29, 7pm Alayo Dance Company World Premiere Alayo Dance Company, CubaCaribe’s resident dance company, unveils a new work, OIL & Water (2012) In this new work, choreographer Ramón Ramos Alayo and his diverse performers will present a new work built about the recent oil spills in the gulf coast. The piece will draw on the Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] strong histories of Santería, mixing Modern dance vocabulary and live Cuban Folkloric music in a unique ritual. With this project, Alayo will push his own creative boundaries and take an innovative risk through the integration of a current environmental issue and traditional sacred manifestations. The work will focus on how the pollution has destroyed oceans, animals, and humans around the globe and how we can seek salvation in the wake of such disaster. Alayo will symbolize the ocean with the Orisha Yemaya, who is the Yoruban deity of the Ocean and Salt Waters. Alayo Dance Company was founded in 2001 by Ramón Ramos Alayo. Ramos Alayo articulates his creative vision through a synthesis of Afro-­‐Cuban modern, folkloric and popular Cuban dance. Alayo is the resident company of CubaCaribe. Alayo has grown an audience far more diverse than most Bay Area modern dance circuits, attracting devotees of both contemporary and folkloric arts. It is known for tackling difficult issues such as slavery, racism and cancer, and since its inception has produced nine evening-­‐length productions that have received both critical and popular acclaim. They have performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area at venues such as Theater Artaud, ODC Theater, Dance Mission Theater, Herbst Theater, Laney Theater, Sonoma Country Wine Theater, and La Peña Cultural Center, and have presented work in the Black Choreographer’s Festival, The CubaCaribe Festival, and Intersection’s Culture and Flow. In 2010 Alayo was one of the first American companies to ever perform at the Annual Festival del Caribe at Teatro Martí. Alayo also performed at Teatro Mella in Havana, Cuba in July 2011. Alayo was featured in the article “Dance Across America” in National Geographic Magazine in 2006, and received the prestigious Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation’s “Emerging Choreographer’s Award” (2005) to develop his piece, Blood + Sugar. Ramos was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award nominee for the ensemble performance of Los Guedes, performed at CubaCaribe Festival (2006). Most recently, he was recognized as “Best Dance Dynamo” in the SF Bay Guardian’s “Best of the Bay” (2009), and was the recipient of a SF Bay Guardian 2010 Goldie Award, hailed by dance critic Rita Felciano as “the best Afro-­‐Cuban dancer whose choreography stands well beyond traditional modes.” _____________________________________________________________________________ Tickets : $20 online at www.brownpapertickets.com $24 at door $12 children at all shows, age 12 and younger Family Matinee April 22 at 3 pm, $10 children 12 and under, $17 adults Box Office: 415-­‐273-­‐4633 Please call to arrange interviews. Hi res downloadable photos, a full schedule of events and artist biographies available at www.cubacaribe.org/festival8/ ______________________________________________________________________________ Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] Special Events: A series of lectures and classes allow audiences to examine more critically the themes viewed on stage, and to visit a cultural/spiritual world that is often hidden or made exotic. Classes and lecture/Demos will be given by master local artists Bobi Cespedes and John Santos, Yismari Tellez Ramos, Rodson de Jesus. The full schedule of performances and events can be viewed at www.cubacaribe.org SPECIAL EVENT SCHEDULE: 8th Annual CubaCaribe Festival Lecture with John Santos Wednesday April 18, 6 pm. $12 at door Museum of African Diaspora, 685 Mission St., San Francisco Alza Lo Pié Kongo: Caribbean Empowerment Through Kongo Traditions. Kongo-­‐derived drumming, dance, song, language, healing rituals and ancestor recognition have played an immeasurable role in the evolution of Creole-­‐Caribbean culture and identity. Kongo influence is the strongest among the many manifestations of African retention in the Caribbean basin, providing the foundation for creative self expression, social commentary, and community based historical documentation. This lecture demonstration will include slides, recorded examples, and live songs of Kongo-­‐
Caribbean origin. Five-­‐time Grammy-­‐nominated percussionist and US Artists Fontanals Fellow, John Santos, is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-­‐Latin music in the world today. Born in San Francisco, California, he was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family, surrounded by music. John is widely respected as one of the top writers, teachers and historians in the field and was a member of the Latin Jazz Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. He is currently part of the faculty at the Jazz School Institute (Berkeley, CA) and the College of San Mateo (CA). He has conducted countless workshops, lectures and clinics in the US, Latin America and Europe including the Adventures in Music program of the San Francisco Symphony, the Berklee School of Music in Boston, UCLA, Yale, Stanford, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Michigan, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State Hayward, and the University of Colorado, to name a few. Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] Lecture with Bobi Cespedes Thursday April 26, 6 pm. $12 at door Museum of African Diaspora, 685 Mission St., San Francisco Female Orishas This lecture focuses on the fundamental concepts in the tradition of female Orishas (goddesses of the Yoruba Pantheon); also on the history and the attitudes that create and support their traditions. These will be talks from the afro-­‐Cuban –Lucumi perspective and will touch on the role of Lucumi women in general and the music, song, art, and legends of this rich tradition. Gladys "Bobi" Cespedes is an acclaimed folkloric singer, dancer and percussionist; she is a recording artist, theatrical director, storyteller, accomplished historian, lecturer, and cultural arts teacher. She sings in three languages: English, Spanish, and Lucumi, the mother tongue of the descendants of the Yorubas of West Africa in Cuba. She makes and plays a variety of authentic folkloric percussion instruments, including the Chekere, a beautiful beaded calabash gourd. As a storyteller, she weaves the tales of the Orisas -­‐ deities of the Yoruba pantheon -­‐ in fluid word and gesture and illustrates the poetic, reverent vision of God and nature that is her ancestral heritage. As a dancer, she gives color, form and exuberant life to the intricate, polyrhythmic music of the Caribbean. As a priestess and IyanIfa in the Yoruba-­‐Lucumi spiritual tradition, she carries unbroken the cord of spiritual tradition and inspiration which joins the past with the present. For over thirty years, Bobi has been directly involved in the preservation and teaching of Afro-­‐Cuban culture and traditions. Bobi was born the youngest of 14 children into a musical family who lived in the town of El Cotorro, on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. She was raised in a family where everyone was involved in some in some aspect of the folklore and music of Cuba. Bobi left Cuba in 1959 to live in New York City where she continued to study with such notable artists as Sylvia del Villar and West African folklorist Baba Denizulu. In 1967, she was initiated as a priestess of Obatala in the Lucumi religion. In 1979, Bobi became a founding member of the Ifa Players; a theater company, which produced plays, based on African mythology. Later in 1979, she became a California Arts Council "Artist-­‐in-­‐Residence" in San Francisco's Hunter Point teaching cultural arts to children. In 1981, Bobi, her brother Luis and nephew Guillermo formed the original son trio, called Trio Cespedes, who released their debut recording, "Guira con Son," on Caldero Records. Trio Cespedes later grew into what is now a 12-­‐
piece Conjunto Cespedes. She also arranged seven Caribbean Carnival instrumental suites for the "Children of Many Colors Company," which she directed for 10 years. Bobi is also an "Artist-­‐
in-­‐Residence" at the Bay Area's Discovery Museum, where she has directed for Museum's Annual Carnaval Celebration since 1996. Bobi has performed nationally and internationally with Conjunto Cespedes in such state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art venues as Bill Graham's World Beat Festival, the BAM Festival in Barcelona, the Kentucky Center for the Arts, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D. C. and SOBs and Joe's Pub in New York City. Too numerous to mention, Bobi has opened for countless acts, including Tito Puente, Ruben Blades and El Gran Combo. In 1989, Bobi Cespedes founded the Afro-­‐Cuban folkloric ensemble, "Siguaralla," which performs Afro-­‐
Cuban religious music to educate audiences about the essence of Cuban rhythm. Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] Film Screening: LA SALSA CUBANA With Q and A by the film director, Eric Joseph Johnson
Thursday April 26, 6 pm. $12 at door. Museum of African Diaspora, 685 Mission St., San Francisco A true story about Cuban salsa dancing, the film follows a dance group from Havana striving to win the national dance competition. Enter a world of vibrant dancing, fascinating relationships, wonderful music, and colorful imagery. Filmed in Havana, Cuba. A dance group from the outskirts of Havana strives to win the Cuban national dance competition. It is a story and event that engrosses the country. The group comes from the Guanabacoa neighborhood and their passion is Cuban salsa. This is an authentic and rare view of Cuba today and the dancing that lifts the national spirit. Eric Joseph Johnson: Director, Producer, Editor, Screenwriter During 2003 and 2004 Johnson lived in Cuba while studying dance in the streets and neighborhoods of Havana and as a matriculated student at the Instituto Superior de Arte, Cuba’s premier university of performing arts. In April, 2004, he performed on Dance Casino, the same Cuban-­‐produced TV program featured in the film. Johnson was the director and choreographer for the performing dance group Rueda San Diego until 2010 and taught Cuban dance at the University of California, San Diego, rueda de casino recreational dance club for students. He holds engineering degrees from UC Berkeley and Stanford. Eric is a self-­‐trained filmmaker who learned by studying the works of other filmmakers, especially documentary and Cuban genres. Master Classes: TBA Will be taught in Afro-­‐Brazilian & Cuban Popular, Hip-­‐Hop & Haitian, Salsa, Puerto Rican Bomba & Cuban Rumba. Teachers include Rodson De Jesus, Yismari Tellez Ramos, Demone LeBeu, Shefali Shae & Susana Arenas Pedroso Party Saturday April 21. Details check www.cubacaribe.org Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected] CALENDAR LISTING WHAT: 8th Annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music: Two weeks of dynamic performances and special events by master artists from Cuba and the Afro-­‐Caribbean diaspora, including the Bay Area. WHEN: Thursdays – Sundays, April 19-­‐29 at various times (schedule at www.cubacaribe.org) WHERE: Week 1 Performances: April 20 to 22, Dance Mission Theater, 3316-­‐24th Street, San Francisco. Week 2 Performances: April 27-­‐29, Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. TICKETS: $10-­‐$24, brownpapertickets.com or at the door. Media Contacts: Jamaica Itule Simmons | 415.279.1034 | [email protected] Kyleigh Nevis| 831.818.9609 | [email protected]