Deb Voisin & Panther Percussion/ West African with Deb Cox Voisin
Deb Voisin has been studying and performing West African Dance for over 10 years. She has studied with many master artists from Guinea, Mali, Burkina Fasso, and Senegal and has visited Guinea twice for dance training intensives. She specializes in introducing beginners and is passionate about finding power, joy, and grace in the form.
Panther Percussion is a Santa Cruz based West African Drumming and Dance ensemble. Members of the group have been studying the music of various West African ethnic groups for five to twenty years including travels to Guinea with master artists. First they play Djolé (Jolé, Yolé), a mask-dance from the Temine-people from Sierra Leone that was traditionally played on square drums in different sizes. Next they will play Sinte, a rhythm from the region of the city Boke and Boffa of Guinea where the Landuma and Nalu people use this rhythm as a pre-initiation dance.
Dancers:
Deb Voisin
Brenda Kruller
Drummers:
Beth Dyer
Doug Kate
Valerie Kane
David Barker
Andrew Foner
Photo by Karen Lemon
Japanese Butoh by Trey Donovan & Diana Garcia-Snyder/ Japanese Butoh with Diana Garcia-Snyder
Trey Donovan
Trey Donovan is a performance artist who brings together such diverse cultural elements as music/sound, language, dance, sculpture, structure and technology to synthesize impressions of our place in the universe. His recent projects involve him in the study of classical music, modern musical composition and improvisation, large and small architectural and landscape embellishments, and since 2002, the ever-evolving sphere of butoh dance. Originally from the High Sierras, Trey has worked and lived in Europe and Russia as a musician and cultural sojourner, drawing influences from the nature and cultures of those regions, their affinity for their natural environment and their experimental artistic discoveries. A long time resident of Santa Cruz, Trey currently lives and works in Marin.
Diana Garcia-Snyder
Cofounding member of DAIPAN Butoh Collective. Diana Garcia-Snyder MFA, Mexican born performer and teaching artists. With more than 20 years of experience in classical ballet and a decade evolving from modern and contemporary to butoh dance, bio-energetics, yoga, pilates, ritual dance and somatic practices. As a student of the European and eastern mystic tradition and meditation she is committed to combining the spiritual journey with movement and expression. She is a serious student of the integration of dance with the recent developments in psychology and neurophysiology.
Crystal Silmi and RaksArabi
RaksArabi is a belly dance fusion troupe based out of Santa Cruz and is directed and choreographed by Crystal Silmi. They perform a range of stylizations from folkloric belly dance to modern fusion at a variety of venues. Crystal offers multiple classes weekly at Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz and Dance Synergy in Aptos.
RaksArabi Dancers:
Crystal Silmi
Cecily Ryan
Amber Dratz
Jessica Del Bono
Jessica Helman
Kayla Dolan
Jill Baker
www.crystalsilmi.com
The dramatic ending to the belly dance performance will be by Crystal and RaksArabi, presenting an interpretive military dance piece utilizing folkloric dance movements to tell the tale of the futility of war.
Helene Stakem and Sister of the Desert Sky Dance Company
Workshop: Moroccan Tribal Dance with Helene Stakem
Helene Stakem: Director of Bellydance International
Helene is an Oriental Dance artist, instructor, performer and artistic director of The Sisters of The Desert Sky Dance Company, teaching weekly classes locally as well as workshops in Europe and other parts of the USA. Helene has traveled extensively through Europe, Asia and North Africa and has continued to research ethnic dance styles, most recently in Egypt in 1993 and in Morocco in 2004. Since 1986 Helene has been a producer of Middle Eastern music and dance events, presenting a Bellydance Community Showcase at The Crepe Place every Saturday and live music shows at Don Quixote's. In 2002 she was a recipient of the Gail Rich Award for her significant contribution to the arts in Santa Cruz County. Helene is also a SPECTRA artist offering Egyptian and Moroccan folkloric dance workshops to children in schools through the Cultural Council.
www.mountainartcenter.org/dance
Sister of the Desert Sky Dance Company:
Helene Stakem
Josephine Armeli
Jennifer Worsham
Eszerlanc~Hungarian Folk Ensemble / Hungarian with Victoria Szabo
The Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble has been celebrating and showcasing Hungarian folk culture in the Bay Area since 1977 through presentations to the Hungarian community and the general public.
