The chimney sweep dance in “Mary Poppins,” led by Dick van Dyk’s likeable all-rounder Burt, is reminiscent of typical blackface motifs, claims a scientist.

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, explained in a New York Times article that the sequence in PL Travers' book meant “race panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply refers to the scene as “blacking up,” and while this may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the chimney sweeps' blackened faces with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' cries a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943), as a house broom extends its dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: 'If that Hottentot goes into the fireplace, I'm going out the door,' she says, using an archaic insult for black South Africans that recurs in book and screen.

“The 1964 film re-enacts this racial panic in absurd fashion. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in time, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom, shouts 'We are being attacked by Hottentots!' and orders his cannon to be fired at the 'insolent devils.'”

“We're in on the joke for what it is: these aren't real black Africans, but grinning white dancers with blackened faces. It's a parody of the black threat; it was even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who use this language. In the 1952 novel Mary Poppins in the Park, the nanny herself says to an exasperated young Michael, 'I understand you're acting like a Hottentot.'”

Pollack-Pelzner also pointed to other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, which in one case even led to her books being banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane and Michael Banks are abducted to a South Sea island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

However, she later said that this was “not an apology for anything I have written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

But in an online post after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner explained: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask if there was anything in it that was even the slightest bit racist that he should perhaps reconsider before it goes on the screen.”

“After writing this article and receiving tons of hate mail in response, I learned one thing about the alt-right: Mary Poppins definitely suits them very well!”

Read more
Duncan Jones criticizes David Bowie film
Russell Crowe transforms into Roger Ailes
Zombieland 2 first poster

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims educational appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in a bizarre tone. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps appear in time on a roof, Admiral Boom, a naval fool, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic insult to black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in an absurd tone. As the dark figures of the chimney sweeps step onto a roof in rhythm, a naval idiot, Admiral Boom, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic slur for black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in a bizarre tone. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps appear in time on a roof, Admiral Boom, a naval fool, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive term “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

However, after the Times article was published, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, take another look at the upcoming Dumbo remake and ask “If it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims educational appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Mary Poppins (Source: Disney)

The chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins, led by Dick van Dyk's affable jack-of-all-trades Burt, is reminiscent of blackface themes, one academic has claimed.

In an article in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a professor of English and gender studies at Linfield College in Oregon, said that the sequence in PL Travers' book means “racial panic.”

Pollack-Pelzner simply calls the scene “blackout,” and while it may seem harmless, it has other, more disturbing connotations.

“This might seem like a harmless comic scene if Travers' novels did not associate the blackened faces of chimney sweeps with racist caricatures,” he writes.

“'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' screams a maid in Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) as a sweep extends his dark hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to stop: “If that Hottentot goes down the chimney, I'm going out the door,” she says, using an archaic insult to black South Africans that appears repeatedly on page and screen occurs.

“The 1964 film recreates this racial panic in a bizarre tone. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps appear in time on a roof, Admiral Boom, a naval fool, shouts: “We are being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “insolent devils”.

“We’re in on the joke such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; They are grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of The Black Menace; It is even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy. And it's not just fools like the Admiral who invoke this language. In the 1952 novel “Mary Poppins in the Park,” the nanny herself says to the upset young Michael, “I understand that you are behaving like a Hottentot.”

Pollack-Pelzner has also pointed out other examples of archaic, racially charged language in Travers' Poppins books, in one case her books were actually banned from the San Francisco Public Library in the early 1980s.

Travers later rewrote the chapters in a revised edition of the book, in which Poppins, Jane, and Michael Banks are transported to a South Seas island, where the nanny uses the offensive phrase “pickaninny” and speaks in a racially charged South American dialect.

The story goes on

However, she later said she “didn't do this as an apology for anything I've written, the reason is much simpler: I don't want to see Mary Poppins hidden in a closet.”

Disney has not yet commented on the matter.

