The African & African American Performing Arts And KSTAR Present BLACK CHOREOGRAPHERS FESTIVAL: HERE & NOW 2017, 2/11-26

The African & African American Performing Arts Coalition and K*Star*Productions are pleased to announce the program for the Black Choreographers Festival: Here and Now 2017(BCF), which takes place next month over three consecutive weekends,February 11-26.

Following the opening weekend at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in Oakland, the festival relocates to Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco. Featured artists include Byb Chanel Bibene, Gregory Dawson,Ibrahima Diouf, Chris Evans, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Maurya Kerr, Robert Moses, Phylicia Stroud, Raissa Simpson, Afia Thompson and Nafi Watson, Deborah Vaughan and Jamie Wright. In addition, nearly a dozen "new voices" will be presented including Alexander Zander Brown, dana e. fitchett, Ashley Gayle and Noah James, Stephanie Hewett, SheenaJohnson, Erik Lee and Dazaun Soleyn.

Tickets range from $10 to $30 and may be purchased online atbrownpapertickets.com/event 2793342 for the first weekend in Oakland, and atbrownpapertickets.com/event/2793299 for the next two weekends in San Francisco.

"Kendra Barnes and I are proud to share next month's program with audiences," said Laura Elaine Ellis, who co-directs BCF with Barnes. "There are moments which are going to be uplifting, inspiring - and some of the works may give folks something to think about, maybe even shout about, like a premiere by Marc Bamuthi Joseph titled First 100 Days of Trump."

With the vision of galvanizing the arts community around the contributions of African and African American choreographers, Ellis and Barnes have curated next month's events with attention to "new voices" and "new works," as well as new audiences.

In addition to a world premiere by Joseph, BCF will also present excerpts from Joseph's /peh-LO-tah/ - a futbol framed freedom suite..., which premiered last November at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts before touring to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in New York. The excerpts from /peh-LO-tah/ in addition to First 100 Days of Trump will be performed twice over the festival, first on February 11 in Oakland, and again on February 19 in San Francisco.

Another highlight of the festival is a lengthy solo extracted from Robert Moses'21 Fully Realized Incomplete Thoughts, performed by Crystaldawn Bell, whose artistry earned a nomination for the Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Individual Outstanding Achievement in Performance. "Elegantly austere," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle describing the solo upon its premiere last spring at Z Space. The work will be performed twice over the second weekend of the festival, February 18-19.

The bulk of the programming, however, is devoted to the commission of new works. Over the second weekend, BCF will present premieres by Bibene, Dawson, Kerr and Simpson; and the final weekend will showcase premieres by Evans, fitchett, Johnson, Lee, Soleyn and Wright, accompanied by the restaging of recent works by hewett, Thompson and Watson. Gayle and James will present a new dance created under the mentorship of Dawson and Moses.

Finally, audiences will also be treated to two film screenings over the festival. The first, Bare Soles Bare Soul, created by Delina Patrice Brooks, a multidisciplinary artist based in the Bay Area, offers a series of "intimate portraits" of women who have practiced traditional African dance for more than 15 years. The film, followed by a moderated conversation, will screen on the second night of the festival, February 12.

The second film, titled Herencia de un Pueblo (Inheriting a Legacy), won awards for Best Documentary and Best Cinematography at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival last fall. Written and directed by Carmen Román, director of Cunamacué Dance Company in Oakland, Herencia de un Pueblo portrays a number of African descendants working to preserve their dance legacy in the Peruvian town of El Carmen. The film will screen on the final Saturday of the festival, February 25.

For more information and future updates about next month's presentations visitbcfhereandnow.com.

ABOUT THE BLACK CHOREOGRAPHERS FESTIVAL
The Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now (BCF), with scheduled events throughout the year is directed by Bay Area nonprofits AAAPAC and K*Star*Productions. Since 2005, BCF has served local, national and International Artists with over 150 public events, acknowledging the diverse artistic expression within the context of African and African American dance and culture. BCF incorporates live performance, mentoring, master classes, workshops and special events, and is made possible by the continuous support of the San Francisco Arts Commission, Cultural Arts Funding from the City of Oakland, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, as well as community partners Dance Mission Theater, Dimensions Dance Theater, ODC Theater, and numerous small businesses and individual donors.

ABOUT THE AFRICAN & AFRICAN AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COALITION (AAAPAC)
A San Francisco-based, nonprofit organization, AAAPAC was founded in 1995 by a collective of artists looking to create better performance opportunities for African and African American performing artists, as well as produce shows that reflect the aesthetic and cultural representation of the African and African American experience. As AAAPAC's executive director, Laura Elaine Ellis has co-produced successful events such as the Labor of Love Dance Series, The Quilt Project: Pieces of Me, and the Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now. Funding awards for past and current projects include: San Francisco Grants for the Arts, CA$H, The Creative Work Fund, The Irvine Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation and The Walter and Elise Haas Fund.

ABOUT K*STAR*PRODUCTIONS
Formed in 1996 by Kendra Kimbrough Barnes, K*Star*Productions serves as a performing arts presenting organization for the Black Choreographers Festival and the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble. The mission of K*Star*Productions is to fearlessly cultivate a diverse environment that inspires, informs and supports the evolution of the arts through relationship building, mentoring, exploration, forming community partnerships and presentation. K*Star*Productions has received funding from the City of Oakland Cultural Arts Program, CA$H, The Irvine Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Fund, Alameda County Arts Commission, East Bay Community Foundation, California Arts Council, and The Walter and Elise Haas Fund Foundation.

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