MOVEMENTS OF MIGRATION
Unified by the theme, The Movements of Migration, this year festival artists will perform works examining migration throughout the Caribbean diaspora.
The history of humanity is one of movement, of migrations in search of necessities - food, refuge, safety, a better climate and survival. Though migrations continue today, we see the movement of people riddled with complicated ideologies of borders, nationhood and questioning where we belong. In the Caribbean diaspora in particular, migrations originally occurred through slavery and have given birth to new cultures, customs and artistic expressions – some of the great master works the world has known. Its hybrid, mixed and syncretized sensibility created by migration is at the heart of Caribbean culture. This festival has asked artists to examine the migration throughout the diaspora and to explore these movements, these exchanges, paths, clashes, and creations in their work.
WEEKEND ONE - ALAYO DANCE COMPANY
Friday and Saturday at 7pm, June 15-16 and Sunday at 4pm, June 17
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, Emanuel Alejandro Colombo and Denmis Bain Savigne. They are joined by special guest dancer Johnny5 Lopez of TurfInc.
WEEKEND TWO - MIXED PROGRAM
Friday and Saturday at 8pm, June 22-23
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).
SPECIAL EVENTS
Discussions, practice and intellectual opportunities to explore the Diaspora further. These special events include:
Film Screening, Theater Showing and Discussion Flows: A series of short films by YAKfilms illustrating the beauty and art of "street" hiphop dance. Discussion to follow with YAKfilms Co-Founder Yoram Savion
Wednesday June 20, 7pm; $12-15
Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Yoram Savion is a filmmaker and co-founder of YAKfilms, a multimedia company dedicated to filming movement-based art. For over 10 years, YAKfilms has traveled the world to reveal unique dance talent in diverse urban landscapes. They promote innovative filming techniques using the latest gear that will fit in a backpack yet deliver the highest image quality possible.
Films to be screened include:
LIQUID FLOW by YAK, The Oakland Museum of California and PROJECTOR featuring Turf Feinz crew members Gary "No Noize" Morgan, Leon "Mann" Williams, Byron "T7" Sanders and Darrell "D-Real" Armstead; EXQUISITE ZOMBIES by YAK x ADOBE Project 1324 featuring Les Twins, DA, Ibuki, Wisko, Bluprint, Zoo, Zamounda, and Buck; Mike Song in Manila, Philippines 2014 by YAK FILMS and Mr. CARMACK and more.
“We Have Iré” by Paul Flores
Thursday June 28, 7pm; $12-15
Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Artist talk and excerpts of the work in progress by Paul Flores, We Have Iré – an exploration of Cuban artists, immigration and Afro-Cuban religious themes -- featuring DJ Leydis, Ramón Ramos Alayo, recorded music by Yosvani Terry and video by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi. Flores is a published poet, performance artist, playwright, and well known spoken word artist. His plays have been produced at Brava Theater, GALA Hispanic Theatre, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Pregones Theatre, Abrons Art Center, Taller Puertorriquena, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, InterAct Theater, DiverseWorks, Su Teatro, South Coast Rep, and many more. He is a Doris Duke Artist, a MAP Fund awardee, a Gerbode-Hewlett Theater commission recipient, a NALAC Fund for Arts recipient, and 2011 SF Weekly Best Politically Active Hip-hop Performer. He is co-founder of Youth Speaks, and currently an adjunct professor of Theater at the University of San Francisco. His last play "On The Hill: I am Alex Nieto" (2016) dramatizes the life and death of Alex Nieto who was killed by San Francisco Police Department. His play PLACAS (2012) was based on testimonies of members of MS-13 in California barrios. We Have Iré is commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for The Arts and follows Afro-Cuban immigrant artists and their connection to Lucumí religious traditions.
Lecture: Current Conditions for Cultural Exchanges Between Cuba and U.S. with Bill Martinez
Wednesday June 27, 7pm; $12-15
Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Bill Martinez is an immigration attorney who has also produced and managed cultural events in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1973. A native San Franciscan, he is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and Hastings College of the Law. He has worked in the Community Law Collective (’74-’79), New College of California School of Law (’79-’83) and the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco (’84-’93). In 1981, he cofounded the Encuentro del Canto Popular, a San Francisco-based Latin American music festival. His work with the Encuentro led him to become one of the nation’s leading experts in U.S.-Cuba cultural exchanges and artists’ visas. He co-founded the Latino Entertainment Partners which produced historically significant concerts of Cuban artists.
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VIDEO SHOWCASE
14th Annual CubaCaribe Festival
Week 1 - Alayo Dance Company
Alayo Dance Company - Calle
Alayo Dance Company - Manos y Vida Cotidiana de Una Mujer Cubana
Alayo Dance Company - Quality of Movement
Alayo Dance Company - Goodbye
Alayo Dance Company - What is Happening Here?