But after publishing the article in the Times, Pollack-Pelzner posted online: “The main reason I wrote this article was in the hope that a Disney executive would read it, watch the upcoming Dumbo remake again, and would ask if it was there.” If it was all a bit racist, maybe they should think again before it hits the big screen.

“One thing I learned about the alt-right after writing this article and receiving countless hate messages in response: They really like Mary Poppins!”

Read more
Duncan Jones hits David Bowie film
Russell Crowe turns into Roger Ailes
First poster for Zombieland 2

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep ‘blackface’ dance is racist, claims tutorial appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Just as the last scraps of turkey are turned into sandwiches, and the Christmas lights twinkle by night on Boston Common, the theaters begin to glow with images of holiday cheer wrapped up in music and dance. A listing of performances—traditional or new, sacred or not—are offered below for your enjoyment.

And while you’re out, people-watching is another part of a holiday trip to the theater—especially the sight of the little girls dressed up in their best finery. I hope you see one or more of them wearing their own pink tutus, to match the Sugar Plum fairy on stage. Whatever your pleasure, don’t forget to bring candy canes for intermission, and take time for hot chocolate before returning home.

‘The Nutcracker’

Anthony Williams’ “Urban Nutcracker” is in its 21st year. (Courtesy City Ballet of Boston)

If you are lucky enough to have a child making a stage debut as a mouse or a reindeer, or cherish memories of being the same, no doubt you are humming melodies from Tchaikovsky’s score for “The Nutcracker.” The 19th-century ballet by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa is based on ETA Hoffman’s novella about the young girl, Clara, who leaves her family on Christmas Eve (but returns safely home again) to travel the world on an adventure.

First brought to the USA (in part) by Anna Pavlova in 1915, finally presented in full-length by San Francisco Ballet in 1944, the 1954 production for the New York City Ballet, re-created by George Balanchine, became the granddaddy to hundreds of showings over the decades that have followed. Boston Ballet founder E. Virginia Williams created the local tradition in 1965 for her fledgling company, starring soloists borrowed from NYCB, and an orchestra led by Arthur Fiedler. Our list includes some, but not all, of the many New England productions.

Mikko Nissinen’s ‘The Nutcracker’
Boston Ballet | Opera House (Nov. 25-Dec.31)

Boston Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” features 50-plus company members with apprentices, hundreds of children from the Boston Ballet school, and more than 350 costumes and sumptuous sets designed by Robert Perdziola. The breathtaking production is performed to Tchaikovsky’s full score performed by the Boston Ballet Orchestra, led by Mischa Santora. And yes, the tree does grow, the snow does fall, and the flowers waft beautifully in their second act Waltz.

Anthony Williams’ ‘Urban Nutcracker’
City Ballet of Boston | Boch Center Shubert Theater (Dec. 17-23)

Directed by Anthony Williams, a founding member of the Boston Ballet, and performer in the early productions. Now in its 21st year, Williams has re-imagined his “Urban Nutcracker” in Boston’s landscape. Tchaikovsky’s music, as interpreted by Duke Ellington, will be performed live. The movement ranges from ballet to hip-hop, tap and doo-wop, delivered by a large cast of children, local performers and professional dancers. “Anthony Williams’ Urban Nutcracker” will be broadcast on public television, with a documentary, “Beyond the Stage: The Urban Nutcracker, Community and the Arts” starting Nov. 25. (For those in Greater Boston, GBH 44 will air the program on Dec. 17 at 8 pm)

More opportunities to see ‘The Nutcracker’ beyond Boston:

Beyond Massachusetts:

• Festival Ballet | Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island (Dec. 16-24)
• Island Moving Company’s “Newport Nutcracker” | Rosecliff Mansion, Newport, Rhode Island (Nov. 23-Dec. 2)
• Maine State Ballet | Merrill Auditorium, Portland, Maine (Nov. 25-Dec. 4)
• Portland Ballet’s “A Victorian Nutcracker” | Sanford Performing Arts Center, Sanford, Maine (Dec. 10); Westbrook Performing Arts Center, Westbrook, Maine (Dec. 17-18); and Merrill Auditorium, Portland, Maine (Dec. 22-23)

