...nzoCALIFA Dance Works designs and implements signature programming initiatives aimed at fostering creative innovation to enhance the Spiritual, Artistic, and Economic well-being of our Cultural communities.
Dec. 2015 -- Adept, Stately, gracious and agile in movement and Spirit, a grand library of cultural wisdom and devotee to Dance, closes and transitions. Iba'se Baba Nii, I am forever moved by your Grand Spirit, wisdom and Artistic excellence. ~R. Califa, Nzo Califa Dance Works Prof. Fransis Nii Yartey "...the recent past director of the Department of Dance Studies, University of Ghana (Legon) and the acting Director of the Ghana Dance Ensemble – passed on last week at the age of 69 -after a short illness during a national assignment in the Indian capital, New Delhi."
Dr. F. Nii Yartey transitioned Nov. 21, 2015, his final bow in Delhi, India leading and Africa/India Dance Summit
KUSUM AFRICA , MARCH 2002 - UC Berkeley, Zellerback - Pioneering Moment photo courtesy: Baba CK Ladzekpo, Key Collaborator of KUSUM Africa [living]
Pioneers of African Dance & Drum: Gran Kemoko Sano, Ballet Merveilles de Guinea. Malonga Casquelourd Founder/Artisitc Director, Fua Dia Congo, Nigerian Pioneer/Activist Babatunde Olantunji, CK Ladzekpo [living], the Director of the UC Berkeley African Music Program/Founder of the African Music and Dance Ensemble & Dr. F. Nii Yartey, Director, National Dance Company of Ghana. *2 men flanking names unknown _______________________________________
"Kusum Africa recruited 54 artists from four dance companies based in three countries for a traditional dance narrative that took three years to prepare and ran more than 2 1/2 hours at its premiere." ~SF Gate Article, March 2002
#GoodFriday -- A tributary salute to the dynamic cosmic duo of Oya and Sango - Maferefun Orisha. Modupe Iya and Baba. A moment to rise to the occasion of such a charged Season of change and forward motion. Over the years, under the guise of proficient spiritual leadership, these forces would influence my path with unforgettable guiding principles still empowering my life today:
Walk forward astute, strong and never wear your woes on your heart like a pocket.
In the face of injustice, prepare your case trump tight, align with advocates and claim your Victory
Kawo is a charismatic leader and commanding speaker amplifying, attuning or appeasing to his desire. So be alert and unrelenting in favor of your petitions before this energy. Yet, stay savvy in nature breeding harmony not discord in these exchanges.
When it comes to the DRUM - clear the floor, for more than likely he'll/she'll own it! Kawo BRINGS THE #DANCE with impressive movement dexterity in leaps and bounds. Executing amazing footwork Sango maintains immeasurable vigor, with impeccable grace, always dressed to the nines. *smile*
*Kawo kabie si le*
And let it be known, that it is Oya-Iyansa that fuels the fire of Sango; she is a staunch adjudicator and powerful transformation agent launching her unstoppable winds and storms in the wake of stagnation.
She owns the purse strings as celebrated Marketplace inciting cooperative economics in our world communities, advancing micro-business enterprise.
Wearing her sacred mask, Iya rides that fine line between life and death like a maverick equestrian, often invoked in Egungun masquerade Ancestral traditions.
*Hekua hey*
Today's post pays virtual homage to Orisa Sango & Oya-Iyansa represented through Artistic excellence via Dance & Drum mediumship. Selected below are beloved Master Teachers whose knowledge of these sacred traditions, I revere and treasure their embodied wisdom through my works. Ase'o
~ Regina Califa, Nzo Califa Dance Works
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Formigão: Xango, God of Fire and Thunder
from the Afro Brazilian tradition of Candomble´
iba'se *give praise to Life*
Film/Editor: Layne Redmond, co-produced/directed by Rosangela Silvestre.
Salvador, Brazil, Nov. 2005. Xango: Formigao
Jose Francisco Dances for
Orisha Chango
feat. Akpon Michael Spiro & Mestre Jorge Alabe
Act III: Chango/Xango feat. Bobi Cespedes & Jorge Alabe Practitioners of the African Spiritual traditions and celebrated recording Artists.
