3 5 t h A N N I V E R S A R Y

SA N F R A N CIS C O

ETHNICDANCE FESTIVALJ U N E 7 – 3 0 , 2 0 1 3

We celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival with a series of inspiring events and performances featuring 35 dance companies that embody the breadth and diversity of the Bay Area’s dance communities.

35YEARS

Ensohza Minyoshu Ballet Folklórico Mexico Danza Fogo Na Roupa Performing CompanyXpressions Chinese Performing Arts of AmericaHalau o Keikiali‘i

HONORING CULTURAL LEGACY AND THE PASSING OF KNOWLEDGE FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXTCELEBRATING

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Ballet Folklórico NetzahualcoyotlDon’t miss this colorful, percussive dance from Zacatecas, Mexico, which has both Spanish and indigenous Nahuatl origins. This processional piece, performed to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe, features dancers in magnificent hats, spinning in lines, and marking time with clapping sandals, clicking beads, and gourd rattles.

Fogo Na Roupa Performing CompanyIn full euphoria and full regalia, San Francisco’s prize-winning Afro-Brazilian Carnaval dancers will perform with a full drum bateria and contingent of dancers in glorious coque feather headpieces. This is urban-derived, African inspired, clothes-on-fire, funky Fogolystic samba reggae at its best!

Saturday, June 8, 8pmLegion of Honor Museum

Charya Burt Cambodian DanceBlossoming AntiquitiesA remarkable conversation about form and grace began in 1906, when the centuries-old Cambodian Royal Ballet performed in Paris and captivated sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Cambodian choreographer Charya Burt evokes Rodin’s historical sketches in a performance that evolves from a visually stunning traditional Khmer dance into an exciting new work reflecting the cultural collision of East and West.

This innovative collaboration includes original compositions by Alexis Alrich and live visual art-making by painter Mario Uribe.

This performance will be followed by a dialogue and

special reception with Charya Burt.

Festival Grand Opening San Francisco City Hall

Weekend One Friday, June 7, Noon / Free of charge

Our Festival opens with two grand historical dance performances:

Stay for a lively and enlightening Artist Dialogue after the performances.

Festival Opening Events

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Charya Burt Cambodian Dance

Weekend Two June 15 & 16Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Carlos MorenoFrom Mexico’s state of Guerrero, a beautifully choreographed ballet folklórico, to the unique musical sones The Bull, The Vulture, and La Iguana. In dances of courtship and love, twenty dancers swirl skirts, spin handkerchiefs, tap out rapid zapateado, and showoff wonderful acrobatics.

Chaksam-PaA rarely-seen purification dance from the only Tibetan Opera outside Southeast Asia. Masked dancers invoke spirits with wide-gestured dance, haunting song, andotherworldly crash of cymbals. Learned in Dharamsala from master Norbu Tsering, the form is Ache Lhamo, a 14th-century Buddhist UNESCO Intangible Heritage.

Cheikh Tairou M’baye and Sing Sing RhythmsA master Senegalese drummer and griot and his West African sabar orchestra turn up the heat—setting in motion a high-intensity and sensual celebration from the Wolof people: a dance for protection and a dance for joy with a rhythmic finale where arms and legs fly.

Colectivo AnqariChoreographer Luis Valverde presents Mistisikuri, an urban expression of indigenous Andean dance. When this joyful baile alegre is danced in the streets—from La Paz to Puno to pathways of Andean pueblos—dancers become twirling flowers within a thicket of panpipes and drums.

De Rompe y Raja Cultural AssociationIt’s an Afro-Peruvian dance party! With whistles, cajón box-drums, donkey-jaw rattles, flags, and a fabulous a capella session of counter-pointed zapateado footwork. This dynamic dancing percussion team turns sad, sweet songs from slavery times and African, Spanish, and Andean syncopations into the unhesitating rhythms of freedom.

El TunanteChampion dancer Nestor Ruiz presents Peru’s national dance. La Marinera is an utterly romantic courtship dance with skillful cepillado and zapateo footwork. Here, handkerchiefs fly like doves, well-dressed men mimic Paso horses, and women dance barefoot, swishing their skirts like ocean waves.

Gamelan Sekar JayaLegendary Balinese dancer Ni Ketut Arini guest-directs this modern arrangement of an ancient temple dance. Lithe dancers—in flowers and gold—perform a choreography based on the movements of nature, as a light-hearted bamboo gamelan guides fluttering hands and expressive eyes.