And for another slant:

‘A Christmas Carol’

Rehearsal photo for Merrimack Repertory Theater’s production of “A Christmas Carol.” (Courtesy Meghan Moore)

The many stage versions of “A Christmas Carol” harken back to 19th-century Boston when Charles Dickens read portions of “A Christmas Carol” to a “large, enthusiastic” audience at Boston’s Tremont Temple on Dec. 2, 1867. A few of the contemporary productions are listed below:

Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Lowell (Nov. 30-Dec. 24)

Karen MacDonald plays both Charles Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge, in this world premiere with a local twist The show opens in Lowell in 1842, a reminder of Dickens’ first American visit when he famously toured the city’s textile mills.

North Shore Music Theatre
Beverly (Dec. 1-23)

David Coffee will play Scrooge for the 28th time in the North Shore Music Theatre’s 31st annual production of “A Christmas Carol: a musical ghost story.”

The Hanover Theatre
Worcester (Dec. 17-23)

The Hanover Theater and Conservatory website claims the title, “New England’s largest production of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’”

Trinity Repertory Company
Providence, Rhode Island (Nov. 4-Jan. 1)

Shura Baryshnikov choreographed Trinity Rep’s 46th annual production, directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy and starring Phyllis Kay as Scrooge.

And for more holiday spectaculars:

The post From the ‘Slutcracker’ to ‘The Nutcracker,’ a information to vacation dance and theater appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

As the annual Carnaval San Francisco parade came up 24th Street in the Mission District, the energy level always swelled with the appearance of Ginga Brasil — a costumed performance troupe of more than 100 men, women and children, a drum corps and a band on a truck, all dancing and swaying to the samba.

Off to the side, in her own unique costume, with her arms in constant motion as she conducted the dancers, what the troupe’s artistic director, Conceição Damasceno, a dance instructor and choreographer, costume designer and float decorator, community leader and cultural ambassador for all things Brazilian.

Damasceno, who last walked the mile-plus route at Carnaval in 2017 and was waving from a float a year later, had long suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease. A long decline finally ended on April 24, when Damasceno died at her home in North Oakland, said her husband Nick Harvey. she was 61

“One of her greatest gifts was that she could introduce (Brazilian) dance and the culture to Americans,” said Harvey. “She taught people to find inner happiness in their own creative movement and comfort in their own bodies.”

As a bookend to Carnaval on Memorial Day weekend, Damasceno created and directed the SF Bay Brazilian Day/Lavagem Festival, which folds a 45-minute sacred ceremony into an 8-hour party during Labor Day weekend in Berkeley.

Ginga Brasil dances year-round at street fairs and parties centered around Casa de Cultura, a warehouse in West Berkeley connected to a nonprofit arts foundation called BrasArte. Children start in a program called “Borboletas” (Butterflies). Parents often start out watching the kids before they, too, are absorbed in the spirit of it and enroll in classes.

Damasceno appreciated students who started with nothing. She emigrated from the Brazilian state of Bahia in 1985 with $50 to her name. As the youngest of 12 children whose father died when she was just a few months old, Damasceno was raised amid poverty and hunger in a small town without electricity.

To entertain herself she “watched shadows by candlelight at night and butterflies in the daytime to imitate the movement,” Harvey said. An Englishman, he was on a post-collegiate walkabout when he met Damasceno in Fort Lauderdale in 1985. Two years later, they visited San Francisco and decided to move there.

She opened her dance studio in Berkeley in 1998, and founded BrasArte two years later as a nonprofit in order to preserve authentic Brazilian culture and to facilitate cultural exchange. Those two organizations were merged into Casa de Cultura, the Brazilian cultural center and dance studio still operating in Berkeley.

“I hope I help people see that Brazil is not just about beautiful women in bikinis and feathers,” she told The Chronicle in an interview before Carnaval, in the late 1990s. “It represents a whole attitude of being happy and relaxed — and Americans need to be relaxed.”