Bata Ketu: Musical Interplay of Cuban Lucumi and Brasilian Candombleproduced by Michael Spiro & Mark Lamson | www.bembe.com/bataketu
Featured COVER photo on "Nzo Califa Dance Works" Facebook Page platform sharing newsworthy trends and noteworthy happenings in the Bay Area Cultural Dance scene and beyond.
picture: snapshot of original photo from @nzoCALIFA archives
Afro Brasilian Grupo Carnavalesco Fogo Na Roupa - Carijama Oakland 1997
Mestre Carlos Aceituno, Founder/Artistic Director [iba'se]
Regina "Califa" Calloway: Carnaval Program Manager/Principal Dancer
[photo below] June 2003 Indybay news reports "..latest target of Mayor Jerry Brown's gentrification efforts is the Alice Arts Center. Brown plans to displace the 50 residents and the 22 arts ..."
"I’m not sure I’ve met a dancer who doesn’t discuss
African dance as a spiritual practice." - Delina Patrice Brooks, Director
The Bay Area African Dance scene emerges upon an International arena, garnering nation-wide support and overwhelming praise with growing interest about What African American Women really have to say and share, while participating in discourse about their African Dance experience. As seen through a guided lens, devotee, Multi-disciplinary Artist, Producer and Director Delina Brooks of Delina Dream Productions gives voice to emerging Cultural care-takers, Dance forces, Educators, Teaching Artists and a Lawyer amplifying the voices of countless to be heard and revisiting the wisdom of those before us. #RiteOn We're sure you'll be glued to the screen and moved to want to see and listen to more. Featured Internationally renown African Dance Master Teachers at Oakland's historical cradle place for African Dance - Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, shepherded by Dance dynasty Diamano Coura West African Dance Company. On behalf of Nzo Califa Dance Works, BE in this #Dance with your continued support and watch the "Rough Cut teaser" below.
~R. Califa, Curatorial Director Nzo Califa Dance Works
...shared testimony from one #Dance agent to another...
aug. 14th -- Stepping up my service in the #Dance by making atonement and to #HonorBreath. Joined in New Orleans Commune+Unity initiative at the historic Congo Square - AUG. 29th 10A - 12Midnite, Nfungotah Inc.'s #RhythmicAlchemy will invoke measures of "Healing and Recovery" at the country's epicenter --Congo Square - Orleans Parish - Louisiana.
Reflecting upon this vital connection that fuels my works of Service, Ancestor honoring, Professional Teaching curriculum and my own vitality -- remembering those unforgettable words that my Grandfather of Pioneer, Louisiana told me in the emergence of gentrification in the Bay Area -- "...don't forget your own backyard." *never forget how we come and whose you belong to." I forge enlightened pathways as a beacon of light aspiring higher...I now commemorate a decade of powerful works shared in the wake of what has been coin-phrased around the world as #Katrina10 - Yet these works service to heal and revive the SPIRIT of our good kinship and those "...of good works and prosperity"#CSQwest10 - t'ache, t'ache, t'ache. ~R. Califa, Nzo Califa Dance Works
De Rompe y Raja Afro Peruvian Cultural Association, trailblazing Dance Company, Cultural agency and Ambassadors in promoting the rich traditions of Afro Culutura Peruana from the Coastal region of Lima, Peru for over 20 years. R. Califa joined this company in 1996 under the aegis of Founders Artistic Director Gabriela Shiromaand Musical Director Pedro Rosales: Festejo, Lando, Samba Malato, Diablo, Zamacueca were a few of the styles I became well versed and trained in, while actually performing with virtuoso, icons and Masters of the field directly from Lima, Peru. Below features the Founding Member of the World renown Peru Negro, MaestroLalo Izquiero with Regina Califa in a featured solo.
__________
"Torito Pinto" [ little Black Bull] San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Audition 2001
TORITO PINTO (Festejo) Choreography by Lalo Izquierdo Company: De Rompe y Raja
The lead Dancer [red skirt] represents the matador against the masked Lalo representing the diabolic presence of slavery. -- Watch and see who triumphs?!
"Water Runs Through It" conceived by New Orleans native, Leslie Zakiya Cornish - whose Dance sojourn of African American identity steeped in the historical backdrop of the Black Civil Rights movement and African Liberation cultivated through International Ambassadorship by premiere African Ballet Companies of the times -- the catalyst in further establishing a long-time kinship exchange and presence of African Dance and Drum Communities in the United States. The real gift of this piece as part of her M.F.A. Thesis concert at Temple University, reveals a Mother-daughter Ancestral cycle story influenced by"her intimate connection to the radical impact of Hurricane Katrina, and the invocation of two bodies of water inherently connected to her ancestral roots - the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean." The featured soloist in the center is Zakiya's Mother a celebrated Dance Elder and Medium - Mama Djaara.