Parangal Dance CompanyChoreographer Eric Solano presents the tale of a royal marriage from Maguindanao. This elaborate presenta-tion from the Philippines features a full stage of tradi-tional dancers, traditional attire, symbolic flags, golden umbrellas, a royal banquet, a Maguindanaoan boat, and the mesmerizing music of gongs and drums.

Shabnam Dance CompanyNear East belly dance celebrates the feminine! To an Arabic doumbek beat, dancers perform a daring balancing act, with mystical zaar, show stopping shamadan, and hypnotic hipwork—dancing to summon the energy of earth, wind, fire and water.

<Chaksam-Pa Chaksam-Pa

Pandit Birju Maharaj with Tarangini School of Kathak Dance*

In this innovative combination of Bollywood song about true love and North Indian Classical dance, ten women stamp and spin swift pirouettes in tightly-choreographed unison. They express fine emotion through this kathak pure dance. This dance performance embodies the impressive artistic lineage of Pandit Birju Maharaj, who is this year’s special international guest of honor.

*Join us on Sunday, June 16 at noon for a Master Class and Artist Dialogue withlegendary Pandit Birju Maharaj.

Dr. Zakarya Diouf, Diamano Coura West African Dance CompanyParangal Dance Company Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno

June 15 & 16 Special EventsSaturday, June 15, 11:30am – 5:30pmA Marathon for the Dance EnthusiastStart your day with Leung’s White Crane Chinese lion dancers and deem sum at Yank Sing restaurant followed by a Yerba Buena Gardens Festival performance by a Festival audience favorite, Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu, from 1-2:30pm. Then, come to our 3pm matinee at Yerba Buena’s Lam Research Theater—a thrilling 7 hours of dance. With your 3pm ticket, you will enjoy complimentary Shanghai Dumplings and Sesame Balls at Yank Sing, where you will also receive a beautiful flower lei to wear throughout the day. Festival staff members will help you navigate between the three locations. Visit our website—www.sfethnicdancefestival.org—for more details. RSVP required by June 10.

Sunday, June 16, 5:30 pm / A Sweet TreatAfter watching the 2pm Festival theater performances featuring dances of courtship and marriage from Mexico and the Philippines, audience members will have the opportunity to taste a Mexican-Filipino wedding cookie-inspired creation

Festival HonorsSaturday, June 15, 8pmThe Honorable Nagesh Parthasarathi, Consul General of India, will honor grand master of kathak Pandit Birju Maharaj, who joins us June 15 and 16 from New Delhi, IndiaMaharaji is renowned for his mastery of rhythm and expressive abhinaya, and has been hailed by the New York Times as “a virtuoso of the finest nuance.”

“He is a living legend alright, but humility could well be Pandit Birju Maharaj’s middle name. The maestro credits all his amazing feats to “the blessings of Lord Krishna and the love of the people of this country.” – The Times of India

Kathak Master Class and Dialogue with Pandit Birju Maharaj Sunday, June 16 from Noon – 1pm on the stage of the Lam Research Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Call World Arts West at 415.474.3914 for information about participating.

Saturday, June 22, 8pmThe 10th annual Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to visionary Bay Area arts leader Dr. Zakarya DioufDr. Diouf has had a deep impact on the lives of thousands both as founder and director of Diamano Coura West African Dance Company and as community leader, playing a key role in unifying the African cultural arts community.

Born in Senegal, Dr. Diouf received his Ph.D in Ethnomusicology from U.C. Berkeley and has combined a brilliant career as a choreographer and performer with teaching. He has done extensive research into African music and dance along with choreographing acclaimed dance and dramatic pieces for many renowned dance companies. He was director of “Les Ballets Africanes” and the Senegalese National Dance Company before joining the faculty of Southern Illinois University in 1969 while working with Ms. Katherine Dunham. Since 1973, Dr. Diouf has taught locally, inspiring new generations, while consulting and teaching workshops in drum-making, choreography, African history, and performing arts.

Weekend ThreeJune 22 & 23Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Ballet Folklórico Mexico DanzaThis suite from Nuevo Leon is pure Mexico Norteño, with echoes of floating Viennese waltzes, exuberant Czechoslovakian polkas, and vigorous German accordion. After the stately women’s dance in Victorian dress, the hombres saunter in—and twelve couplesspin in unison, with dazzling footwork, turns, and stomps.

