Performers for the 2009 Festival are currently being finalized. Please check back soon for updates!

2009 Kick-Off Prelude Performers

Edwardo Madril, Narrator

Edwardo Madril brings his skills as a Native American dancer and educator, as well as his collaborative spirit, to help create and perform narrative interludes for the 2009 Sacramento World Music and Dance Festival.

Edwardo Madril founded and has performed with Four Winds Native American Dance for over 20 years. He specializes 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. He has performed throughout the western United States, including the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and World Arts West's arts education program, People Like Me. Eddie presents residencies in Bay Area schools, encouraging students to develop appreciation and respect for American Indian dance, music, cultural history, art and 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.

Ballet Lisanga Congolese Performing Arts Company

Director/Choreographer: Renee Puckett

The Congo, on the continent of Africa, is often mistaken as a country when it actually consists of two neighboring countries in Central Africa that are divided by the Congo River. The smaller of the two countries, the Republic of the Congo, sometimes called Congo-Brazzaville, is a former French colony to the west, whereas the Democratic Republic of the Congo, also referred to as Congo-Kinshasa (formerly Zaire), the third largest country on the African continent, was a Belgian colony.
 
The Balari are one of over two hundred tribal groups in the Congos. Residing in the dense tropical rain forest in the south of Congo-Brazzaville, the Balari had a rich musical tradition traveling from village to village with songs of love, death and friendship, and playing ritual music for funerals. With an animistic faith, the Balari’s religion centers on ancestor and spirit sects that play a large role in their societal social and political organization.

The drum takes on critical importance in any African dance ritual because it is a symbol of life and of the continuity of heritage. One of the oldest drums of Congo is the tall, cylindrical standing drum, the n’goma, played throughout centuries at births, weddings, funerals, healing rituals and as a way for one village to communicate with another. It is believed that by using this drum, participants can communicate with the spirits of their ancestors.

Ballet Lisanga Congolese Performing Arts Company was created in 2004 to preserve and promote the Congolese performance tradition and to carry on the work of their teachers. Artistic director, Renee Puckett was a member and assistant director to the late Malonga Casquelourd’s cherished Fua Dia Congo Dance Company and the Ceedo Senegalese Dance Company.

Ballet Folklorico Instituto Mazatlan Belles Artes

Director: Steven Valencia

Ballet Folklorico IMBA is a creative Mexican folkloric dance company specializing in indigenous to modern Mexican masterpieces. Our company of performers will amaze you with their passionately skilled dancers, awe-inspiring costumes and highly energetic choreographies.   Different dances include: Nayarit Mestizo, Jalisco, Veracruz Huasteca, Veracruz Jarocho, Danza de Quetzali, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Tabasco, Colima, Sones Antigous de Michoacan.  Recent engagements include:  Bejijng International Cultural Tourism Festival, Beijing China;  Sacramento Community Center Theater; Sacramento Memorial Auditorium; California State Fair, Sacramento; Glenne County Fair; El Dorado County Fair; Luckman Center for Performing Arts; Santa Rosa County Fair; Sierra II Community Center Theater; Stockton Civic Center.

Zooz Dance Company

Artistic Director: Jessica  Swanson and Jessica McKee

Founded in 2002, ZooZ presents original works deeply rooted in Middle Eastern and North African dance.  Incorporating elements of contemporary dance theater, the company explores a dialogue between ancestral traditions and present-day cultures. ZooZ celebrates the value of personal expression.  Each dancer brings their unique personality, talents, and experience to the group, which in turn affects the evolution of the company as a whole.

Finding beauty and inspiration in our differences, ZooZ creates an atmosphere that encourages cross-cultural communication, and seeks to move and transform audience and performers alike.

In addition to restaurants and nightclubs throughout the Bay Area, ZooZ has enchanted audiences at family celebrations, circus cabarets, and outdoor festivals
statewide. Main stage theatrical performances include: Broadway Theaters, Ashkenaz, Mezzanine, SFSU McKenna Theater, and the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts.

Strongly committed to the San Francisco and Northern California community, ZooZ reserves a portion of its performance schedule for local outreach programs such as Healthcare for the Homeless and Real Options for City Kids, and performs regularly at benefits for local arts organizations (Roxie Theater, Kidlandia, Art SF).

Dunsmuir Scottish Dance

Company Director: Ron Wallace

Dunsmuir Scottish Dancers Scottish Country, Highland, and Step Dancing Performance Group of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area is a company dedicated to keeping alive the spirit and form of Scottish dances, old and new. Our repertoire spans four centuries of dance tradition. The period costumes and musical styling’s bring the past to the present.

In addition to country and Highland dances, the group includes historic National Dances. Highland dancers of the Dunsmuir troupe have competed and won awards in America, Canada, and Scotland.  Our musicians have performed throughout North American and Europe.
Company director, Ron Wallace, grew up learning Scottish dance from his mother. The Dunsmuir Scottish Dancers was founded in 1981.  It is a member of the ever-growing Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, who’s San Francisco Bay Area Chapter boasts 600 people who are out dancing Scottish dance each week!
 
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