The Ensemble consists of ten to fifteen young adults ranging from age 16 and up. Most are of Hungarian heritage, although membership has never been limited to those with Hungarian backgrounds. The dancers receive their training in the Ensemble as well as from guest teachers and at workshops statewide.
The community served by Eszterlánc is vast, as appearances include international festivals, social events, patriotic holidays, and ethnic events. The Hungarian community alone, the group’s most supportive audience, numbers in the tens of thousands in California. Recently, the group has toured to Los Angeles, Sacramento, and even as far as Vancouver, B.C.
Hungarian Folk Dance was born in the country side of Hungary. The villagers would get together at night in the town's center. Musicians would play and the people would dance, drink, spark romances and unwind from their work filled days. In the sixties a folk dance movement swept the big cities and enthusiast would travel the country learning and preserving the customs, music and dances of these isolated villages. Hungarian National funds were spent on starting a State Ensemble and now Hungarian Fold Dance groups are found all over the world.
Performers:
Victoria Szabo (Artistic Director)
Adriana Andres
Anna Ordasi (Business Director)
Guillaume Chartier
Monty Low
Atilla Lazar
Janelle Rodriguez & Desert Dream
Workshop: Belly Dance with Janelle Rodriquez
Janelle has studied dance since age 5, including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Mexican Folklorico, Old school hip hop, and her deepest passion, Belly Dance. Janelle continues to study dance in many forms and is dedicated to teaching and sharing the art of Belly Dance.
Desert Dream is a professional belly dance company. They experience belly dance as art, emotion, tradition, beauty, as well as freedom and ambition. Artistic director and instructor, Janelle Rodriguez, creates heartfelt choreographies which display a colorful palette of belly dance styles.
Desert Dream:
Janelle Rodriguez
Anne Abraham
Imzadi
Victoria Siva
Summer Duppen.
www.JanelleDance.com
(The solo photo is by Michael Baxter
The group photois by Aaron Kirks Photography.)
Raks Baladi is considered to be the oldest women's solo dance form in the world and originated in the Middle East. Oriental Dance or Raks Sharqi is derived from this and has developed into the highly refined art of Bellydance, which is a hybrid, blending with many other dance styles. The professional dancers in the south of Egypt who incorporate traditional Egyptian dance with their own particular Romani Gypsy style have greatly influenced Bellydancing.
This age-old style of the nomadic Rom tribes, who have migrated from North West India over the last thousand years, will be demonstrated by Helene and members of The Sisters of The Desert Sky Dance Company.
Janelle and Desert Dream will perform Raks Al Balas, Dance of the Water Jug, inspired by the folkloric dances of Upper and Lower Egypt (particularly with the Saidi Fellaheen). It is a story of the village girls going about their daily chores, heading to the Nile river and gathering water.
Te Hau Nui Polynesian Dance Company/ Polynesian with Lorraine Kinnamon
Lorraine Kinnamon, Director
Te Hau Nui Polynesian Dance Company was founded over ten years ago by director, Lorraine Kalehuakeaikewekiu Kinnamon. The dancers of Te Hau Nui celebrate Polynesia through the sacred and festive dances of Hawaii, Tahiti and New Zealand. Te Hau Nui means “forever peaceful” in Tahitian and Te Hau Nui Polynesian Dance Company aims to evoke the magnificent spirit of Polynesia and its people.