Chinese Performing Arts of AmericaIn a delicate court dance from the Tang Dynasty, eight girls dance their solemn respect to God. They perform a dance technique called “water sleeve,” creating patterns with extraordinarily long silk sleeves. Their gestures summon dashing rain, thundering wind,and tranquility that returns like a rainbow.

Diamano Coura West African Dance CompanyThis exceptional West African dance group brings to life scenes from a Liberian dance drama: a village is threatened by a leopard, and dancers portray the hunt, the victorious battle scene, and an exuberant celebration of victory.

*We will honor the company’s founder and master

drummer Dr. Zakarya Diouf with the 2013 Malonga

Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award during

the June 22, 8pm performance.

Ensohza MinyoshuSansaodori, from the northern Japanese prefecture of Iwate, is danced during the Obon Festival. Folk dancers in traveling garb play taiko drums and flute, as they perform a series of dances, including a rice planting dance, a solo by a masked fool, and a closingwith stylized bows.

Halau o Keikiali‘i, Hawai‘iKumu Hula Kawika Alfiche builds on his native Hawaiian tradition with a new dance, evoking sacred stories through song, coconut drum, and hula pahu. He sings Kahekilinui. Thunder roars, heavens split—as graceful, dignified dancers honor Hawai`i’s gods of lightning, wildwoods, and canoe landings.

La Tania Baile FlamencoThis stunning Spanish flamenco performance features award-winning dancer La Tania, and brings music to theforefront. As three female dancers perform the Farruca—a men’s dance of somber virtuosity, aggressive, musical footwork and dramatic shifts in tempo—their feet add percussion to violin and guitar.

OREETThis belly dance soloist builds on the timeless form learned from her Yemeni and Sephardic Israeli families. In glorious sequins and silver wings, she shimmies and shakes from her foot to her wild hair, matching precise and intricate movements to Egyptian, Turkish, and Latin rhythms.

Tribute to Malonga CasquelourdA heartfelt tribute to the late Malonga Casquelourd, the Bay Area’s beloved master of African music and dance. This presentation honors the progression of his unique vision and voice, marking ten years since his untimely death.

Vishwa Shanthi Dance AcademyShreelata Suresh presents a sacred bharatanatyam dance, expertly choreographed from the Gandharva Veda. To bright violin, veena, and cymbal, jeweled dancers weave rhythmic feet through the triangles, circles, and squares that symbolize nature—evokingrays of the sun, undulating rivers and strong lines of mountains.

XpressionsVigorous and graceful dances bring a vibrant joy from the Rajasthan desert. Dancers spin like multicolored silk tops and strike cymbals sewn into their clothing. They also perform a rare and remarkable dance of snake-charmers listed as a UNESCO Intangible Heritage.

Special performance and workshop:Sat, June 22, 11:30am / YBCA Forum

Ballet Folklórico Costa de OroFrom high in the remote regions of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Mountains, here are three ritualized danzas of the indigenous Wixáritari (Huichol): a harvest dance celebrating maize; a prayer danced with Ojos de Dios weavings; and a shamanic dance honoring themystic and sacred blue deer.

*Participants will have the opportunity to learn

some of the dance steps as well as weaving an

Ojos de Dios (God’s Eye) to take home and share

with friends and family.

<Ballet Folklórico Costa de Oro

Weekend FourJune 29 & 30Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Bolivia Corazón De AméricaHaunting Andean panpipes call from the high moun-tains, in this evocative set of indigenous Aymara and Quechua dance. One piece, said to date back to 800 BCE, features performers in elaborate feather head-pieces mimicking the ostrich-like rhea bird; another dance ridicules the colonial Spanish.

Charlotte MoragaKathak soloist Charlotte Moraga exhibits rhythmic virtuosity and subtle expression in an exquisite Indian storytelling dance in a rare 9-beat structure. As told in the 12th-century Sufi poem Conference of the Birds, the nightingale, peacock, and hawk must relinquishsomething they love as they embark on a spiritual quest.

Dimensions Dance TheaterWest and Central African dance and music are the roots of this New Orleans Second Line tradition. High-stepping, vibrantly clad, handkerchief-twirling dancers and a boisterous brass band take to the streets, buck jumping – celebrating life and honoring tradition.

El Wah Movement Dance TheatreFrom Haiti, a high-intensity adaptation of a traditional prayer chant, calling people everywhere to positive action. Dancers exult in intricate foot patterns and polyrhythmic movements. Red and blue sequins flash across the stage as the African Rada rhythms intensify, calling the good spirits in.