Mixed Program
Dimensions Dance Theater - Ain't No Turning Back
The Cali Dance Company - Fiesta Cubana
El Wah Movement Dance Theater - Maafa - Revealing the Story
Hijos Del Maiz - Nicaragua Multiétnica: Cultura Garífunas
Dandha da Hora & Yabas Dance Company - Our Roots
Alafia Dance Ensemble - Supplication
Águas Dance Company with Filhas das Águas - Yansa
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Yoram Savion is is co-founder of YAK Films, a multimedia company dedicated to filming movement-based art. For over 10 years, they have traveled the world to reveal unique dance talent in diverse urban landscapes. We promote innovative filming techniques using the latest gear that will fit in our backpack yet deliver the highest image quality possible. Currently Yoram is working with Adobe and Destiny Arts Center in Oakland, teaching multimedia production with up and coming dancers, musicians and martial artists.
Johnny5 (Anthony Lopez) was born in Oakland, California in 1989. He is a Mexican / Latino professional Turf Dancer and the founder of TURFinc - a local Oakland/ Bay Area based company that hopes to instill positive changes in the community through dance. He learned to dance merengue, salsa and Mexican dance styles when he was growing up going to family Quinceñeras & weddings. When he was 12yrs old he encountered Turf Dancing for the first time at the Oakland side shows. Ever since then he practices on his own every day. In 2005 he joined a dance crew by the name of TURFFEINZ. In 2012 he started working as a nurse full time and started his own dance company TURFinc, whose mission is to spread the original dance culture of TURF that was established in Oakland, California and to utilize it as a positive platform for dancers, the youth, and the overall community. Johnny5 also gives back to the community by teaching dance classes in East Oakland and produces events such as Turf battle tournaments.
Bill Martinez is an immigration attorney who has also produced and managed cultural events in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1973. A native San Franciscan, he is a graduate the University of San Francisco and Hastings College of the Law. He has worked in the Community Law Collective (’74-’79), New College of California School of Law (’79-’83) and the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco (’84-’93). In 1981, he co-founded the Encuentro del Canto Popular, a San Francisco-based Latin American music festival. His work with the Encuentro lead him to become one of the nation’s leading experts in U.S.-Cuba cultural exchanges and artists’ visas. He co-founded the Latino Entertainment Partners which produced historically significant concerts of Cuban artists.
Paul Flores is a published poet, performance artist, playwright, and well known spoken word artist. He was raised in Chula Vista, CA and spent much of his youth in Tijuana, Mexico. Flores plays have been produced at Brava Theater, GALA Hispanic Theatre, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Pregones Theatre, Abrons Art Center, Taller Puertorriquena, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, InterAct Theater, DiverseWorks, Su Teatro, South Coast Rep, and many more. Flores is a Doris Duke Artist, a MAP Fund awardee, a Gerbode-Hewlett Theater commission recipient, a NALAC Fund for Arts recipient, and 2011 SF Weekly Best Politically Active Hip-hop Performer. He is co-founder of Youth Speaks, and currently an adjunct professor of Theater at the University of San Francisco. His last play "On The Hill: I am Alex Nieto" (2016) dramatizes the life and death of Alex Nieto who was killed by San Francisco Police Department, using music, dance and theater as a powerful tool for communities divided by issues of police violence, racism, gentrification and economic disparity to discover opportunities for solutions, healing and unification. Flores previous play PLACAS (2012) was based on testimonies of members of MS-13 in California barrios.
Ramon Ramos Alayo is a dancer, teacher, choreographer and the founder and artistic director of the Alayo Dance Company and CubaCaribe. Ramos was selected by the Cuban government to study dance in Santiago de Cuba at age eleven. In 1990 he earned a masters degree in contemporary and folkloric dance and dance education from the Havana’s National School of Art. He was the principal dancer with Danza del Caribe, Narciso Medina Contemporary Dance Company and performed in Cuba, Europe, Canada, Belize and the U.S. Since moving to California in 1997, he has performed with some of the most respected choreographers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Robert Henry Johnson, Kim Epifano, Sara Shelton Mann, Joanna Haigood/Zaccho Dance and Robert Moses’ Kin. Ramon currently teaches Cuban popular dance, Afro-Cuban modern dance and children’s movement at several local dance studios and schools, and is artistic director of Alayo Dance Company and CubaCaribe. He has choreographed and produced thirteen full-length dance performances: Anorañza de Una Epoca (1999); Mis Sueños, Mis Ideas (2003, 2004); A Piece of White Cloth (2004, 2005); La Madre (2005); After Rain (2006); Three Threes & Traces (2007); Blood+Sugar (2008); Bound Together (2009), Migrations (2010), Grief (2011), Oil and Water (2012), El Discipulo (2013), and House of Water (2014). Ramos has received support for his work from San Francisco Arts Commission, Theater Bay Area, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation, LEF Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund and the prestigious Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation’s “Emerging Choreographer Award” Ramos was also a winner of a Bay Guardian Goldie (2010).