Performing Diaspora Archives - Page 9 of 10

19 Aug, 2009

The Memo

2009-08-19T10:19:12-07:00By Adia|Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|Tags: activism, african american women, Afro-Haitian, ampey, art, arts, avant-garde, children's games, community, counter pulse, CounterPULSE, Dance, diaspora, education, emerging artists, emerging arts, folkloric, gender issues, ghana, grassroots, mission, non profit, Performance, performing arts, Performing Diaspora, san francisco, sf, soma, theater|

I didn't get the memo. You know the one that breaks down the ways in which descendants of enslaved Africans have a different (but just as post traumatic stress disordered psychosis) than the descendants of colonized Africans. To be fair, I looked completely different when I've traveled abroad before (I had long hair), AND there is no pronoun for "he"or "she" in Ghanaian language. Word. My bad. Yet and still, I was expecting some kind of Haiti-ish/Southern American Negro/Caribbean stratification

18 Aug, 2009

Introduction to My New Work”From Beijing to San Francisco”

2009-08-18T02:27:29-07:00By Fei|Categories: CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora, Wang Fei|Tags: guqin chinese music beijing san francisco China|

My project “From Beijing to San Francisco” at CP is a newly commissioned musical piece, bringing the guqin, a Chinese scholarly art, into an innovative, multidisciplinary stage performance, and introducing the ancient, living tradition of the guqin into modern life. It uses a guqin player’s own story to illustrate the fate of the guqin, an ancient Chinese art form, reflect on what has happened in China during the last 30 years, and interpret the period of the Cultural Revolution (1960s to

4 Aug, 2009

Freedom

2009-08-04T20:21:52-07:00By Adia|Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|Tags: adia tamar whitaker, adia whitaker, Performing Diaspora|

middle (line) Look fast. Move slow. The ground is on fire, but I don't worry myself with that anymore. If I was at home I would ask if the fumes were toxic. Now, toxic is relative and intersections are the eye of the storm. In Ghana, 'Nature' is the holy book that tells people what to do and how to do it. The land is Jesus. The people his disciples. Judas is the juju that prevents progress, but holds the

29 Jul, 2009

Ayelo yeku daba

2009-07-29T11:21:58-07:00By Adia|Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|Tags: adia tamar whitaker, adia whitaker|

beginning (circle) kokou katamani When I first formed my company, Ase Dance Theatre Collective, Kokou Katamani taught us a song. I'll never forget that he came all the way from California just to perform in one of my pieces. I was a student at The Ailey School then and it was my first time living away from home. Colette Eloi, Kimberly Anderson and Sekou Alaje came as well. For folks to roll all the way out to the East Coast just to

29 Jun, 2009

The Myal Healer

2009-06-29T16:24:58-07:00By Opal|Categories: CounterPULSE, Images, Opal Palmer Adisa, Performing Diaspora|Tags: Maroon Herbalist, Opal Palmer Adisa, Opal Palmer Adisa/Performing Diaspora, Performing Diaspora, Tony|

I was in Jamaica a few weeks ago interviewing both academics and healers who are in some way affiliated with Myal or the practice of healing. I also spent time at the African -Caribbean library there pouring over and through literature on Myal and its evolution. I made several discoveries, and was able to photograph some of the basic herbs used in the practice. Tony, a RASTA Brethren, connection to the land and ancestry is undeniable. Tony is a

29 Jun, 2009

It’s like the classic “Russian Doll”

2009-06-29T01:09:13-07:00By Danica|Categories: CounterPULSE, Danica Sena Gakovich, Performing Diaspora|Tags: Danica Sena Gakovich, flamenco, Koreni, russian doll|

I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the traditional wooden Russian Doll. It opens up like a box to find another exact replica inside (only smaller) and then yet another, and another, etc. The more I research, the more I find and the plethora of information slowly seeps into my initial ideas. This is how I am feeling at the moment within my own creative process regarding "Koreni". It is so funny how ideas in the brain and

24 Jun, 2009

“Ampey!”, line, circle, he(r)art

2009-06-24T03:46:36-07:00By Adia|Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|Tags: adia tamar whitaker, circles, lines, Performing Diaspora|

line "the concepts that shape ..." are where I'd have to begin ... better yet, "SHAPE!" is where I'd have to begin if you REALLY want to talk about what we do as folklorists, performers, teachers, students etc. This residency is an opportunity for us to build new models of discussion, exploration, and experimentation around folkloric based performance art forms. It's an opportunity for us to examine the methods of assessment that already exist inside of tradition as opposed to

18 Jun, 2009

Sorry to have been out of the loop! Ana Maria and CONTRA-TIEMPO are back!