Interest in Brazilian culture hit a frenzy in 1994 when Stanford Stadium was one of the venues for the soccer World Cup. The Brazilian team stayed in Los Altos and played several games en route to winning the Cup at the Rose Bowl.

Graphic designer Anne-Marie Praetzel of Berkeley had been a soccer player and seen the games at Stanford and hit the spontaneous street parties afterwards. At one soirée she saw a flyer on a telephone pole advertising a Samba class conveniently located at Bahia Brazil, a bar in San Francisco.

She’d never taken a dance class before and was curious. “In comes this very graceful and stunningly beautiful woman, long arms and legs with a shock of black, wild hair,” Praetzel said. “Her movements were so mezmerizingly beautiful that I was hooked instantly.”

Praetzel ended up studying under Damasceno for 17 years. There was much to learn as Damasceno’s choreography incorporated the flight of birds and the movement of women doing laundry. Praetzel ended up performing in costume during several Carnaval parades.

“Samba is a very difficult dance to do unless you grew up doing it,” Praetzel said. “But (Damasceno) made it so fun and so addictive that I just kept going and going until I got it, eventually.”

There was more to it than Samba. There were parties at Damasceno’s home, and larger street parties at Casa de Cultura. Something was always happening with Ginga Brasil.

“There was a very warm and welcoming vibe to it,” Praetzel said. “There were old people, young people, kids. It was very inclusive. All ages and sizes of people with varying abilities to dance were welcome at her events and her classes.”

Damasceno was born Feb. 1, 1961 in Alagoinhas, a city in Bahia. The family moved to the capital city of Salvador when she was 9, and she began studying folkloric dance traditions. After migrating to Miami and then San Francisco, Damasceno made her first appearance in Carnaval in 1988.

“Her genius is something she brought from Brazil, which is the entire conceptualization of a Carnaval contingent,” said Aida Salazar, an Oakland writer who included Damasceno in her illustrated children’s book “In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of colour.”

“She would be there with her glowing smile and her big hair flowing in the wind with the most graceful arms you’ve ever seen, moving along and flowing and directing.”

Salazar became enthralled when she and her husband, musician John Santos, brought their daughter Avelina Santos, then 7, to a performance produced by Damasceno at the Casa de Cultura.

Afterward Damasceno approached them and suggested Avelina was the right age for the summer day camp offered at the Casa. That was the beginning of five years of dancing and performing for Avelina, followed by her younger brother Joao. Then their mother became a producer of the Carnaval Ball, The Brazilian Day Festival, and Yemanja Arts Festival, all affiliated with BrasArte.

“The Brazilian people were always there but it was also white, Black and Asian people who supported all of their activities,” said Salazar. “She really believed that the arts were a bridge for peace and understanding.”

The 2018 Carnaval, which was Damasceno’s last, also marked a first. Her daughter, Tainah Damasceno, was crowned the queen of that same parade. Since then she has taken over for her mother as artistic director of BrasArte, the nonprofit umbrella which includes the dance school, various festivals and stage shows, and all forms of outreach.

Carnaval San Francisco returns after a two-year absence on May 29. Ginga Brasil will be there in costume, 60 or 70 strong, dancing and swaying the samba as if their founder were still there beside them.

“When I think of my mother, I think of the sun. Everyone and everything was drawn to her,’ said Tainah. “Her willpower and sincerity pulled people in and generated a community of love that will long outlast her short stay here on earth.”

In addition to her husband and daughter, both of Oakland, survivors include sisters Lourdes Damasceno and Rita Damasceno, also of Oakland, Antonia Damasceno of Rivarolo, Italy, and Neuza Damasceno of Salvador, Brazil; and a brother, Magno Damasceno, also of Salvador.

Tax deductible donations in her honor may be made to BrasArte, 1901 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA, 94702.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF

The post Conceição Damasceno, dance teacher and the beating coronary heart of San Francisco’s Carnaval, dies at 61 appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

ACROSS CALIFORNIA — From its beaches to its deserts and mountains, from its lakes and forests to its small towns and big cities, there’s just so much to see in California! And we got to thinking: Why not share the photos we receive, and see elsewhere, with you?