Polynesian Dance is a deeply spiritual form of dance that conveys the essence of the Polynesian people. It is not only a dance form, but combines beautiful choreography with poetry and storytelling. From the more traditional to contemporary forms of Polynesian dance, the movements are linked to every aspect of life, whether it be themes of natural beauty, falling in love, or paying homage to the gods.
Te Hau Nui will perform dances from the islands of Hawai’i and Tahiti. In the workshop, participants will learn basic hula and Tahitian steps as well as a festive Tahitian dance.
Director, Lorraine Kinnnamon began studying hula and Tahitian at the age of ten in Kailua, O’ahu and continued her studies in Hawai’i, California and Tahiti. She has performed around the world and currently performs throughout the greater Bay Area. The company is based out of Santa Cruz and offers classes in Capitola as well as UCSC.
Esperanza del Valle~ Mexican Folkloric Dance Company/ Mexican Folklorico with Janet Johns
Esperanza del Valle (EDV), Mexican Folkloric Dance Company, has been sharing the rich cultural heritage of Mexico through its traditional folkloric dances in the community since its inception in 1980.
The mission of Esperanza del Valle is to cultivate and promote pride and understanding of the Mexican culture through its rich folkloric dances rooted in the merging of our Indigenous, European and African heritage.
Performance: Sones Jalisciences from the State of Jalisco
The state of Jalisco, on the west coast of Mexico is not only the home of Mexico's national dance, the Jarabe Tapatio-Mexican Hat Dance, but to the wonderful mariachi music known the globe over. The typical sones, played by mariachi are derivatives of folk music from Spain, Mexico and Africa. Esperanza del Valle celebrates the rich traditions of Jalisco sones with powerful zapateado (footwork) of the male dancers, juxtaposed with the mesmerizing faldeo (skirtwork) of the female dancers.
Choreogrpaher: Ramón Morones Ortíz of Guadalajara, México
English Morris Dance/ English Morris with Kirstin Olsen
Seabright Morris has been performing English traditional dances in the Santa Cruz area for eighteen years. It is thus part of a worldwide resurgence of morris dancing, a form of festival dance that very nearly died out around the year 1900. Every morris-dancing town in England has its own tradition, and Seabright is unusual in performing dances from a wide variety of towns, including Bledington, Adderbury, Leafield, Upton-on-Severn, Headington Quarry, and the border area between England and Wales.
Genre info:
Morris dancing dates back to at least the fifteenth century. Like many folk traditions, it has attracted scholars (who often got things wrong), dancers (who freely made stuff up or garbled received information), and critics (who thought it looked like entirely too much working-class fun and ought, therefore, to be suppressed). Shakespeare mentions it several times in his works, and one of his principal actors was a noted morris dancer whose nine-day dance marathon from London to Norfolk gave rise to the expression, "nine days' wonder." From being nearly extinct around 1900, it has evolved into a dance form that is merely obscure and a bit silly--but loads and loads of fun.
Over the centuries, morris has accumulated a host of "characters" who may or may not be dancers. There is the "green," or "green man," who represents the fertility of nature; the "Betty," who is male and female at the same time; the "Fool," who interacts with both dancers and audience; and the "Hobby," a person dressed as an animal or as a human who appears to be riding a horse, who mostly interacts with the audience. Some teams also have a "Lord" and "Lady" or "Robin and Marian," who symbolize masculine and feminine. Tied to the earth and to centuries-old traditions--but also contemporary, filled with humor, and constantly evolving--morris is a vibrant form of dance with a long, rich history.
Tropicalismo~ Latin Dance Cabaret/ Dance of Brazil with Marsea Marquis
Tropicalismo~Latin Dance Cabaret directed by Marsea Marquis
Tropicalismo~Latin Dance Cabaret began in 2002 under the direction of Marsea Marquis. This dance performance company is Latin American, African and Caribbean-inspired available with choreography to both live and recorded music. Tropicalismo fuses a dynamic mix of traditional and contemporary tropical styles, including Samba and Afro-Brazilian from Brazil, Mambo, Salsa, and Cuban Cabaret from Cuba, and Calypso from Trinidad and Tobago.
