World Arts West Dance Festival, September 8

Expanded festival includes three weekends, with workshops and talks illuminating the theme of Dance as Activism

San Francisco, CA (August 01, 2024) – World Arts West celebrates its 45^th annual dance festival this year, bringing its vibrant showcase to the Presidio the 3^rd year running. The festival includes artist dialogues and dance workshops at Dance Mission Theater on August 25 and September 1. It culminates in a day of free performances that center culture, wisdom, and beauty through global dance and music at Presidio Tunnel Tops on Sunday, September 8 from 1 – 4 p.m.

Thirteen groups primarily from the Bay Area will share their cultural heritage through pulsing rhythms, colorful attire, and vibrant music and dances— ranging from the traditional to the contemporary —from Africa, the Middle East, South Asia to the Americas and beyond. The free festival is an opportunity to be transported around the globe, all in one joyful event.

The 2024 festival theme, “Dance as Activism”, underscores the power of cultural dance to challenge societal norms, preserve heritage, and inspire social change. “Dance has always been a vehicle to show stories of resistance and revolution through movement,” said Dr. Anne Huang, executive director of World Arts West. “Each performance is a coded blueprint for survival, resilience, and evolution. The 45^th World Arts West Dance Festival is a testament to the power of social change through dance—more persuasive than shackles and guns, fear and violence.”

World Arts West is broadening the performances presented this year to reflect both the traditional and contemporary styles prevalent in the cultural dance community. Legacy dance groups, such as Fua dia Congo and Parangal, are holders of ancestral knowledge and cultural traditions, passing along these narratives to a new generation. Contemporary groups like Ensamble Folclórico Colibrí push the boundaries of social norms; in this case, they challenge perceptions of queer identity in Mexican folklórico dance.

“We’ve had the pleasure of exploring and enhancing multicultural programming at Presidio Tunnel Tops in partnership with World Arts West, our dedicated partner since 2021, even before the site opened,” the Presidio Trust’s Director of Visitor Engagement Allison Stone shared. “We’re honored and grateful to work with World Arts West and other Bay Area community organizations and leaders as we collaborate in making the Presidio a park for everyone.”

 World Arts West Dance Festival Artist Line-Up, September 8, 2024

• Chinyakare Ensemble – Chinyakare presents traditional dance, music, and culture of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa that weaves colorful stories that show scenes from everyday life while teaching important life lessons, such as goal setting, perseverance, and thankfulness.
• Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company – Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company (DAYPC) is a diverse group of teens that collaborates with professional artists to create dynamic, original productions that combine hip hop, modern and aerial dance, theater, song, and rap, telling stories that stem from their lived experiences and express their commitment to advancing inclusivity, equity, and justice.
• Destiny Muhammad (harpist) – Destiny is a recording/performing artist, band leader, composer and producer. Her genre ranges from Celtic to Coltrane and is cool and eclectic with a feel of Jazz and storytelling to round-out the sonic experience.
• Ensamble Folclórico Colibrí – Under the artistic directorship of Arturo Magaña, Ensamble Folclórico Colibri’s mission is to promote the pride of identifying as an LGBTQ+ Latinx through the art of Mexican Folklórico dance.
• Fua Dia Kongo – Founded in 1977, Fua Dia Kongo is a nonprofit cultural arts organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Kongolese cultural legacies worldwide.
• International Performing Arts of America – A non-profit dance group based in the Bay Area, International Performing Arts of America is passionate about celebrating East Asian culture through motion and choreography.
• Ishami Dance Company – Ishami Dance Company is a South Asian Contemporary dance company whose mission is to explore, unite, and amplify the diverse voices, stories, and histories of the South Asian diaspora. They dismantle social and cultural constructs by combing movement, music, and aesthetics of Western forms like modern, contemporary, and jazz with South Asian dance forms like Bharatnaytam, Kathak, Garba, and Chhau.
• Ishita Mili – Ishita Mili is a Bengali-American director, choreographer, educator, and iconoclast that founded IMGE dance company, a group that unravels cultural roots to thread together global stories that encompass dynamic imagery, mudra storytelling, and percussive footwork to confront social and cultural constructs.
• Kitka – Kitka is an American women’s vocal arts ensemble inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
• La Mezcla – La Mezcla is a rhythmic ensemble of womxn of color that explores historical narratives and social justice through tap dance, Mexican zapateado, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.
• Noorani Dance Company – Founded by international Kathak artist, Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, Noorani Dance exemplifies Farah’s unique artistic expression and vision coupled with the classical and innovative influence and style of Farah’s Guru, the late Pandit Chitresh Das.
• Parangal – Parangal’s mission is to give tribute to Philippine heritage by preserving and promoting ethnic attire, music, and dance through research, workshops, and performances.
• Suhaila Salimpour Dance Collective – First-generation Middle Eastern (Kurdish, Sicilian, and Greek) American belly dancer Suhaila Salimpour is known not only for creating the first certification program in belly dance in the world, but also for the global influence of her own format on belly dance performance and instruction.

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Calendar Listing:

Event: World Arts West Dance Festival
Date: Sunday, September 8
Time: 1 PM – 4 PM
Location: Presidio Tunnel Tops, East Meadow – 210 Lincoln Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94129
Admission: Free
Website: https://www.worldartswest.org/
Description: World Arts West celebrates its 45^th Annual Dance Festival, its 3^rd at the Presidio. The three-weekend festival showcases culture, wisdom, and beauty through global dance and music, with a theme this year of “Dance as Activism.” The festival will include artist dialogues and dance workshops at Dance Mission on August 25 and September 1 and a day of performances at Presidio Tunnel Tops on Sunday, September 8! Bring a blanket, picnic, family, and friends and enjoy free music and dance from around the globe with the Golden Gate Bridge as backdrop.
Event link: https://presidio.gov/explore/events/world-arts-west-dance-festival-2
Festival video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzeFkcBY0m8

About World Arts West:

Founded in 1978, World Arts West is a nationally recognized leader in advocating for cultural arts communities. Serving one the largest world dance networks in the United States, World Arts West is a wraparound cultural artist service provider based in San Francisco, serving as a hub for comprehensive capacity-building artist services. World Arts West pioneered the first city-sponsored multicultural dance festival in the USA. Now in its 46th year, World Arts West continues this legacy of presenting a vital platform for cultural artists to build recognition, visibility, and intersectional solidarity.

About the Presidio and the Presidio Trust

The Presidio is one of America’s most visited national park sites, located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is the ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone. Spanning 1,500 acres next to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio is among the most biologically diverse parks in America. It became a military post under three flags, and subsequently a national park site in 1994. Today, its facilities have been reinvented as museums, restaurants, hotels, homes, and offices. The Presidio Trust is the federal agency that stewards the Presidio, in partnership with the National Park Service and with support from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. The Trust sustains the Presidio by leasing homes and workplaces and offering visitor amenities. Learn more at presidio.gov and @presidiosf.