September 24, 2009  
 
This fall, performance traditions from Kathak to Flamenco and from Tabla to Taiko will jump out of the history books and onto the stage of CounterPULSE, one of the Bay Area's most exciting centers for contemporary performance. California is home to many diverse and talented practitioners of traditional performance, yet few opportunities exist for artists who wish to challenge, expand or experiment with their own traditional art forms. CounterPULSE’s Performing Diaspora debuts this November featuring thirteen talented California dance, music, theater, media, and interdisciplinary artists who are using traditional forms as a basis for experimentation and innovation, truly representing the modern California experience. With three weekends of evocative performance, lively online conversation, and a day of critical discussion about identity and performance, Performing Diaspora gives audiences the opportunity to engage with these groundbreaking artists like never before.

The Performing Diaspora Festival runs three weekends in November (5-8, 12-15, and 19-22). Each weekend includes 4-5 artists presenting new work that explores an intersection of a different traditional art form and contemporary theme or style; including Indonesian dance from Sri Susilowati; Chicano dance by Gema Sandoval; and Nautanki, North Indian folk theater by Devendra Sharma, among others. CounterPULSE also presents the Performing Diaspora Symposium on Saturday, November 7, to engage the community in dialogue to examine the creative, social and personal challenges the Festival brings forth for performers, presenters, critics and audiences, including issues such as tradition, authority and appropriation. 

Audiences are invited to engage with performers prior to the festival online at the Performing Diaspora blog where artists dialogue about their traditions, themes, challenges and development of their exciting new work. http://counterpulse.org/blog/. Visitors can sign up for Performing Diaspora updates, admission to work-in-progress shows and advance ticket sales for the November Performing Diaspora Symposium and Festival at the CounterPULSE website. 

The full lineup includes:

Thursday-Sunday, 8pm November 5-8, 2009
Charlotte Moraga - Kathak
Gema Sandoval, Danza Floricanto/USA - Mexican Folklorico
Danica Sena Gakovich - Flamenco/Serbian dance
Adia Tamar Whitaker - Afro-Haitian Folkloric
 
Thursday-Sunday, 8pm November 12-15, 2009
Ana Maria Alvarez, CONTRA-TIEMPO - Urban-Latin dance theater
Colette Eloi - Haitian Folkloric
Opal Palmer Adisa - Jamaican Storytelling
Sri Susilowati - Indonesian Dance

Thursday-Sunday, 8pm November 19-22, 2009
Yannis Adoniou, KUNST-STOFF- Contemporary dance. Greek shadow theater, Rembetiko music
Dulce Capadocia, Silayan Philippine-American Dance Company - Filipino Folk Dances
Fei Wang - Guqin player; multidisciplinary performance
Prumsodun Ok - Classical Cambodian dance; video and film
Devendra Sharma - Nautanki, North Indian folk theater

What: CounterPULSE presents the Performing Diaspora Festival, thirteen performance artists debut work representing California's most exciting new voices at the intersection of traditional arts, contemporary performance and the state’s changing demographics.
 
When: Thursdays-Sundays, 8pm November 5-8, 12-15, and 19-22, 2009
 
Where: CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission St. at 9th in San Francisco 

Contact: Jessica Robinson, 415-626-2060 or jessica@counterpulse.org
Web: www.counterpulse.org/performingdiaspora.shtml

Charlotte Moraga, a senior disciple of Pandit Chitresh Das, performs traditional Kathak dance around the world as principal dancer of Chitresh Das Dance Company (CDDC), and as a solo artist. Moraga is currently director of the Chhandam Youth Dance Company. She is a recipient of the first Shenson Performing Arts Fellowship, recognizing artistic merit and potential for future excellence and impact on the field of Kathak. With her newest work, Moraga will explore the triangle of audience, dancer and musicians by putting it into a triptych based on the Hindu paradigm of existence: creation, preservation and destruction. Destruction is often seen as a creative act in itself as it makes way for rejuvenation. The work will feature collaborative and virtuosic live music. 

The festival and symposium also features Devendra Sharma from Fresno, CA. 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 to bring critical attention to contemporary global issues and empower marginalized people. His current Nautanki piece examines the phenomenon of Indian men who come to America from India to study or work and have two romantic partners, one in India and another in America.

CounterPULSE provides space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators, serving as an incubator for the creation of socially relevant, community-based art and culture. CounterPULSE acts as a catalyst for art and action; creating a forum for the open exchange of art and ideas, catalyzing transformation in our communities and our society. CounterPULSE works towards a world that celebrates diversity of race, class, cultural heritage, artistic expression, ability, gender identity and sexual orientation, and strives to create an environment that is physically and economically accessible to everyone.