Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Friday, November 1, 2019

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

We open the show with conversations with directors, curators, and dancers featured in the 10th Annual San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Nov. 2-4 and Nov. 9-10 at Brava Theatre.

Afia Thompson, dir. MAPENZI

Afia “Beautiful One” Thompson received her acclaim 20 years ago in West African dance. She has performed nationally and internationally in genres including jazz, hip-hop, lindy hop, freestyle, and modern dance. Afia Thompson founded Bahiya Movement in 2011 with her daughter Nafi Thompson. Bahiya Movement has participated in SF Juneteenth, Black Choreographers, and Mbongui Square. The company has graced such stages as The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco International Art Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Oakland’s Art and Soul Festivals. Recently her film MAPENZI “A dancer's love affair with Dance, Body, and the Arts"! was accepted in the San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2019.  Afia continues to teach classes in the Oakland community to professional dancers and dance enthusiasts of all ages.

WEBSITE

www.bahiyamovement.com

Laura Elaine Ellis
Photo: Andy Mogg

Laura Elaine Ellis, moderator of a discussion about activism and the arts after the Raising Voices shorts program on Nov 9, 6pm at Brava (the program includes MAPENZI and the other If Cities Could Dance-- Oakland). Ms. Ellis maintains a non-stop career of teaching, performing, choreographing and producing in the Bay Area.  Currently, she performs with Deborah Vaughan’s Dimensions Dance Theater and Jo Kreiter’s Flyaway Productions.   She has taught 25 years in the Dance & Theater departments of Cal State University, East Bay (CSU, Hayward), and the Athenian School.  Laura is co-founder and Executive Director of the African & African American Performing Arts Coalition. She is co-presenter of the Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now (BCF), with arts partner Kendra Barnes. Over the 15 years of presenting BCF, dance on film has often been a part of festival programming.  Moderating for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival’s Raising Voices program is in alignment with Laura’s love of dance, her activist spirit, and her joy of seeing dance on film. 
https://www.sfdancefilmfest.org/festival-films/2019-program/raising-voices/

Kabreshiona Tiyteea La’Shae Smith

Kabreshiona Tiyteea La’Shae Smith, also known as “the Breeze” is a 23 year old; faith based movement specialist from Richmond, CA.  She dances in the film: "If Cities Could Dance: Richmond."

As an choreographer, writer, singer, and actress she believes she was given these gifts  in order to heal, feel, and reveal. ROOTS the Movement (an acronym for rising out of the system) was founded out of the RYSE Youth  Center in 2015. the mission of the movement is to create art that reflects the biblical destiny of the so called “African American” and their connection with the descendants of Israel.


2. Mills College Dance Dept. is celebrating 80 with a New Orleans inspired Second Line. All events are free. For tickets and information: eventbrite.com/e/footwork-following-new-orleans-second-line-parades-tickets-75048890251  

We speak to RACHEL CARRICO, an Assistant Professor of Dance Studies in the School of Theatre + Dance at the University of Florida. Her research explores the aesthetic, political, and social histories of second lining, an improvisational dance form rooted in New Orleans's African diaspora parading traditions. She will give a lecture Friday evening, Nov. 1, on the intersection of New Orleans and Oakland Dance traditions.

Before joining the faculty at UF, Dr. Carrico held faculty appointments at Reed College, Colorado College, University of Oregon, and Wilson College. In 2015-16, she was the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Dance Studies at Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California–Riverside, an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU, and a teaching certificate from the Limón Institute. She parades annually in New Orleans with the Ice Divas Social and Pleasure Club.