Thanks to several Patch readers who’ve been very busy lately with their cameras, we’re able to share the below photos taken across the state. Take a look at this week’s “California In Photos” for glimpses of daily life and scenery up the coast in Northern California and down the coast in Southern California.

It’s Your State, It’s Your Shot!

It’s your turn, photographers. Whether you’re an amateur, a professional, an Instagrammer or just the one who always has their phone or camera ready so as not to miss that perfect shot, we’re excited to view and share your work. If you have an awesome photo of nature, breathtaking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch, we’d love to feature it here on Patch.

We’re looking for high-resolution images that reflect the beauty that is California and that show off your unique talents. Share your best photos with Patch and your work could be featured in your community as well as in this weekly collection of California in pictures. Email your submissions to autumn.johnson@patch.com. Be sure to include your name, the city, location of the photo and date.

Did you miss our most recent “California In Photos?” It is worth another look:

The post San Francisco At Sundown | Lion Dance For Additional Luck: CA In Photographs appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

In Spring of 2020 Alison Cook Beatty Dance was booked and ready to present 11 Companies from around the country in Artists In Motion 2020. But when COVID-19 and Broadway shut down, Artists In Motion 2020 was canceled. The Arts community saw performance after performance canceled, theaters shut down, and dance companies and studios folding. Alison stayed in touch with all of the choreographers who were accepted into this shared event and promised that when the time was right she would remount the performance.

Alison wanted to honor the artists chosen to participate in Artists In Motion 2020 so she created Artists In Motion Mini for 2022 with 3 companies based in the NYC area, one night only! Alison intends to still honor the other artists from 2020 in the future.

Alison started Artists In Motion in 2019 at Peridance, honoring her teacher Graciela Kozak. The goal was to have a two-weekend run and bring artists together to support each other. Making a performance venue accessible to all; with professional photography, lighting designers, videographers, and invite reviewers to come to write about the vital work these dance artists were doing. This 2022 performance is supported by many generous individuals and organizations such as Dance NYC, The NY Cultural Development Fund, NYSCA, and most important ticket buyers. Please continue to support live arts!

REGISTRATION

https://alisoncookbeattydance.networkforgood.com/events/38831-artists-in-motion-mini-2022

MARCH 12TH, 2022 8PM

A classically-based modern dance company exploring the universal human condition through expansive and emotionally-driven movement grounded in American modern dance while exploring new approaches to finding unique creative expression. The Company will perform two world premieres. This performance is made possible by support from Dance NYC, The NY Dept of Cultural Affairs, and NYSCA. www.alisoncookbeattydance.org

Ms. Cook-Beatty will present two World Premieres in ARTISTS IN MOTION MINI 2022. About Michael Kerr and DanceKerr & Dancers

Michael Anthony Kerr founded DanceKerr & Dancers (a sponsored artist with Performance Zone Inc. dba The Field) in 2015. Mr. Kerr is pursuing doctoral studies as an Arnhold Fellow Recipient in the Ed.D Dance Education Program at Columbia University, Teachers College. He holds permanent NYS K-12 Teacher Certification in Dance and has been employed with the NYCDOE since 1996. Read more of Michael’s bio on the Company’s website: https://dancekerr.com/

Kerr’s developing repertoire of dances is rooted in modern and contemporary dance techniques that play with the contrast of stillness and great physicality within the realm of dance expressionism. His dances are a by-product of the lived experience translated into DANCE, emulating internal struggles and successes; as well as other unexpected sources of inspiration.

Kerr will present “Salto di Fede” in ARTISTS IN MOTION MINI; “The notion of taking chances in life is experienced by all and is the inspiration for creating Salto di Fede, Italian for a leap of faith. This modern dance quartet celebrates transitory moments when courage, desire, faith, and wisdom commingle, leading us to take a leap of faith into the unknown in pursuit of our dreams.”