"Water Runs Through It: Rogation"
Her motherDjaara Linda Pijeaux aka"Mama Djaara", iba'e, ibae tonnu, transitioned on the 4th of July, shortly after a celebration of Life Party presented by her Commune+unity in New Orleans.
original photo courtesy of Zakiya L. Cornish, daughter
I first met Mama Djaara on the #Dance floor at a conference held at Tulane University in the Summer of 2005. And while dancing Palo in another class of the conference taught by Baba Richard Gonzalez she broke into Mardi Gras Indian mode like like a shape shifter as blaring news had reached us minutes away, that our Big Chief Tootie "Allison" Montana had fallen from a heart attack presenting right before the New Orleans City Council Chambers about the abuse upon Mardi Gras Indians by NOPD. The whole room transformed as tams popped and chants began - I fell in, next to her. And at the historical Funeral Procession/ Second line July 9th, #YPH Queen was the transcendental Spirit that brought reverence and a smile to the day -- Mama Djaara commanded "the Dance" -- She is now honored as my Dancestory of indomitable Spirit and sweet grace; A RN, Cultural Caretaker and Mardi Gras Indian Queen with Yellow Pocahontas - survived by 2 Adult children, grands, Family members Cultural community & wealthy legacy of #Dance Spirit -- TRUST I shall #Dance higher.~Love and sweet ease to Sis Zakiya & Family, Commune+Unity & affected kinship.
~R. Califa Calloway
Nzo Califa Dance Works
Congo SQ West Kinship Society
Kumbuka Dancers & Congo Square Commune+Unity lifts up kinship member Sis Zakiya photo cr: Peter Nakhid
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland, CA
produced by Diamano Coura West African Dance Company
COLLAGE 2013 "Knowledge Keepers" celebrates those teachers and cultural, honoring their works as cultural innovators recognized as International Ambassadors of the Arts! Collage 2013 showcases a stellar cast of cultural artists [in order of appearance of clip] Diamano Coura West African Dance, Dimensions Dance Theater (40 years of Black Dance), Julia Chigamba and Chinyakare (Zimbabwe), Starchild Dannce (Lindy Hop, Hip Hop, Jazz), Rara Tou Limen (Haitian) and The African Music and Dance Ensemble (Ghana) not shown. Finale by the show's Host Diamano Coura. [source:@Madioudiouf on YouTUBE]
Bay Area, CA -- Buzzing with salutations and celebrations honoring the Honorees this year's legacies of Cultural Gatekeepers to be honored MAY 28th at the San Francisco International Arts Festival, in a Night of Tribute in Dance, honoring Dance Pioneer, Blanche Brown, produced by Congo SQ West Kinship Society. Honorees week MAY 10th - MAY 14th encourages our constituencies to ENGAGE through the DANCE and LEARN more about the people behind the living legacy, reflecting a wealth of kinship associations historical to the Bay Area Cultural Landscape and beyond! Tickets available online for Night of Tribute in Dance, honoring Dance PioneerBlanche Brown. [ click link ]
Come on out and participate and share a good word.
Check the listing below for class/workshop offerings:
Congo SQ West boasts an exciting week of signature #Dance programming and exchange in commemoration of their 10th partnering with the SF International Arts Festival. #CSQwest10
Join a special Night in Tribute and Commemoration, as advance reserved tickets [$25] are available on sale now. Also available, "the real deal" VIP tickets [$35], promise premium seating with an exclusive opportunity to experience LIVE! @Congo SQ West reception / mixer. VIP will bask in memorabilia, celebrate legacy fruits and some of the finest in Artistic offerings.
VIP reception features Artistic comrades of historical kinship with #CSQwest10:
[partial listing]
Peru: Proyecto Lando's Pedro Rosales Cultural caretaker & cajón virtuoso
Marina Lavalle Peru Negro's premier voice for Black Peru &
premier guitarist of Criolla tradition,Maestro Vladimir "Papo" Vukanovich
Democratic Republic of Congo'sJacques Ibula Activist/Musician to strike a chord of acoustic mediumship of Congo risings and invocations of consciousness & heart
Thank You Oakland, Bay Area for a wonderful 1st class outpouring of Dance Kinship, with exciting energy and dynamic teaching by Master Teacher Alassane Kane. #RiteOn
Added class to the schedule below is:
TUES. MARCH 24th, 7:30p - 9:00P [ added class ]
2nd floor, Studio A / $15 Malonga Center - 1428 Alice st. Oakland
*Ousseynou/Kelly Kouyate via Diamano Coura
In residency Master Performance Artist, Teacher, Dance Virtuoso - Gran Alassane Kane of Grand Dakar, Senegal, celebrated alumnus of Le Ballet National Du Senegal