A Conversation with Rita Moreno

Cal Performances

https://calperformances.org/events/2022-23/speakers/rita-moreno/

Trailblazing Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno is a true icon of American screen and stage, earning accolades in film, television, and theater in a decorated career that has spanned seven decades. She belongs to an elite group of “EGOT” winners who have received all four of entertainment’s most prestigious awards: the Emmy, the Tony, the Grammy, and the Oscar, the latter in 1962 for her career-igniting role as Anita in West Side Story. Moreno shares stories from her fascinating life in Hollywood, her struggles with racism and sexism in the entertainment industry, and memorable moments from her personal life. Vibrant and busier than ever as she enters her ninth decade, Moreno “continues to epitomize that ineffable and rare quality we call star power” (The New York Times). NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

Step Afrika!

Cal Performances

Drums were once outlawed among enslaved Africans in the American South as a way of curtailing communication, connection, and culture. But rhythm could not be suppressed, and it was preserved and transmitted through body percussion: juba, hambone, tap dance, and stepping. The virtuosic dancers of Washington DC’s celebrated Step Afrika! troupe continue and extend a long tradition of stepping—elaborate and joyful song and dance rituals performed by Black fraternities and sororities since the early 1900s. “In the bodies of these skilled performers, the beat is obviously unstoppable. Again and again, the dancers pick it up and pass it around with clapping hands and stomping feet, through the legs, behind the back, defiant and unified and inspiring” (The New York Times). NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

Virtual Q&A with the Queens of SIX: The Musical

Broadway SF (via ZOOM)

Broadway SF was joined by 3 of the Queens from SIX: The Musical and Night Out / Night Off for Graduate Students of Color (NO/NO) Founder and Executive Director, Naniette Coleman (moderator) for a virtual, live Q&A session on ZOOM. This first annual, NO/NO public-facing, BIPOC community event was brought to you by Night Out / Night Off for Graduate Students of Color, Broadway SF, the Cal Alumni Association, and the UC Berkeley Office of Graduate Diversity.

ICYMI: Highlights from the Virtual Q&A with the Queens of SIX: The Musical:

Clyde's

Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Nominated for the 2022 Tony Award for Best Play! Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage returns to Berkeley Rep for the first time since her extraordinary play Ruined. In this feel-good comic drama, the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff at a truck-stop sandwich shop attempt to rebuild their lives. While their tough-as-nails boss – who slings sizzling insults fast and processed food even faster – tries to thwart their dreams, each staff member is encouraged by the mysterious chef to indulge in imagining, then creating, their perfect sandwich. A buoyant play full of witty dialogue, Clyde’s is a transcendent story about people rising above their past mistakes and reconnecting with the world. NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

next@90 Festival A: Garland / Roberts / Rowe Premieres

SF Ballet

HAFFNER SERENADE. Robert Garland finds motivation in the African word Sankofa, which represents the need to understand the past in order to move into the future. For Haffner Serenade, set to Mozart's Serenade for orchestra in D major, Garland has created a solo which involves West African movement set in a classical context, adding "There are elements to older music that retain what I feel are African American and African-centered rhythms and syncopation." RESURRECTION. Jamar Roberts' Resurrection, set to Gustav Mahler's dramatic Totenfeier for orchestra, involves a "witchy" lead woman who enlists the help of her community to resurrect and control a dead man, when something goes awry. MADCAP. Danielle Rowe's love of storytelling and theatrics is brought to the fore in this premiere, which dissects the anatomy of a clown and uses its motion as inspiration for the choreography. Set to eerie, carnival-inspired music, MADCAP offers an unusual task for the dancers: using their voices, with recitation, singing, percussive hisses and hoops and hollers throughout the ballet. NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

next@90 Festival C: Blanc / Schreier / Possokhov Premieres

SF Ballet

KIN. Claudia Schreier is creating on SF Ballet for the first time with Kin, set to a commissioned score by Tanner Porter. An abstract ballet, Kin features two female dancers among a cast of sixteen who are enveloped in a shifting power dynamic, pressured by the limiting nature of time. GATEWAY TO THE SUN. Nicolas Blanc, former SF Ballet Principal Dancer, returns to SF Ballet for Gateway to the Sun, his new ballet set to Anna Clyne's DANCE for cello and orchestra from 2019. "Dance is a liberation, dance is a sense of soothing, of solace for a human being," said Blanc. VIOLIN CONCERTO. Yuri Possokhov, who became SF Ballet's Choreographer in Residence after retiring from dancing for SF Ballet in 2006, recalls Balanchine's Violin Concerto as one of his favorite ballets by the choreographer which he danced many times. "My memory of Balanchine comes back, of course, but this impulse gives me the chance to express myself," Possokhov said. Violin Concerto showcases Possokhov's musicality and is set on seven couples and one lead ballerina.