The piece they are performing is to a recorded song called Kasongo Boogaloo, by Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca, sung in Spanish and Lingala. Ricardo Lemvo is a Congo-born Angolan who has been heavily influenced by Cuban music. Ricardo combines salsa, soukous and some Afro-Portuguese elements into his music.
Tropicalismo is performing a fusion of Cuban Salsa and Samba to this beautiful rich piece which talks about the Boogaloo, or Bugalú which is a genre of Latin music and dance that was popular in the United States in the 1960s. Boogaloo originated in New York City among teenage Cubans, Puerto Ricans and other groups. The style was a fusion of popular African American R&B and soul with mambo and son montuno. It included the use of English lyrics as well as Spanish. Boogaloo entered the mainstream through the American Bandstand television program.
Dancers:
Jessa DeLancey
Romy Narayan
Tica Dorn
www.danceofbrazil.com
Balinese Dance by Made Suryasa / Balinese with Made Suryasa
Made Suryasa was born in Denpasar Bali, the eldest son of a Hindu priest. Surya studied and performed Baris dance as a child at Balinese temple festivals and began studying Topeng mask dance privately in 1984. He danced with Ketut Kantor, and later with Ketut Tutur and Cokorda Raka Tisnu. Surya has performed frequently in colleges, universities, and museums including San Francisco's Asian Arts Museum and the De Young Museum. He spends half the year in Bali, guiding and leading cultural tours. For relaxation, Surya carves traditional masks.
In the ancient Balinese dance drama called Topeng, history, religion, and local satire combine with music, dance, poetry and mime to celebrate the heroes of the past and their relevance to the workaday world of today. The stories presented in the Topeng date from the early kingdoms of Bali, serving to define genealogical histories for modern Balinese as well as establishing a link with the ancestors.
There are two types of Topeng: Topeng Panca or five-man Topeng, performed by a number of men, outside the temple, basically for entertainment, and Topeng Pajegan, performed by a single, consecrated performer at a religious occasion where he functions in a role similar to a priest. Topeng Pajegan establishes the expertise of the actor/dancer, allowing him to execute a gambit of character types, from an elegant prince to boisterous clowns in a period of about two hours. Before the story begins, there are a series of introductory dances that introduce some of the characters and showcase the dancer’s skill. Tonight Made Surya will perform Topeng Tua; as an elderly courtier or King in retirement in any Topeng story. The dance combines a mix of emotions as the character recalls great moments of vigor and excitement, only to be confronted by the reality of his years.
Photo credit to RRJones
Tamara Nelson
Tamara Nelson has been studying bellydance since 1996. Her style is described as world fusion, romanitc belly dance. She uses traditional music as well as a wide variety of experimental, old timey and modern
music, which can also be applied to her movements. Her performances are often layered with moody emotion adding to the opulent, often reminicent of vaudeville, multi faceted performances. She teaches and performs locally and nationally at various venues from small gatherings to large scale theater productions as well as many music and dance festivals. Tamara is a member of the Foxglove Sweethearts and Miel, both San Francisco based belly dance companies under the direction of Jill Parker (jillparkerbellydance.com). Tamara is the west coast contingent member of Zafira Dance Company, a Pittsburgh, PA based dance collective. Zafira's performances are engaging vignettesthat combine Bellydance with contemporary and ethnic dance forms. The result is an ornate performance that blurs the boundary between old and new; performer and audience, earthy and elegant.
Tamara Nelson is a world fusion Bellydancer whose work draws from the gypsy roots of the dance to create a romantic, emotional and timeless quality.