2009-06-18T01:35:32-07:00By CONTRA-TIEMPO|Categories: Ana Maria Alvarez, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|Tags: Ana Maria Alvarez, CONTRA-TIEMPO, Cuba, Salsa|

We have been in 'production mode' - and I apologize to my fellow Performing Diaspora Familia - our production went up - it was a success - and I am now ready to be on board!! We are gearing up for a tour to Cuba in July - there we will be training with two phenomenal Cuban companies - Narcisco Medina Danza Contemporania in La Habana and Cutumba Baile Foklorico in Santiago de Cuba. We will be presenting work (from

2 Jun, 2009

Traditional dance does not put the “no” into innovation (with apologies to the shredded wheat commercial)

2009-06-02T17:32:54-07:00By Sri Susilowati|Categories: CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora, Sri Susilowati|Tags: Performing Disapora, sri susilowati|

The essence of the esthetics of Indonesian dance, and that particularly from the islands of Java and Bali, can be explained through three words: wirama, and wirasa. Wirama means the harmony and internal rhythm of the movement. Wiraga is the intensity and fullness of the movement not in term of its external power, but more along the lines of being filled with chi (in Chinese) or prana (Sanskrit). Soft and delicate movement can be wiraga while movement that is seemingly strong and powerful can lack it altogether. Wirasa is the feeling of the movement. The word “feeling” here is used not in sense of emotion or passion, but in term of the sensation when emotion and mental construct are set aside.

2 Jun, 2009

Colette Eloi, Performing Diaspora Artist-Defining my Art

2009-06-02T13:57:16-07:00By Colette|Categories: Colette Eloi, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|Tags: Colette Eloi, Performing Diaspora|

If I were being safe I would say my art form is Haitian Folkloric Dance, then I would expound on it. However this would not be absolutely accurate. I am Haitian blooded African American raised in the United States by Haitian immigrants...."black". The two cultures are quite distinct yet share a "way","taste", "movement". This gives me a type of "dual consciousness". Haitian Dance has deep roots in Africa. They are planted in African traditions . The art I create expands

2 Jun, 2009

The Revolutionary Roots of Mexican Folk Dance

2009-06-02T13:03:31-07:00By Gema|Categories: CounterPULSE, Gema Sandoval, Performing Diaspora|Tags: Performing Diaspora|

Mexican folk dance has been a part of California since the the late 18th century. In those days the itinerant dance "maestro" went from Rancho to Rancho teaching the latest European dance fads to a multigeneretional clientele. When the Californios held their "meriendas" and "bailes", this was the perfect opportunity for every elegible bachelor and young señorita to display their skills in dancing the cuadrilla, polka, waltz, and schotis. In those days it was fashionable, even necessary, for the "gentlemen

2 Jun, 2009

Devendra Sharma for Performing Diaspora: Let us reclaim the respect for the indigenous folk artist

2009-06-02T05:23:01-07:00By Devendra|Categories: CounterPULSE, Devendra Sharma, Performing Diaspora|Tags: Devendra Sharma, Indian diaspora, Indian folk music, Indian folk opera, Indian Musical theater, Indian rural music, Indigenous music from India, Nautanki, Ordinary Culture, Social and Cultural problems related to immigration from India|

Colonialism does strange things to a culture. Ignoring one’s own indigenous “ordinary” culture, and blindly imitating others’ “legitimate” culture is one of them. It takes years and a lot of efforts before a culture realizes its self-worth during the post-colonial journey. At present, urban culture in India and Indian diaspora around the world is undergoing this journey. Let me share some of my life and thoughts with you as a rural folk artist from India who, first, migrated to a

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