ARTISTS ROSTER: 21st Annual Downtown Dance Festival

Center for Traditional Music & Dance - Tokounou and Ballet Folklorico Mexicano

Based in Tribeca, The Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD) enjoys a decades-long history of presenting the best in dance and music traditions as they exist and thrive within the five boroughs of New York City. In this year's Downtown Dance Festival, CTMD will present two of its finest groups: Tokounou (All Ability African Dance), and The Ballet Folklorico Mexicano.

Tokounou is the ensemble of nine dancers and drummers created by Guinean musician and dancer Sidiki Conde. Conde lost the use of his legs when he was 14 and has transcended his disability to become one of the most inspirational and compelling performers in New York.

The Ballet Folklorico Mexicano is one of the most exciting dance troupes in New York City, performing traditional folk dances from the Mexican states of Jalisco, Concheros, Veracruz and Northern regions of Mexico. As Ballet Folklorico Mexicano appraoches its 20th anniversary, the group has performed regularly at community events, festivals, and celebrations. Led by renowned artistic director and choreographer Juventina Duran, the group specializes in folk dances of these regions and performs to Mariachi music. The Ballet Folklorico Mexicano will perform works by Clarisa Malkovich and Alberto Lopez.

Chen & Dancers

Based in Chinatown, H.T. Chen & Dancers is an innovative modern dance company with a uniquely Asian-American character. The company performs a diverse repertoire of works displaying a dynamic fusion of the spirited energy of American modern dance and the poise of traditional and contemporary Asian aesthetics. Under the direction of H.T. Chen, the multicultural company has received critical acclaim for its national and international performances.

Sunday, August 25, 2002:
The company will present 'Bamboo Oracle', a dance program based on themes of balance and harmony. The one-hour long interdisciplinary performance will provide young audiences with increased insight into Chinese culture as well as the discipline of dance, from the choreographic process to the actual performance. The program will feature inventive and dynamic use of poles; as used in Chinese Opera movements, as oracle sticks, or as bian dan, the bamboo shoulder poles used throughout Asia to carry heavy loads.

Thursday, August 29, 2002:
The company will present selections from the repertoire, including 'Warriors of Light', 'Bian Dan' and the 2002 premiere of 'The Dream.'

'Warriors of Light'* is an abstract exploration of spirituality. In Buddhist tradition, monks are considered warriors whose mission is to fight ignorance and suffering through knowledge and meditation. The dance evokes imagery of the human spirit as it seeks to attain enlightenment.

'Bian Dan'* is the Chinese word for the bamboo shoulder poles used throughout Asia to carry heavy loads, here used to represent the cultural "burdens" immigrants sometimes place on their children. The work brings to attention the plight of immigrants as they and their children grapple with identity and belonging in a new society. Featuring an inter-generational cast of performers, the panorama of immigrant family experiences become a vibrant fabric of culture and change.
*full-length works. Excerpts will be presented.

Chinese Folk Dance Company

Directed by Amy Chin, Chinese Folk Dance Company (CFDC) is the resident company of the New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC). Based in New York's Chinatown, CFDC's principal artists include award-winning professional dancers, musicians, and Peking opera performers from mainland China. The Company performs a vast repertoire of Chinese classical, folk, and ethnic nationality dances and appears each year in over 500 concerts, festivals and community celebrations around the country.

The CFDC's colorful dances with flashing swords, fluttering fans and soaring silk banners take audiences on journeys from the open prairies of Mongolia to farming villages in the Yellow River delta to the Imperial Palace of ancient China. The Company has toured to over eighteen states and hundreds of cities and has performed at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. In addition to reviving and reconstructing traditional works, the Company commissions and performs new works in the traditional style.

Dha Fuzion, Akim Funk Buddha's Ethno Funkestra of Dance & Music

Multi-talented Akim Ndlovu, born in Syracuse, New York and educated in Zimbabwe has gathered an eclectic group of dancers and musicians under the appropriate name of Dha Fuzion. Equally deserving of the titles musician and dancer, Akim is as at home with Mongolian throat singing as he is with tap dance and "popping", incorporating age-old folk traditions with the very latest club and street techniques. He has found a perfect foil for himself in the Japanese dancer/drummer Chikako Iwahori. Chikako is a coolly understated but nonetheless virtuosic tap dancer, Taiko drummer and sly dragon (in mask and fur costume) whose link to Downtown as a teacher of children's tap dance in Tribeca, is Dha Fuzion's calling card at this year's downtown-centric Festival.

Dha Fuzion has piqued the public imagination and inspired critical raves for its very fresh, young and brilliantly honed performances in New York (P.S. 122, Joe's Pub, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Arts International, La Mama, Town Hall, Knitting Factory) and overseas.

Jane Goldberg's Changing Times Tap & Friends

Changing Times Tap and guests will present a potpourri of tappers ranging from classic hoofers to contemporary experimenters in the genre. Performers will include Sarah Safford, Andrew Nemr, Roxanne Butterfly, Michela Lerman, Barry Blumenfeld, Brian Seibert and Dorothy Wasserman. A long-time downtown resident, Jane Goldberg is widely credited with the revival of interest in tap dance in the 1970's through her research and advocacy among the original "Hoofers". Jane herself has performed internationally, written extensively and was a Fulbrighter in India, introducing tap to city dwellers and villagers alike across the Subcontinent.
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