Grupo Folklórico Raíces de Mi TierraThis spring fair in Aguascalientes, Mexico, is a fantastic display of music, dance, and trick roping. A live maria-chi band sets the festive mood as dancers swing and twirl—from uniformed railroad men, to horsemen in bolero jackets and sombreros, to elegant womenin embroidered colonial dresses.

LIKHA - Pilipino Folk EnsembleA world premiere from master choreographer Rudi Soriano, based on indigenous Visayan dance. Elaborate props and rhythmic beating of drums and gongs bring this story alive: it opens with a graceful ritual sacrifice and ends in wild combat with a full-feathered Banog eagle.

Łowiczanie Polish Folk Ensemble of San FranciscoFolk culture is alive in the high Beskid Mountains of Poland. Accompanied by traditional fiddles and shep-herd’s pipes—and decked out in their embroidered finest—sixteen dancers present mountain songs and dances: with greeting marches, twirling couples,acrobatics, and some astonishingly rhythmic push-ups.

Mona Khan Company Emerging PerformersA Bollywood show-stopper. Talented young dancers turn Indian classical styles and traditional folk dance into contemporary Bollywood—expressing joy, happiness, and togetherness! This non-stop performance of swirling silks and colored lights, swords and cymbals pays tribute to Krishna and Ganesha—an Indian festival dance!

Suhaila Dance CompanyA beautifully executed choreography of classic belly dance, evoking 1920s Cairo cabarets, when traditional Middle Eastern dance took the stage. Coins and beads shimmer as the dancers’ subtle, graceful movements emphasize the feminine—and complex Arabic music from Lebanon lends poetic themes of love and loss.

<Special Event Saturday, June 29, 6:30pm Lam Research Theater at YBCA

Join El Wah artistic director Colette Eloi for an Artist Dialogue with master dancer Blanche Brown,Dimensions Dance Theater choreographer Latanya d. Tigner, and Dimensions’ artistic director DeborahVaughan. This dialogue will be led by Festival artistic director CK Ladzekpo.

Admission included with tickets to either the 2pm or 8pm June 29 performance

Urban Jazz Dance CompanyIn this stunning solo, Antoine Hunter presents Ameri-can Sign Dance, expressing felt syncopation through the athletic body. Hunter unites jazz, African, hip-hop, gospel, and signing as a poetic gestured language. The piece honors deafness as human experience.

El Wah Movement Dance Theatre

Weekend 1 Festival Opening

Performances by Ballet Folklórico Netzahualcoyotl and Fogo Na Roupa Performing CompanySan Francisco City Hall / Friday, June 7 at Noon / Free of charge / No tickets required

Charya Burt Cambodian DanceBlossoming Antiquities*

Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor Museum / Saturday, June 8 at 8pmTickets are $38 online at sfedfopeningnight.bpt.me or by phone 800.838.3006 *Tickets for this performance must be purchased

in advance. No tickets available on-site.

Tickets and Information

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Price 3 $38

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTSSEATING & PRICING

STAGE

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$18$18

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www.sfethnicdancefestival.orgTickets

$18-$58 / Order by phone 415.978.2787 or online at www.sfethnicdancefestival.org

- Subscribe to three YBCA performances and save 10%

- Children 12 & under receive 50% discount for Saturday matinee performances

- Group Discount of 10% (20 tickets or more)

2013 Raffle Grand Prize: Two roundtrip tickets to India on Emirates Airline. Details at www.sfethnicdancefestival.org

All Festival photos by RJ Muna

Tarangini School of Kathak Dance

Front cover: Urban Jazz Dance CompanyBack cover: Xpressions

Weekends 2, 3, and 4 Yerba Buena Center for the ArtsSaturdays at 2pm* and 8pm / Sundays at 2pm

*NOTE: The matinee performance on Saturday, June 15,

will begin at 3pm

Weekend 2: June 15 & 16Weekend 3: June 22 & 23Weekend 4: June 29 & 30

Each weekend’s program is unique, featuring 9 - 10 diverse dance companies

Subscribe to three YBCA performances and save 10%

SAN FRANCISCO

ETHNIC DANCE FESTIVALJUNE 7 – 30, 2013

35th

ANNIVERSARY

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 13013San Francisco, CA

Fort Mason Center 2 Marina BoulevardSan Francisco, CA 94123

Tickets: sfethnicdancefestival.org

“Transcendent, glorious...the world intertwined.” - THE NEW YORK TIMES