Artistic Director / Company Highlight! Artistic Director and choreographer, Brenda R. Neville, for over two decades, has performed and choreographed in over 18 different countries including Argentina, China, Hungary, Japan, Romania, and Spain with companies such as the Milwaukee Ballet, Indianapolis Dance Company, AllNations Dance Company, Marc DeGarmo & Dancers and Covenant Ballet Theater of Brooklyn. To learn more about her and her Company go to https://www.nevilledance.org/about.html

Founded in 2005 by Brenda R. Neville, the Manhattan-based company of 6-12 dancers and guests perform New York City seasons, concerts, festival performances, and touring engagements for audiences of all ages and ethnicities. Founded as a means of opening cross-cultural dialogues between differing dance genres and nationalities, Neville Dance Theater fosters an artistic exchange of styles, outlooks, and attitudes, instilling an appreciation for the beauty, value, and significance of dance as a living art form for today and generations to come.

Neville Dance Theater will perform excerpts from “Children’s Corner” (2017), a Neoclassical ballet in six movements choreographed by Nanako Kitagawa inspired by the frolicking and playful musical score, by the same name, by Claude Debussy in ARTISTS IN MOTION MINI 2022.

Artistic director and choreographer Meagan Ahern is a San Francisco Bay Area native. She graduated with a BFA from SUNY Purchase CoD in May 2019, is a graduate in the Licentiate Royal Academy of Dance program in London, and trained as a certified ballet teacher under the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus. Since founding MEAGmove in 2019, she has shown work at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Triskelion Arts, Abrons Art Center, and virtually.

MEAGmove is a project-based company that utilizes the talents of local New York City freelance dancers. The mission of MEAGmove is to foster a great sense of community within rehearsals and performances. They strive to add a new source of networking through connections the dancers make with each other. MEAGmove’s belief is that the key to a successful product on stage starts with good group morals and an understanding of the common vision of what we are trying to achieve throughout the entire process. They study movement ideas based around weight, momentum, and counterbalance to achieve the most honest portrayal of what it means to be a human being. To learn more about Meagan and MEAGmove please visit https://www.meagmove.com/.

Meagan will present “yesterday feels like tomorrow” in ARTISTS IN MOTION MINI; an exploration within the uncertainty of how we perceive reality. How many forms of ourselves do we have, and which one is real?

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Guest choreographer Karen Luu, SF State Dance alumna and artistic director of LUU Dance Collective, creates new work, with music by Kendrick Lamar, tackling burdens the US government has bestowed upon the youth, specifically black lives. Her piece (in)justice investigates how the system affects everyone differently and finds how one’s inner voice demands justice while experiencing inequity.

Nationally and internationally acclaimed dance faculty choreographers Wendy Diamond, ArVejon Jones, and Ray Tadio will also present new works. Diamond’s piece, set to music by Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Mayfield, is a moving tribute to Terry Sendgraff, creative visionary, choreographer, mentor, and friend. Tadio’s inspiration is 1990s dance music icon Kristine W., touching on the individual’s search for living and the organic. With music by Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Nicholas Britell, and Kamaal Williams, Jones creates narratives of how one reacts during turbulent times. A defining moment to reveal the protagonist’s true nature, he confirms the act of kindness as strength to all involved.

University Dance Theater 2022 comprises an ensemble of 13 student dancers in this exciting new choreography showcase. The San Francisco State University School of Theater & Dance is the fertile ground in which dance and theater students of the 21st century thrive-led by a faculty of distinguished artists, scholars and teachers. SFSU students are exposed to the practical skills, knowledge, compassion and spirit of artistic inquiry that lead to the creation of collaborative, resonant, viable art. SFSU is a community partner with the vibrant Bay Area theater and dance community, offering its students opportunities to work and grow both at the university and within the local art community.

When: Fri. Apr 1, 7:00PM; Saturday, April 2, 2:00 & 7:00PM; Apr 3, 7:00PM

Where: The Little Theater, Creative Arts Building, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway

Ticketing: $5

Advance ticket link: https://sfsu.simpletix.com/e/100064

School of Theater and Dance: theatredance.sfsu.edu

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