Ballet Afsaneh Art & Culture Society

Ballet Afsaneh Art & Culture Society is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to promoting the dance, music and poetry of the historic Silk Road regions of Central Asia. Since its founding in 1986, BAACS, under the direction of Ms. Sharlyn Sawyer, has implemented its mission through performances, on-going workshops, youth programs, touring engagements, lecture demonstrations, community outreach, and creative partnership programs with renowned artists and performing companies. The core of BAACS consists of a fifteen-member collaborative group of artists, joined by up to twenty five auxillery performers.

Aliah Lynn Najmabadi holds a BA in World Art & Cultures and Iranian Studies from UCLA. Her academic and artistic career focus is the preservation of the performing arts of Central Asia, Iran and the Diaspora. She has been a principal dancer with Ballet Afsaneh since the spring of 1998. Her dance studies have included Persian, Uzbek, Tajik, Azeri, Balinese, Flamenco and Ballet.

Tara Pandeya joined Ballet Afsaneh in 1997. Trained at an early age as a jazz-tap dancer she went on to study Bharatanatyam Indian, Kathak and Middle Eastern dance. She has studied and performed dance and music from Central Asia and the Middle East including Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Uzbek, Tajik, Azerbijani and Afghani Folk styles.

Miriam Peretz has a background in dance, gymnastics and Capoeira and has studied numerous ethnic dance forms including Flamenco, West-African, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Haitian, Hawaiian, Tahitian, modern and several folk dance styles. Her primary focus has been the dances of the Middle East, the Silk Road, and the Roma “Gypsy” trail.

Rosa Rojas joined Ballet Afsaneh in 2000, her dance and vocal music training include traditional Afghan, Arabic, Turkish, North African, and Flamenco. She currently performs as a principal dancer and soloist with the company. She teaches Central Asian dance classes for the BAACS community outreach and education programs, and has been selected take part in the summer 2006 Tajikistan residency program.

Boxtales Theatre Company
Boxtales Theatre Company's mission is to present myths and folktales from around the world to youth and family audiences using storytelling, live music, movement and mask work. Their aim is to fire imaginations, strengthen cultural pride, foster tolerance, and engage young people with the excitement and immediacy of live performance. Boxtales seeks to set a national standard for vital, interdisciplinary children's theatre. Boxtales engages children’s intellectual curiosity and encourages a new generation toward a lively and passionate relationship to the arts. Created in 1994, Boxtales has created many storytelling performance pieces as part of the Lobero's Literary Arts Outreach Program. The company has performed at hundreds of schools, libraries, festivals, and other youth events throughout California and beyond. See  www.boxtales.org.

Jeff Mills (Touring Performer, Co-Producing Artistic Director) has been performing as a professional actor and musician for 18 years. After undergraduate training in acting at U.C. Santa Barbara, he continued his studies at the Guildford School of Acting and Dance in England and at the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver. He has performed with the Denver Center Theatre Company and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Colorado; Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Kosanovich Dance Theatre in Minnesota and with the American Folklore Theatre in Door County Wisconsin. He was also the co-founder of the Door Shakespeare Festival in Door County, WI. He has been with Boxtales for six years.
 
Matthew Tavianini (Touring Performer, Co-Producing Artistic Director) has been a member of Boxtales for four years. A graduate of U.C. Santa Barbara (B.F.A. in acting), and Florida State U/Asolo Conservatory ( M.F.A. acting), he has extensively studied movement theater with Sigfrido Aquilar  in Mexico and with James Donlon at U.C. Santa Barbara. He has performed at the Westport Playhouse, Odyssey Theatre, Santa Barbara Shakespeare Festival, Ogunquit Playhouse, Asolo Theatre, Santa Barbara Theatre Group, and The Ensemble Theatre. Matthew is a co-founder of the Lit Moon Theatre Company in Santa Barbara and directs the annual Shakespeare show at Open Alternative School.

Cascada de Flores
Cascada de Flores ("waterfall of flowers") is a professional folkloric ensemble dedicated to the exploration, preservation and dissemination of Mexican and Cuban regional music and dance. Initially created for People Like Me 2000, Cascada de Flores features the vocal duet of Arwen Lawrence de Castellanos and Sabra Weber and guitarists Jorge Liceaga and Jorge Mijangos. They celebrate the diversity of Mexican and Cuban rhythms and the exciting sound of the early 1900s when the two countries' musical companionship first exploded.

Cascada explores diverse rhythms and traditions within Mexico such as canción ranchera, son huasteco, son cubano, gusto, trova and bolero. In 2003, the group visited the Gulf of Mexico to study son jarocho, the traditional music, dance and poetry of Veracruz' countryside. In 2004, with a grant from Arts International, they traveled to Cuba to continue their musical journey with masters of trova. Cascada de Flores serves the community by presenting a bilingual music and dance program in schools, libraries and theaters throughout California.

Diamano Coura West African Dance Company
Diamano Coura West African Dance Company is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to the preservation and education of traditional West African music, dance, theater, and culture. Diamano Coura conducts ongoing workshops, youth programs, lecture demonstrations, community outreach projects, and partnership programs with  companies such as the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, San Francisco Ballet, Les Ballets Africaines, and Dimensions Dance Company.

Director Zak Diouf has a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from U.C. Berkeley. He has had a distinguished career as a choreographer, performer, teacher, and a researcher of African music, dance, and culture. He has created pieces for organizations such as African-American Dance Ensemble in New York, Dimensions Dance Theater, Harambe Dance Company, Phoenix and San Jose Symphonies.

Artistic Director Naomi Diouf has assisted and choreographed works for numerous companies including San Diego Black Repertory Theater, the Dutch Theater Van Oosten in the Netherlands and Belgium, Dimensions Dance Theater in Oakland and Kankouran Dance Company in Washington, D.C. In 1998 and 1999 Naomi collaborated with the San Francisco Ballet in the premiere of Lambarena.

Four Winds
Four Winds Native American Dance Company, founded by Eddie Madril, has been performing for over 20 years, specializing in the dance and culture of the United States Plains Indian tribes from Southern Canada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, commonly found at inter-tribal gatherings (powwows) throughout the United States. Four Winds has performed to critical acclaim throughout the western United States, most notably at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and the 1984 Olympic Games.

Eddie Madril (solo Four Winds performer in People Like Me 2006) presents residencies throughout Bay Area schools that encourage students to develop appreciation and respect for, and explore the environment around them through American Indian dance, music, cultural history, art and American Indian sign language. Eddie has taught American Indian music at San Francisco State and was a three-year recipient of the California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence grant.

Peony Performing Arts
Founded in 2003, Peony Performing Arts promotes Chinese cultural values through the performing arts, with an emphasis in classical dance and Kunqu, a 600 year-old form of Chinese folk opera. PPA engages the public and encourages participation in this rich cultural legacy through performances, classes and workshops. PPA performances have included appearances at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the Herbst Theater and the Flint Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at universities, branch libraries, community centers and churches.

Shuang Sabrina Hou (co-founder) graduated from the Beijing Conservatory of Opera and held the seat of lead actress in the Beijing Northern Kunqu Opera Theater from 1988-1997. She is an award-winning Kunqu opera singer, and has been a featured performer in many prominent venues, including the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the San Francisco Gu-Zheng Society and Melody in China. She lectures on the art of Kunqu opera and endeavors to educate and inspire both western and eastern audiences with classical Chinese dance and Kunqu opera.