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Event
ESO SÍ! ARENAS DANCE COMPANY @ Dance Mission in San Francisco
PLEASE NOTE: Friday and Saturday are now sold-out.
A wait-list will start at 7pm. You must be present and at the theater to put your name on the list.
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Dance Mission Theater, in partnership with Eastside Arts Alliance, presents
ARENAS DANCE COMPANY in
¡ESO SÍ!
Más que bailar en Cuba bailaremos por Cuba
One thing's for sure: We don't just dance in Cuba, we dance for Cuba
A new dance work by the celebrated AfroCuban company, Arenas Dance Company, that looks at immigration, Cuba, and Afro-Latinidad, and celebrates the 20th anniversary of award-winning director Susana Arenas Pedroso's arrival in the United States
October 11-13, 2019 Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco
Friday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 6pm
Tickets:
General: $25 in advance / $28 at the door
Arenas supporter: $30
Youth (18 yrs & under) / Seniors (65 yrs & over ): $20 in advance / $22 at the door
(If your are looking for tickets to the Oakland show, visit https://eastsideartsalliance.org)
Eso sí, Arenas Dance Companys latest work, celebrates the 20th anniversary of choreographer and director Susana Arenas Pedrosos arrival in the States and her contributions to the Bay Area as a lead artist and cultural bearer of Afro-Cuban dance, rhythms, songs, and stories. The evening-length work, performed to both live drumming and recorded music, features Afro-Cuban folkloric and popular dance, incorporates movement and text, and integrates the sacred and the profane in Cuban culture.
Eso sí, which loosely translates to thats it! or one things for sure!, tells the story of a dancer in Havana who is preparing to go on tour to the United States with her dance company. We watch as she rehearses, packs luggage, and says her goodbyes. After giving oftrendas or offerings by Havanas Malecón to Yemaya (the orisha or deity of the sea) so that the journey is blessed, she arrives in San Francisco, where there is temptation to defect.
Pedroso collaborates with storytellers and percussionists and guest artist Freila Merencio Blanco, weaving together text, movement, and song with 12 dancers and five additional musicians. She calls on the strength of the mujer, flipping stereotypical images frequently seen in Cuban popular dances (e.g. the gossip, the flirt) and reclaims them. She calls on her own Lucumí spiritual practice, using its cultural legacies and mythologies to ground the piece. And, she calls on her ancestors, and all those that have crossed seas before her. As the subtitle suggests, más que bailar en Cuba bailaremos por Cuba, this work goes beyond just dancing in Cuba. Instead, we dance for Cuba.
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About Arenas Dance Company:
Susana Arenas Pedroso founded Arenas Dance Company in 2004 to preserve and promote culturally-rooted, ever-evolving Cuban folkloric and popular dance traditions while embracing creative innovation and hybridity. The company has performed at the SF Opera House, Great American Music Hall, Palace of Fine Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Herbst Theater, Chico State University, Laney College, Stanford University, ODC, La Peña, Dance Mission, and Ashkenaz, to name a few, and frequently appears in festivals such as Black Choreographers, CubaCaribe, SF Salsa/Rueda, Yemanja, Stanford Jazz, and San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festivals. Arenas Dance Companys last evening-length work, Yo Soy Cuba was enthusiastically received with two sold-out runs.
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Location Dance Mission Theater (View)
3316 24th St. @ Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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