18th Annual CUBACARIBE Festival of Dance & Music Presents ACTS OF RESISTANCE, ACTS OF JOY In June

CubaCaribe has announced its 18th Annual Festival of Dance & Music featuring two weeks of world premieres, performances, master classes, and celebrations at venues in San Francisco. 

“​Dance and music have been and continue to be a way to resist oppression, release joy, alleviate suffering collectively, all critical to human survival and built into the fabric of Cuban, Brazilian, Haitian, Afro-Peruvian, Puerto Rican cultures,” explains Jamaica Itule, Executive Director and Co-Founder of CubaCaribe.  “CubaCaribe honors that celebration of joy is revolutionary and how living art forms evolve and respond to the changing world.”

Weekend One (June 7-9): Mixed Program at Museum of the African Diaspora and Dance Mission Theater, SF

Seven local dance companies will create original choreography rooted in the Caribbean and its Diaspora based on the curatorial vision, Acts of resistance, Acts of joy. These artists will explore and answer the questions: Where are the two acts visible in your culture? How do we resist? How do we find and express joy?  The performing groups are Yamulee Project San Francisco, Folklo Ayisyen Lakay, Agua Doce Dance, Rueda Con Ritmo, Los Lupeños de San José, Cunamacue, Herencia Guantanamera, Marco Palomino & Fredrika Keefer and Grupo Experimental Nago. 

Weekend Two (June 14-16): Alayo Dance Company and ABADÁ-Capoeira Performance Company at ODC Theater, SF

The pieces created by Alayo Dance Company and ABADÁ-Capoeira Performance Company will investigate Brazil’s and Cuba’s history and significance with Carnaval, specifically to the African heritage and culture, deepening understanding of the cultural legacy of Blocos and Cabildos in Comparsas in Carnaval and how they have historically functioned as forms of resistance and power and expressions of joy. This piece will bring the community together to heal following a long period of isolation, strengthening community connections around shared stories and uplifting the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian community.

Tickets

Weekend One performances are at 8pm on Friday, June 7, and Saturday, June 8, and at 4pm on Sunday June 9 at Dance Mission Theater. Weekend Two performances featuring Alayo Dance Company and ABADA-Capoeira Performance Company are at 8pm on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 and at 5pm on Sunday, June 16 at ODC Theater in San Francisco. Tickets, $25-$39, are available at https://www.cubacaribe.org/2024.

SPECIAL EVENTS

For tickets and information:  https://www.cubacaribe.org/2024

Cuban and Brazilian Music & Dance: Cultural Resilience and Adaptation in the Afro-Diaspora, A Lecture with John Santos 

Wednesday, June 5, 7:30-8:30pm at Museum of African Diaspora

Five centuries of colonial oppression and a century and a half of post-colonial reality have forged a relentlessly harsh environment for generations of enslaved and abused working class communities throughout the Americas. Seven-time Grammy-nominated percussionist, US Artists Fontanals Fellow, and 2013-2014 SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director, John Santos will talk on how cultural expression and identity played a role in addressing this historical dilemma? This presentation focuses on some traditional and contemporary examples from Cuba and Brazil.

¡Bomplenazo!: An evening of Bomba and Plena interpreted and explained through film, discussion and music. 

Wednesday, June 12, 7:00-8:30pm at Museum of African Diaspora

Live music and discussion with Hector Lugo and La Mixta Criolla, and film shorts curated by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi. Bomba and Plena rhythms need to be understood and appreciated because of their historical significance and relationship. These two most important genres of Afro-Puerto Rican music each have very different musical characteristics, histories and social foundations.

ABOUT CUBACARIBE

CubaCaribe  – now celebrating its 21st season – was co-founded in 2003 by visual artist/dancer Jamaica Itule and dancer/choreographer Ramón Ramos Alayo on the principle that dance, music and visual art have the power to unite people of diverse perspectives, and in order to tap into the large talent pool represented by the significant community of Cuban and Caribbean artists who live and practice in the Bay Area. CubaCaribe fosters greater understanding and appreciation of Caribbean arts and culture.  

Since its inception, the organization has become widely known for the diversity and quality of its programming, and its deep roots in the Diasporic community under Artistic Director Ramos's leadership. 

CubaCaribe projects include: The Annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music; resident dance company, Alayo Dance Company (featuring Ramos Alayo's innovative fusion of Afro-Cuban modern, folkloric and popular Cuba dance); CubaCamp, offering adult campers an intensive four days of Caribbean dance and music classes; Moving Juntos (ongoing Afro-Cuban dance and music children's classes), SF Carnaval Contingent, Maestros y Raíces ( a series of master classes taught by visiting teachers), Dance intensive trips to Cuba and Explosión Cubana Una Noche Tropical (Cuban cabaret dinner show).

The annual CubaCaribe Festival is highly acclaimed for being the only festival to present popular, contemporary and folkloric cultural expression, religion, history, and politics of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora.  

CubaCaribe is funded in part by Zellerbach Family Foundation, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, San Francisco Grants for the Arts Hotel Tax Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Fleishhacker Foundation and more. 

MORE INFORMATION:  https://www.cubacaribe.org/

18th Annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance & Music

Ramón Ramos Alayo, Artistic Director / Co-Founder
Jamaica Itule Simmons, Executive Director / Co-Founder

WEEKEND ONE: PERFORMANCES 

Featuring Yamulee Project San Francisco, Folklo Ayisyen Lakay, Agua Doce Dance, Rueda Con Ritmo, Los Lupeños de San José, Cunamacue, Herencia Guantanamera, Marco Palomino & Fredrika Keefer and Grupo Experimental Nago 

Friday, June 7 at 8pm

Saturday, June 8 at 8pm 

Sunday, June 9 at 4pm

DANCE MISSION THEATER

 3316 24th Street

San Francisco , CA 94110

WEEKEND TWO: PERFORMANCES 

Featuring Alayo Dance Company and ABADÁ-Capoeira Performance Company 

Friday, June 14 at 8pm

Saturday, June 15 at 8pm

Sunday, June 16 at 5pm

ODC Theater

3153 - 17th Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

SPECIAL EVENTS at MUSEUM OF AFRICAN DIASPORA

685 Mission Street, SF, CA 94105

Wednesday, June 5 at 7-8:30 pm

Cuban and Brazilian Music & Dance: Cultural Resilience and Adaptation in the Afro-Diaspora, A Lecture with John Santos 

Wednesday, June 12 at 7-8:30pm

¡Bomplenazo!: An evening of Bomba and Plena interpreted and explained through film, discussion and music. Live music and discussion with Hector Lugo and La Mixta Criolla, and film shorts curated by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

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