WEEKEND ONE - ALAYO DANCE COMPANY
Friday, June 15 and Saturday, June 16 at 7 pm,, and Sunday, June 17 at 4 pm
Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center at Laney College in Oakland
Alayo Dance Company will perform the World Premiere of Calle, co-choreographed by Ramos and Jamaica Itule, featuring seven dancers and live music, and exploring the gap between “high art” and “street art,” concert dance and dances that happenin the street or calle. When Alayo moved to the Bay Area, he was struck by the way Oakland street dances – such as hip-hop, specifically turfing and break dancing – were also celebrated as cultural treasures and yet simultaneously overlooked, much like Rumba, the national dance of Cuba which was started by marginalized Afro-Cubans.
Calle will take place in the street outside of the Odell Theater on the campus of Laney College, now a diverse community college that started as a trade school and sits on land once used occupied by a public housing project for hundreds of World War II Kaiser Shipyard workers.
Alayo Dance Company will also perform Goodbye(which premiered in 2016) and Manos de Mujeres Cubanas (world premiere)which delves into the complex role of Cuban women today and celebrates how their powerful hands -- literally and metaphorically -- continue to sustain us.
The dancers of Alayo Dance Company are Adonis Martin Quiñones, Delvis Savigne Friñon, Alexander Vargas, Marshall J. Amey, Margot Hodenfield, Zoe Klein, Fredrika Keefer, Jacinta Vlach, Emanuel Alejandro Colombo and Denmis Bain Savigne. They are joined by special guest dancer Johnny5 Lopez of TurfInc.
WEEKEND TWO - MIXED PROGRAM
Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23 at 8 pm
The Brava Theater in San Francisco
Performing on this program are Aguas Da Bahia (Director, Tania Santiago), The Cali Dance (Director, Yismari Tellez Ramos), El Wah Movement Dance Theater (Director, Collete Eloi), Nicaragua Danza, Hijos de Maiz (Director, Luis Leon), Alafia Dance Ensemble (Director, Mariella Morales), Dimensions Dance Theater (Director, Deborah Vaughn) and Dandha da Hora & Yabás Dance Co.,Cheza Nami Foundation, Musicians-SambaDá (Director, Dandha Da Hora).