Indian Odissi Dance by Cara Mia Gambina & Nayantara Nanda Kumar/ Indian Odissi with Cara Mia Gambina
Cara Mia Gambina has been a dancer her whole life. From age five she's been dancing and performing styles from ballet to hula to tap. With a mother who was a dancer and makeup artist and a father who was a stage magician, Cara Mia's panache for performance came naturally. After a journey to India in 1997, Cara Mia met her teacher, internationally acclaimed Odissi dancer and choreographer, Jyoti Rout, founder of Jyoti Kala Mandir School of Indian Cassical Arts.
Cara Mia truly loves to share this sacred dance with others in instruction, performance, and teaching the historical traditions. She believes that it brings peace to the planet and helps with healing the heart!
Nayantara Nanda Kumar has been learning Odissi dance from Guru Jyoti Rout since 1999. Dancing Odissi has been a dream come true. She studied Bharatnatyam and Carnatic music while growing up and enjoys folk dancing, Carribean and West African rhythms. Dance has brought her much joy and stillness and through performing she hopes to share it.
Odissi dance is a sacred dance form which originated in the Jagannath temple in India as a form of worship. Odissi poses can be seen in sculptures of dancers from the 1st century BC in the Udaygiri hills. This dance is based on the Natya Shastra, the ancient treatise on stage craft and classical drama. Handed down from guru to disciple for thousands of years, Odissi centers on spirituality and devotion. Fluid, languid torso movements are placed against intricate, rhythmic foot work. It is breathtakingly beautiful and the poses reflect the temple sculptures. Entrancing mythological stories are told through hand gestures, drama and movement.
Argentine Tango
John and Nancy Lingemann have been dancing Argentine tango for 15 years. Each year they travel to Buenos Aires to study with their favorite maestros. Since 2000, they have taught ongoing weekly $2 classes in Santa Cruz and perform locally for charitable events, including the Carmel Tomatofest, events at UCSC and Cabrillo College, Tandy Beal's productions at the Mello Theater, and in fundraisers for the arts. This spring, they performed with the Santa Cruz Chamber Players in "Danzas Espaniolas." John and Nancy began dancing together 44 years ago, while dating in college. Nancy, who has danced all her life, is also a flamenco dancer and has performed with Arte Flamenco de San Jose since 1992. She has been on the faculty of the School of the San Jose Ballet since 1999, where she teaches Spanish dance.
Performers:
John and Nancy Lingemann
Brett Griswold and Jennifer Small
Terry Thero and Sharon Slocum
Venezuelan Joropo by Quelddy Angelina & Adi Rojas
Quelddy was born in Caracas, Venezuela and began her ballet training at the age of five at the Keyla Ermecheo School of Ballet in Caracas. She earned a full scholarship at the age of twelve and completed her studies in classical ballet under the tutelage of Russian Ballet Masters Vladimir Issaev, Mikhail Koukharev and Vladimir Lopoukhov.
She joined Ballet Metropolitano de Caracas in 1991, dancing various roles in full-length productions of the classics Coppelia, Don Quixote, Giselle, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. She also performed in many contemporary and folk productions.
In 1998, Quelddy moved to California and was a ballet teacher for the City of Palo Alto. A year later she joined Dance Unlimited in Morgan Hill where she taught ballet for ten years, choreographing, staging and performing in yearly productions of The Nutcracker aimed to inspire and motivate young dance students.
Live Music By:
Orient'al, a popular local band of three experienced musicians
who play Middle Eastern music for dancing and listening.
The band members are Armando Mafufo, Ganapati and Michael Gruber.
and their particular specialty is urban Egyptian music of the last century.
The Feldthouse Family Band brings to you a fusion of Turkish and Eastern European sound. Some of it’s members have played all over the world. Dawn Feldthouse, an accomplished vocalist, has been dancing with her family since she was four years old and Natasha Feldthouse, began dancing with Sulyman, Grandpa Sol, when she was nine years old and has been performing with the family for the last fourteen years. For more information you can contact them at (831)334-8492.