19th Annual CubaCaribe Festival Of Dance & Music Presents A FIRE WITHIN

CubaCaribe has announced its 19th Annual Festival of Dance & Music entitled A Fire Within, featuring seven Bay Area Dance companies in a celebration of the passion and drive that artists must carry for their art that propels their work out into the world and ultimately moves and inspires us.

Held annually, Cuba Caribe Festival of Dance & Music is devoted to folkloric and contemporary dance and music of the Afro-Caribbean and its Diaspora. The featured companies include Batey Tambó, Batuki, Dimensions Dance Theater, Folklo Ayisyen Lakay, Herencia Guantanamera, Los Lupeños de San José, and Rueda Con Ritmo.

Performances are at 8pm on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29, and at 4pm on Sunday, March 30 at ODC Theater in San Francisco. Special events take place at various locations in San Francisco March 29- April 4.

"The theme for this year's Festival is A Fire Within, focusing on the passion and drive that artists must carry for their art, how they are inspired, how they propel their work out into the world and ultimately what moves and inspires us. Each artist will delve into when this spark ignited, how it was realized and how the drive to create continues," explains Jamaica Itule, Executive Director and Co-Founder of CubaCaribe. "Our mission is to celebrate, and with A Fire Within we celebrate that art is a way of surviving."

The 2025 CubaCaribe featured companies are:

• Batey Tambó, a Bay Area-based, women of color-led cultural group grounded in the centuries-old musical tradition of Afro-Indigenous Puerto Rican Bomba.

• Batuki, a San Francisco based group featuring Brazilian percussion, dance, electronic melodic instruments and vocals performing a fusion of Latin music ranging from such backgrounds as Afro-Caribbean, Hip Hop and Funk.

• Dimensions Dance Theater at 52 is one of the oldest contemporary dance companies in the US and is widely recognized for its presentation of both traditional dances and contemporary choreography drawn from African, Jazz, and Modern dance idioms.

• Herencia Guantanamera, a company rooted in the Afro-Cuban Haitian cultural traditions and artistic heritage of Guantánamo in the eastern part of Cuba.

• Folklo Ayisyen Lakay, which translates in creole to "House of Haitian Folklore," is a local Haitian dance company led by master dance teacher and choreographer Laurie Fleurentin, a native from Haiti.

• Founded in 1969, Los Lupeños de San José is a trailblazer among Mexican folk dance companies in the U.S., committed to preserving and enriching the vibrant tapestry of Mexican culture through the art of dance.

• Rueda Con Ritmo, founded in San Francisco in 2007 by Sidney Weaverling and Ryan Mead, is a community of dancers offering classes, events, and performances throughout the Bay Area and beyond and paying tribute to or influenced by Cuban Salsa/Rueda.

SPECIAL EVENTS

On Saturday, March 29th before the show CubaCaribe pays tribute to the community contributions of Bobi Céspedes, singer, songwriter, priestess, educator and historian (entrance included in show ticket).

In addition to the performances at ODC Theater, the Festival also features a celebratory After Party at Bissap Baobab (March 29), six master Afro-Cuban folkloric dance classes with visiting teacher Emilio Hernandez Gonzalez (March 29 -31), film screening of two documentaries and one short with a Q & A with the directors (April 2), an artist panel discussion (April 3) with artistic directors of the performing companies, and a very special lecture/demo on the history of Urban music in Cuba with DJ Jigüe visiting from Havana (April 4).

FULL FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

ABOUT CUBACARIBE

CubaCaribe - now celebrating its 22nd 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.

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