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Afro-Cuban folklorist and choreographer José
Francisco Barroso and
DREAM, an Oakland-based urban dance company that
grew out of Destiny
Arts Center, are collaborating to create “Full Circle,” an
exploration of historic, social, and aesthetic links between Afro-Cuban
Rumba and African-American Hip-Hop. The finished work, a 20-minute
dance-theater piece will be premiered May 19-21, 2006, at Oakland’s
Laney College Theater and toured both as a stand-alone work and part
of DREAM’s repertory.
Although Rumba and Hip-Hop were born of different eras and lands,
Barroso developed skills in both as a young man in Cuba and notes
that similar social environments sparked their development. He sees
both cultures as growing out of an overwhelming need for self-expression
and release from existing stresses and oppressive living conditions. To
this end, music, dance, clothing, and language were re-created, both
to express joy as well as to be tools of transformation. In addition
to integrating both Hip-Hop and the Afro-Cuban tradition within his
solo movement vocabulary, and his years of choreographing group works
within the Afro-Cuban tradition, “Full Circle” will be
Barroso’s first chance to explore with a professional dance
company the intersections of these two distinct cultural forms.
Launched in September 2002, DREAM Dance Company brings innovative
urban folk art and culture to the stage to tell personal and collective
stories of struggle, transformation, and inspiration. Central
to its collaborative process is the ability of the dancers to contribute
creatively to the artistic process. Development of “Full
Circle” begins with Jose Francisco Barroso teaching technique,
creating choreography, and directing rehearsals with the members
of DREAM dance ensemble. DREAM’s Artistic Director, Naomi Bragin,
will collaborate creatively on the choreography and is responsible
for production of “Full Circle’s” May 19, 2006
premiere. As all participating artists have heavy touring and performing
schedules, rehearsals will be videotaped and the tapes exchanged
among the principals for critique and development of the work. Barroso
and Bragin together will select musicians, designers, and any other
participating artists.
Rumba describes a form of community gathering—the word itself
is derived from African root words meaning “to gather and dance” or “to
have a party.” According to Yvonne Daniel, in Rumba, Dance
and Social Change in Cuba, it “flourished in urban and
rural settings where Cuban workers of all colors and occupations
[gathered to share] their Creole heritage in music and dance…where
free blacks gathered to communicate their feelings or comment on
their struggles and enslaved Africans were permitted to congregate
after work.” These communities lived, gathered, and danced
in urban quarters known as solares and from the solares,
the culture of Rumba became popularized as a “vehicle of liberation
and protest.” By 1962, the Cuban revolutionary government
institutionalized Rumbaas a national dance. To this day, the
Rumbacircles at Sabado de la Rumba, a weekly gathering place in Havana,
draw Cubans to dance, play music, and sing. The artistic disciplines
that have been integrated into Rumbaare incredibly diverse, including
traditional Yoruban religious songs and rhythms and the reenactment
of folktales.
“Full Circle” also explores Hip-Hop as a culture that
has developed over the course of the past 30 years, in many respects
like a folkloric cultural tradition. It draws on multiple stylistic
influences, from the early 1970s funk styles of Poppin’, Lockin’ and
Boogaloo, to Salsa and Rumba, to the 1920s and 30s Jazz and Tap,
to Native American Fancy Dance, and Brazilian Capoeira. According
to Hip-Hop dancer and historian Mr. Wiggles, Hip-Hop “in its
origin was about celebration, partying, and having fun.” It
shares Rumba’s tradition of storytelling in its creation
of theatrical characters, gestures, and movement sequences, drawing
inspiration from its environment. It also shares Rumba’s
story as a form arising from a culturally diverse urban setting and
expressing the need for social change.
Born in Havana, at a very
young age, José Francisco Barroso
was dancing the popular Cuban styles of Son, Casino, Rueda, and Rumba. As
a teenager, he competed and was recognized throughout Havana for
his skills in the American forms of Hip-Hop and break dance. Literally
discovered dancing on the street corner in Havana, Barroso was mentored
by director of Cuba’s Compania Folklorica Raices Profundas,
Juan de Dios Ramos, and rapidly began his journey and career as a
principle dancer and soloist of Afro-Cuban dance. Today, director
and choreographer José Francisco Barroso is regarded as among
the foremost authorities on Afro-Cuban dance, music, and folklore.
He continues to expand and exhibit his already impressive knowledge
of Yoruba traditional practices by studying and collaborating with
numerous Cuban and African masters of drum, dance and culture.
DREAM
Dance Company brings innovative urban folk art and culture to the
stage to tell personal and collective stories of struggle, transformation
and inspiration. Rooted in elements of Hip-Hop culture, DREAM’s
stylistic repertoire integrates a breadth of African diasporic movement,
including Hip-Hop, House and Afro-Caribbean dance. DREAM’s
work explores the intersections of these traditions and the cultures
from which they arise, utilizing dance, theater, poetry and beatbox.
