Performing Diaspora

Javier Stell-Fresquez (Chican@, Tigua & Piro Native), Ivan "Ivy" Monteiro (Brasil), and Davia Amerasu Spain (San Francisco Bay Area native), compose a trinity of young, fierce, POC femme artists. Our collective expertise spans theater, sound and video production, dance, and organizing, as well as drag, among other forms that our queer ancestors developed in queer nightlife spaces, and backyard family barbecues. Applying intersectional and intertribal methods, we set our triune gaze on the landfill that is our present society. Holding

Muisi-kongo Malonga – Oakland, CA Solo Performance Muisi-kongo Malonga is a talented dancer, choreographer and instructor deeply rooted in the traditions of Central Africa.  As one of the next generation’s foremost keepers of Congolese cultural arts forms, she has passionately sought to preserve Congolese culture through her leadership of Fua Dia Congo, a 35-year old performing arts organization. Her writing, singing, original compositions and choreography have all converged in the telling of the tale of  Kimpa Vita, a 17th century Kongolese prophet and

Nadhi Thekkek Nadhi Thekkek of Nava Dance Theatre – Alamo, CANava Dance Theatre is a Bay Area based, Bharatanatyam dance company that aims to develop classically influenced work based on contemporary themes. Company dancers Nadhi, Sophia, and Arun will partner with renowned composer G.S. Rajan to present The Cloud Messenger, a Bharatanatyam adaptation of the poem, Meghadhooth, by 5th century Indian poet, Kalidasa.Nadhi, Sophia, and Arun received their Bharatanatyam training from Smt. Sundara Swaminathan, Artistic Director of Kala Vandana Dance Company.

Byb Chanel Bibene, San Francisco, CA Artistic Director of Kiandanda Dance Theater Born and raised in the Republic of Congo, Byb Chanel Bibene is a choreographer and artistic director of Kiandanda Dance Theater. His own technical and aesthetic sensibility is rooted in the culture and traditional dances of his country.  As a survivor of the civil wars that tore apart the Congo in the 1990’s, Bibene is creating a theater piece titled, Taboo and Heroes, that explores the subject of victims of

Jia Wu – Castro Valley, CA  Artistic Director of Jia Wu Dance Theater Drawing on deeply personal experiences, Mama/Medea explores Wu’s hybrid identities through the classical Greek figure of Medea: Eastern, Woman, Mother, Sorceress, Exotic Other. Wu’s celebrated performance aesthetic draws on traditional Chinese theater and contemporary dance, combining raw emotion, music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics, and her work has been featured in the Pina Bausch International Tanzfest and other fourteen countries .  For Wu, a Chinese woman

Joti Singh – San Francisco, CA Artistic Director of Duniya Dance and Drum Company Joti Singh, Artistic Director of Duniya Dance and Drum Company, is a choreographer of Bhangra from India and dance from Guinea, West Africa. Her project is a dance performance, interweaving choreography with text and music, telling the story of the Ghadar party, founded in 1913 in San Francisco by Punjabi activists to fight for Indian independence from the British. Singh’s great-grandfather was the president of this party from

Yannis Adoniou/KUNST-STOFF, Catherine Clambaneva & Leonidas Kassapides San Francisco, CA Yannis Adoniou, the artistic director of KUNST-STOFF, has become known for his unusual and highly visual theatrical dance works, which merge different art forms, often creating unexpected collisions and provocative beauty. His next artistic project will explore the origins and evolution of Rembetiko in a collaboration with singer Catherine Clambaneva, and shadow theater artist Leonidas Kassapides. Rembetiko music — similar to that of the tango, flamenco, the blues, and Fado

Prumsodun Ok Long Beach, CA Prumsodun Ok is an artist and cultural activist based in Long Beach, California where he teaches filmmaking to inner-city youth with the YMCA Youth Institute, is a videographer for the Cambodian Community History and Archiving Project, and teaches classical Cambodian dance at the Khmer Arts Academy, as well as serving as its curator and media designer. Most recently Ok was awarded 2011 Artist Fellowship from the Association for Performing Arts Presenters in it’s the inaugural

Devendra Sharma is a performer, writer, and director of Nautanki, Raaslila, Bhagat, and Rasiya, the traditional musical theatre genres of northern India. He was trained in the famous Swami-Khera Gharana by renowned folk guru Pundit Ram Dayal Sharma. He has given more than five hundred performances to date and directed many films illustrating Indian folk traditions. At present, he is an Assistant Professor of Communication at California State University, Fresno. Sharma’s artistic mission is to use the indigenous performing arts

Sri Susilowati is a choreographer originally from Java, Indonesia. Her work is grounded in Indonesian art forms as well as training in post-modern dance composition. She creates contemporary works on the subjects of community, gender, and ethnicity through dance and multi-media. Eating Dance (working title) employs contemporary dance and spoken word, along with traditional classical Balinese, Javanese, and Sundanese movement vocabularies to tell stories of food ritual for dancers. Using text, video projection, and dance movements, the piece will explore

Adia Tamar Whitaker San Francisco, CA Adia Tamar Whitaker is one of the youngest professional choreographers and master teachers of Afro-Haitian folkloric dance in the United States. A former member of Blanche Brown’s Group Petit La Croix and Colette Eloi’s Reconnect, she has studied and performed Afro-Haitian dance in the U.S. and abroad for 13 years. Her artistic work focuses on neo-folklore of the African Diaspora, linking contemporary modern dance, original vernacular movement, and traditional dance theater. Recently Whitaker completed

Danica Sena Gakovich San Francisco, CA Danica Sena Gakovich is an experienced choreographer, performer, musician and teacher who has performed and researched folkloric music and dance traditions from Spain for over 20 years. Her works are exploratory and collaborative while maintaining deep musical/rhythmic awareness. Danica will be creating a work that explores the shared ancestry between traditional Serbian and Flamenco music.Koreni, which means “roots” in Serbian is an original work based on profound investigation of the shared ancestry between traditional