SjDANCEco to Present A Free SPRING DANCE FESTIVAL in April

Over 70 choreographers and Bay Area dance organizations (from young children to professional companies and everything in between) will present many styles of dance on the Eastridge festival stage during a free non-stop 5-hour program each day. The professional dance portions of the show are at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and on the half-hour all day long. Free dance classes will be offered at 12:00pm, 1:00pm, and on-the-hour throughout the day. The celebration is part of Bay Area Dance Week and National Dance Week (April 21-30, 2023) and showcases the diversity of the Bay Area dance community.

Professional Dance Groups include sjDANCEco, Abhinaya Dance Company Of San Jose, Los Lupenos, Aboriginouls, Magnetic Pole Fit, Diablo Ballet, Samba Colorado, N'fungola Sibo African Dance and Drum, Hermosura Dance Productions, Agua Doce Dance, Cat Machines Dance, and Tachíria Flamenco's Dance Music Theatre.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE OPENING CEREMONIES:

Calpulli Tonalehqueh of San Jose will be presenting the Art of Ancient Aztec Dance to open the festival on Saturday from 12:00 noon to 12:30pm. The opening ceremony is a ritual with drums which calls the four elements (wind, water, fire, earth) and the four cardinal directions...North (Tezcatlipoca), East (Quetzalcoatl), South (Huitzilopochtli), and West (Xipe Totec) along with the Great Cosmos, Mother Earth, and the Center - Our Hearts. Traditionally, dancers carry the elements in the form of the atecocolli (a conch shell) which is played to call in the winds, popoxcommi (which carries fire), and copal (a sacred incense) is burnt which carries scented prayers on white smoke to the ancestors. The ritual is a ceremonial way to ask permission to be present and to call the gods of the directions to help guide and protect the space.

This ritual is in deep respect of Mother Earth and the Cosmos, recognizing that we walk the Red Road (living life with purpose) and are of the elements. It is profoundly deep and important work in reconnecting us to our home - this planet.

ABOUT sjDANCEco:

sjDANCEco is a year-round contemporary dance company based in San Jose, California that produces world premieres by its core and guest choreographers, and presents the very best of Contemporary and Classic Modern Dance and Masterpieces of the American Modern Dance Repertory. In addition to a full season of dance concerts, sjDANCEco also is a major participant each Spring in free outdoor dance presentations during National Dance Week, international dance festivals, and has a full schedule of contemporary dance classes for the advanced and professional dancer. sjDANCEco ignites the spirit of dance.

sjDANCEco is a registered 501(c)(3)

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