• January 2, 2010

    From Beijing to San Francisco Report

    By Published On: January 2nd, 2010

    http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/newsletters/09nagaevents/bjtosfreportweb.htm The world premiere of “From Beijing to San Francisco” – a newly commissioned multi-disciplinary work for the guqin developed by Wang Fei, the Founder and Director of NAGA – was performed to great critical acclaim in the Performing Diaspora Festival at CounterPULSE in San Francisco on four consecutive nights from November 19 to 22,

  • December 16, 2009

    Thanksgiving and Performing Diaspora …by Charlotte Moraga

    By Published On: December 16th, 2009

    November.  Thanksgiving.  Well, Performing Diaspora was a thanksgiving feast of a sort, for sure.  Dishes of quiet contemplative explosions and moments of mirth filled the platter,  like when Sri did her nonplussed "boob dance" and her sexy "butt dance."  With her back to the audience, she cocked her head as if to say, "I see

  • December 15, 2009

    Rituals: Violeta Luna and José Navarrete

    By Published On: December 15th, 2009

    December 2nd was the fist rehearsal at CounterPulse with Violeta Luna and I. I was a little worried to start since I did not know how Violeta ‘s creative process was in the studio. Before this day we met regularly once a week for the past three months. We created the narrative, brainstormed our ideas,

  • December 9, 2009

    WATCH: CP on Culture Wire

    By Published On: December 9th, 2009

    We are super excited to have had the opportunity to meet the truly kind and professional folks from the San Francisco Arts Commission's Culture Wire. Watch the video below to hear from Jessica Robinson Love and 3 Performing Diaspora artists Gema Sandoval, Charlotte Moraga and Adia Tamar Whitaker talk about what Performing Diaspora meant to

  • December 9, 2009

    CP T-shirt design contest! Deadline: Jan 4, 2010

    By Published On: December 9th, 2009

    Calling all designers! We're looking for a design for the official CounterPULSE shirt for this coming year. Since we know we've got some extremely talented supporters out there, we thought we would open it up to all of you! Have you had a design idea since seeing a show here? This is your chance to

  • December 7, 2009

    Dance Discourse 7: but i really love it…

    By Published On: December 7th, 2009

    scribed by Roko Kawai On October 15, 2009 a group of Bay Area artists, arts administrators and audience members met at CounterPULSE for the Dance Discourse Project 7: Dancing Diaspora. Co-presented by World Arts West/ San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and Dancers' Group the event was a part of the Fall 2009 season of Performing

  • November 28, 2009

    Koreni, reflections and afterthoughts…is it really over?

    By Published On: November 28th, 2009

    Sitting in front of my computer on this rather chilly autumn afternoon I cannot believe that we PD artists have seemingly come to the end of this portion of our "journey".  Over the course of practically one year we have created, critiqued, blogged, organized, rehearsed, coordinated, risked, stumbled, fumbled, doubted, questioned and actively participated in

  • November 25, 2009

    To be a Rembetis one has to find Stavros

    By Published On: November 25th, 2009

    The 1923 exchange of population was a forcefull way for the Greek refugees to preserve their memory of their experiences and art forms because deep inside they knew that they were never going to return back to their beloved Asia Minor. My grand parents Leonidas and Despina spoke mostly in Turkish at home and they

  • November 25, 2009

    Rembetika Performaces

    By Published On: November 25th, 2009

    The actual performance of Rembetika was a very powerful experience because it felt dangerous in way that reminds me when we had to do experiments in chemistry class and didn't know the outcome. The performers were all very brave precise and fluid and seemed to understand the heavy soul of a Greek spirit that is

  • November 23, 2009

    Colette Eloi – Blog #3

    By Published On: November 23rd, 2009

    Now that I am on the other side of Performing Diaspora where I presented the piece “The Politics of Poverty” – Sankofa Wisdom, I would just like to say whew. I really enjoyed all the different cultural groups and learning more about their artistry. Looking into the subject of Poverty was painful on my heart.

  • November 18, 2009

    TALKS! Philippines: Immigration Politics and the Body

    By Published On: November 18th, 2009

    Wed. Nov. 18, 7:30pm, Free This panel brings artists and scholars together who work in the areas of Filipino history, colonization, decolonization and the creation of cultural forms. It will evoke and address our diasporic, transnational and shifting identities as Filipinos/Filipino-Americans and political relationships historically and today between the Philippines and the United States. Aimee Suzara,

  • November 18, 2009

    WHERE IS TIBET?

    By Published On: November 18th, 2009

    "All warfare is based on deception." Sun Tzu, 6th c. B.C. Politics is gentlemen's warfare. But when words fail, bombs fall. WHERE IS TIBET? invites you to consider the ancient history of China and Tibet before Tibet's occupation. It is a meditation on our human capacity to understand the nature of good and evil that