Kodo - Tsuzumi: One Earth Tour

Cal Performances

In the new production Tsuzumi, the soul-stirring taiko drummers of Kodo look back at the ensemble’s impressive 40-year history and forward to its next chapter of breathtaking performance. Rigorously trained on the rugged, windswept island of Sado in the Sea of Japan, the Kodo drummers bring a youthful joy to their seamlessly athletic displays, shaking the earth with thunderous pounding one moment, and offering delicately shimmering musical synchronicity the next. The program features signature pieces such as O-daiko, Yatai-bayashi, Zoku, the popular Monochrome by the late composer Maki Ishii, and new compositions by the next generation of taiko creators. NO/NO attendees also had the opportunity to go backstage to learn more about the instruments of this magnificent company. NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

next@90 Festival B: Caniparoli / Breiner / Oishi Premieres

SF Ballet

http://www.bridgetbreiner.com/

EMERGENCE. Val Caniparoli joined SF Ballet in 1973 and will celebrate his 50th anniversary with the Company in 2023. His next@90 ballet, Emergence is set to Dobrinka Tabakova's Concerto for Cello and Strings, and includes costume designs by Susan Roemer and lighting designs by Jim French. THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTER. Bridget Breiner creates her first work for SF Ballet with The Queen's Daughter, an adaptation of the biblical story of Salome. Breiner's Salome will depart from Oscar Wilde's femme fatale character, opting instead to explore the relationship between a very young girl and her mother. BOLERO. Yuka Oishi makes her United States and SF Ballet debut with BOLERO. Oishi's creative process for BOLERO began in 2020, when she experienced two major life changes at once: her pregnancy and subsequent birth of her son, and the death of a loved one. "Death and life kissed each other," described Oishi, who was motivated not to create a heartbreaking ballet, but one with energy: "The repetition of rhythm and melody completed my idea of a constant beating, the idea of growing a cell to the universe's scale." NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

Rooted in America

Oakland Symphony

https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/

Five Folksongs in Counterpoint, Florence Price (1887-1953). Price was the first black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. Price wrote compositions for string quartet around 1950, though some of the material may date from as early as 1927. Second Rhapsody, George Gershwin (1898-1937). In 1931 George and Ira Gershwin wrote the music for a film called Delicious, starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Second Rhapsody extracts music from the movie, and “In many respects, such as orchestration and form,” Gershwin said, “it is the best thing I’ve written.” Negro Folk Symphony, William Dawson (1899–1990). Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony was first performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, on November 20, 1934 at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was a sensation. One critic called it “the most distinctive and promising American symphonic proclamation which has so far been achieved.” Dawson said “the themes are taken from what are popularly known as Negro Spirituals.” NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour: Celebrating 65 Years

Cal Performances

https://calperformances.org/events/2022-23/jazz/monterey-jazz-festival-on-tour/

The illustrious Monterey Jazz Festival once again sends a selection of its finest jazz ambassadors to Berkeley as part of its popular touring program. Multiple-Grammy-winning vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater, among the “best-rounded and unique jazz vocalists singing today” (All About Jazz), and Kurt Elling, “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time” (The New York Times), scat, swoon, and soar as they bring swing standards, moody ballads, bop favorites, and Latin hits to life. The hard-swinging band is led by pianist Christian Sands, with rising-star saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin (Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys), and the well-oiled rhythm section of bassist Yasushi Nakamura (Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones) and drummer Clarence Penn (Betty Carter, Maria Schneider). NO/NO attendees received SWAG bags.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers: ink

Cal Performances
 

https://calperformances.org/events/2022-23/dance/camille-a-brown-ink/

We canceled our Fall 2022 NO/NO programming in solidarity with all of our fellow UC colleagues who were on strike. Night Out / Night Off for Graduate Students of Color was founded by and is run by a Berkeley graduate student. NO/NO will not cross the picket line.

Learn more here: https://uaw2865.org/2022-bargaining-campaign/

“I lift up our real-life superheroes of the past who paved the way for us to fly and “be fly.” In flight, we see the superpower of Black people in America.” —Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown, the New York-based choreographer, dancer, and director returns to Cal Performances with ink. Featuring Brown herself, the company of six dancers performes a series of duets and solos, weaving together elements of African-American social dance, African, tap, jazz, modern, and hip-hop movement, accompanied by percussion-driven original music performed live by a quartet. Through ancestral stories and pop culture references, ink examines self-empowerment, Black love, brotherhood, and resilience—aspects of Black life that are too often appropriated, rewritten, or silenced.