José Francisco Barroso
Born in Havana, José Francisco Barroso’s childhood was
enveloped in Cuba’s rich artistic and spiritual environment. At
a very young age Barroso was dancing the popular Cuban styles of
son, casino, rueda, and rumba. Barroso describes these movements
as an expression of everyday life in Cuba and as a symbol of the
vibrancy of the Cuban people. As a teenager, Barroso competed
and was recognized throughout Havana for his skills in the American
forms of hip-hop and break dance. Literally discovered dancing
on the street corner in Havana, Barroso was mentored by director
of Cuba’s Compania Folklorica Raices Profundas, Juan de Dios
Ramos, and rapidly began his journey and career as a principle dancer
and soloist of Afro-Cuban dance.
Immersed in the dance and music
tradition of his ancestors, Barroso delved ever deeper into the significance
and roots of his culture. Today,
director and choreographer José Francisco Barroso is regarded
as among the foremost authorities on Afro-Cuban dance, music, and
folklore. His extensive training and dedication yield Barroso
accreditation as an Omo Ayán, master of the consecrated Bata;
Palo ÑaÑganaga, keeper of knowledge in the Congolese
tradition; Omo Elegba, priest of the Orisha Elegbá; and Awo
Ifa, high priest of Orunmila.
Barroso was a California Arts Council
Artist-In-Residence Grant recipient for the years 1995-2000, teaching
extremely popular classes for children and adults, in arts centers,
community centers, and public schools, and is a 2006 recipient of
the ACTA Living Cultures Grant Program. In
addition to private dance studios, Barroso has held residency at
several universities and colleges such as Stanford University, California
State University Sacramento, San Jose State University, Humboldt
State University, San Francisco State University, New College of
San Francisco, Laney College, and Mills College.
Barroso continues
to expand and exhibit his already impressive knowledge of Yoruba
traditional practices by studying and collaborating with numerous
Cuban and African masters of drum, dance and culture.
Naomi Bragin
Naomi Bragin, founder and Artistic Director of DREAM Dance Company,
is a multifaceted dancer, choreographer, teacher and director with
a personal style that integrates the rhythms and spirit of Hip-Hop,
House, African, Latin and Modern dance. Exposed to music at
birth by her mother, a concert pianist, by the age of four Naomi
was performing classical violin repertoire and soon entered competitions
in and around Los Angeles and at the Idyllwild music camp. Her passion
for dance developed in the underground clubs and parties of Los Angeles
and New York in the 1990s and she was awarded the BA in Dance Choreography
and Performance by Wesleyan University in Connecticut in1995.
Since moving to Oakland in 1997, Naomi has created and produced
events celebrating the unique urban culture of the Bay Area. In
2001, she received a California Arts Council grant to create Free
Style Fridays, a popular weekly freestyle dance session in West Oakland
that connected Bay Area youth with professional dancers and DJs. This
innovative event was among the first to introduce West Coast youth
to House dance and music.
Her exploration into the cultural roots of the various dance forms
performed by the DREAM Company has brought Naomi to their source,
studying with legendary dancers in New York, Cuba and Brazil. Most
recently, she toured the islands of Mindanao and Kalinga, studying
indigenous Pilipino tribal dance and culture. Support
from the Zellerbach Foundation, Creative Work Fund, East Bay Community
Foundation and PUEBLO among others has allowed DREAM to bring its
unique blend of dance performance to national audiences exceeding
25,000.
Naomi is Artist-in-Residence for Youth-In-Arts and Performing Arts
Workshop, has collaborated with theater director Ellen Sebastian-Chang
and performed with Mambo Romero Dance Company, Pearl Ubungen and
the Emma Said Dance Collective. She has served as Director of Dance
for San Francisco's Robeson Rivera and Life Learning Academies and
worked from 2000-2002 as Co-Director of Oakland’s Destiny Arts
Youth Performance Company.
Naomi is a practitioner of the Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition, Lukumi.
She feeds her love of music as a party DJ, spinning Hip-Hop, Soul,
Dancehall and House.
www.naomibragin.com
Dream Dance Ensemble
Founded in September 2002 by Artistic Director Naomi Bragin, DREAM
has performed for over 25,000 people at 60 venues throughout California
and nationally. DREAM dedicates a portion of each season to bring
their multidisciplinary shows and workshops to local schools and
community events, activating young people’s awareness of these
vital cultural traditions.
Dig Us Now, DREAM’s current touring production, focuses on
the dance cipher, a circle where the dancers battle, get down, and
seek spiritual elevation, trading personal and collective stories
in movement. Dig Us Now is an evolution story of African-American
music and dance told through movement, rhyme and ritual. Dig Us Now
showcases each company member’s unique style, representing
the diversity of cultural dance forms that make up the collective
voice of a community, finding inspiration and freedom through physical
artistic expression. DREAM is available for excerpts and full-length
performances of Dig Us Now, as well as dynamic, in-depth workshops
in Dance Technique & Performance, Word Flow, Hip-Hop Theater
and Violence Prevention & Conflict Resolution.
DREAM Dance Company has received funding and support from East Bay
Community Foundation, PUEBLO, Zellerbach Foundation, the Creative
Work Fund, Destiny Arts Center and individual donors and volunteers.
Contact:
www.dreamdancecompany.org
dream@dreamdancecompany.org
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