February 1, 2017 Contact: Andrew Wood 415-399-9554 (O) for Immediate Release 415-305-1102 (C) [email protected]
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
February 1, 2017 Contact: Andrew Wood 415-399-9554 (o) For Immediate Release 415-305-1102 (c) [email protected] San Francisco International Arts Festival Celebrates the Bay Area as a Place of Multicultural Harmony and Inclusion, And Becomes a Marketplace to Promote Festival Artists to the World What: San Francisco International Arts Festival Who: Multiple Artists Where: Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture When: May 25 – June 4, 2017 Tickets: $12.50 - $35.00 Box Office and More Information: www.sfiaf.org 415-399-9554 Early Bird Tickets @ $12.50 On-Sale March 1, 2017; Festival Passes from $70. Discounts available for full-time students, seniors and groups. Photo Images Available on Request February 1, 2017, San Francisco: The 2017 San Francisco International Arts Festival will feature a brilliant 11 day program co-presented with, and held exclusively at, the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The Festival will feature 100 presentations by 65 ensembles and individual performing artists travelling from 15 other countries and the United States. It is a gathering that celebrates diversity, multiculturalism, curiosity and the value of otherness—a commitment that advocates for experiencing the cultural expressions of different societies and civilizations as a way to help understand and embrace them. Festival director, Andrew Wood, heralded the significance of the program, “The recent national elections were an anathema to most people in the Bay Area. In the face of adversity it is our job to stand up and declare that San Francisco remains an international city that welcomes a full and healthy dialogue with the rest of the world. We are inviting artists from a spectrum of countries to present their work alongside their American peers in a global celebration that honors the enduring sanctity and belief in the value of the human spirit. Some people in other areas of the country may want to cloak themselves in a veil of intolerance, but we are different. San Francisco and California will lead by example and continue to embrace the people of the world. We invite all those who want to share in these sentiments and who still believe in America’s multicultural promise to join us for an occasion that is powerful, provocative and beautiful.” The Festival will also, for the first time, be opening its doors as a platform to promote the work of local and international artists as part of an industry marketplace. SFIAF will invite arts presenters from throughout the country to attend the Festival for the purposes of seeing (and potentially booking) artistic work that they see on the Festival’s seven stages. As such the California Presenters association (attended by up to 150 arts presenters from the western states) will be holding its annual conference in San Francisco during the Festival and a number of its members will head to the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Wood said of this significant development, “When we started the Festival in 2003 the goal was to create a uniquely San Francisco version of the great Festivals of the world that combined presenting brilliant performances from across the globe with an industry gathering that included a discreet marketplace dimension. It took our current partnership with the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture that began with the 2015 Festival to allow us to build a program density to finally achieve this goal.” Opening night will feature multiple performances including the spectacular GuGu Drum Group from Shanghai, China and from France the US debut of Stereoptik who perform an ingenious shadow puppet play Dark Circus with the ominous tagline, “Come for the Show, Stay for the Woe!”. Also headlining this year’s Festival is the award winning play from Moscow’s Teatr Doc with the Meyerhold Theatre Center produced US Premiere of the English language version of One Day We Will All Be Happy. They will be joined by a revolutionary young contemporary choreographer from China named Gu Jiani with the west coast premiere of her hauntingly beautiful piece Right and Left. Gu Jiani’s work is part of a dance program that contemplates a Pirouette with Asia and includes JJBro, Scarabe and Victor Fung Dance from South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong respectively. Scotland based Estonian choreographer Eve Mutso will make her US debut with Unknown alongside the Bay Area’s Levy Dance and Alyce Finwall Dance Theater. There will also be the US debut of choreographer Tabea Martin from Switzerland and the Bay Area debut of pianist Pablo Estigarrabia from Argentina. The Festival will also feature the return of old friends such as improviser and pianist Shih Yang Lee from Taiwan, this time with his ensemble Ka Dao Yin, choreographer Myriam Gourfink from France with noise music aficionado Kasper Toeplitz and Trio Balkan Strings from Serbia. International collaborations include the Bay Area’s Richard Marriot with Made Subandi from Bali, ABADÁ Capoeira in collaboration with dancers from Brazil, Europe and Canada and Latifa Medjdoub with Haco from Japan. The Festival is also pleased to announce a series of programs suitable for families with children featuring Stereoptik, GuGu Drum Group, ABADA Capoeira, Aswan Dancers, Fanfare Zambaleta, Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts, Abhinaya Dance Company, Amy Lewis, Latifa Medjdoub with Haco and Chris Carlsson. The full Festival lineup with project descriptions is as follows (projects listed chronologically by discipline: dance, music, performance art and theatre). DANCE Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose (USA), Sanchaari - Elaboration Friday May 26, 8:00pm, Cowell Theater (Festival Family Program) Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 min. without intermission The traditional framework of the 2000 year old classical Bharatanatyam dance has engendered many interpretations through its renaissance period of the early 20th century to the present time. This concert Sanchaari – Elaboration presents Abhinaya Dance Company’s creative expression of the ancient classical dance technique. STEAMROLLER Dance Company (USA), Siamese Dream (1997) Thursday May 25 8:00pm, Saturday May 27 7:30pm, Sunday May 28 3:30pm. Firehouse Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration 60 minutes without intermission. Siamese Dream takes the classic Hollywood musical The King and I and the physicality of Hong Kong kung fu movies to create a fantasia of Asian Americana. Awash in the movement are such things as the music of Riyuchi Sakamoto and soundtracks from Hong Kong action flicks. Siamese Dream examines notions and media impinging on Asian American identity. Alma Esperanza Cunningham Movement (USA), She Went/Between Mars and Jupiter (World Premiere) Friday May 26 7:00pm, Saturday May 27 2:00pm, Sunday May 28 5:30pm. Firehouse Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission. She Went/Between Mars and Jupiter is an experimental performance installation shaped by the singular experience of being female; a compilation of movement essays that investigate art history, fashion and personal narrative to reframe and transform how we experience the female body in performance. Levy Dance (USA), Alone Together (2016) Friday May 26 8:00pm, Saturday May 27 6:00pm, Sunday May 28 4:00pm, Thursday June 1 7:30pm. Festival Pavilion Tickets: $25 General Admission. Duration: 75 mins. without intermission This immersive and experiential work explores the moments in our lives when loneliness and togetherness collide. Each scene is culled from the memories of the dancers and features innovative devices that were developed specifically for this production. Directed by LEVYdance Executive Artistic Director Garance Marneur in collaboration with the dancers and guest artists. Joe Landini (USA), (IT WILL BE LOUD) (World premiere) Friday May 26 9:30pm, Saturday May 27 9:30pm, Sunday May 28 8:30pm. Firehouse Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 40 mins. without intermission. (IT WILL BE LOUD) is a new performance installation incorporating elements of physical theatre and contemporary dance choreographed by Landini. (IT WILL BE LOUD) also features live performances by percussionist Joe Rayhbuck, videographer Mark McBeth and a cast of eight dancer/collaborators. AguaClara Flamenco (USA), Agua de Mayo Friday May 26, 9:30pm, Gallery 308 Tickets: $25 General Admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 90 mins. plus intermission AguaClara Flamenco presents Agua de Mayo in a celebration of the improvisatory spirit of flamenco performance, with a refreshing splash of the unexpected. Led by Oakland, CA-based artistic director Clara Rodriguez, both international and local flamenco artists collaborate in a production where the waters of spring merge with tradition, reviving and deepening their connection. Amy Lewis / Push Up Something Hidden (USA), 16 Electras (World Premiere) Saturday May 27, Saturday June 3, 2:00pm Black Battery Point. Tickets: ADMISSION FREE. Duration: 30 minutes without intermission (Festival Family Program) Amy Lewis presents 16 Electras, an embodiment of sixteen versions of the Electra myth. As the dancers move down the Black Point Battery trail, the myth of Electra is told through song lyrics. The lyrics, written by Lewis, are set to original music composed by Agnes Szelag. Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts (USA), Once upon a land...Stories from Magical India Saturday May 27, 3:15pm, Cowell Theater (Festival Family Program) Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission A dance performance filled with peacocks, snakes, demons and gods re-telling epic stories from ancient India. Demigods and demons are in constant competition for supremacy over the three worlds. The ensuing drama, obstacles, deceit, conflicts, and flirtatious romances unfold in magical tales filled with a cornucopia of Indian mythological characters. burnsWork (USA), Opero Cado -(World Premiere) Saturday May 27 5:00pm, Sunday May 28 2:00pm, Firehouse Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission Opero Cado will jettison the audience into the outer limits of improvisational/real-time dance and music creation. The name comes from Latin, opero (v. to labor) and cado (v.