Globe-Trotting Music and Dance at the 41st Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

By San Francisco Limousine Specialist on June 14, 2019

As the cross-cultural events make their way through San Francisco, we take pride on this blog in being able to discuss some of the most exciting ways to learn about and celebrate some of the many unique heritages that make up our diverse city. Today, we are shining our little spotlight on the Zellerbach Hall, located at Berkeley University, as it prepares to open its doors to the public for the 41st Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival which takes place on the weekend of July 6th and 7th as well as July 13th and 14th.

As always, the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival is about far more than one culture or group. Instead, it is the combination of hundreds of different artists in movement, hailing from all around the globe, who have dedicated large portions of their lives to both preserving and building upon their inherited dance traditions. The works you will see in Zellerbach Hall during the 41st Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival possess tremendous range when it comes to content, and to describe any of them here would be pointless both because as a physical art they are meant to be seen rather than described and because they are, quite simply, beyond words.

Some of the many artists who will perform at the 41st Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival include:

• L’Emir Hassan Harfouche and Georges Lammam Ensable: perfuming a traditional style of dance common for Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese, and Jordanians called Dabke.
• San Francisco Taiko Dojo: this group will showcase classic Japanese drumming known as “Taiko.”
• Ballet Folklórico Nube de Oro: A troupe of musicians that will present some of the haunting folkloric music of Mexican cultures.
• Jubilee American Dance Theater: It is sometimes forgotten that America itself is home to many folk traditions and art, an omission that the Jubilee American Dance Theater will remedy with their selection of Cajun Country Social Dances.
• Jackeline Rago: Performing folk music from Venezuela.
• Chitresh Das Institute: Now is your chance to see the Kathak, one of eight central classic Indian dances, and one whose history can be traced back to tribes of wandering bards that once traveled throughout the northern reaches of ancient India.
• Kanyon Sayers-Roods: Performing the Ohlone Welcome and Blessing.

These are only a few of the many performances and events that are scheduled to take place over the two weekends of the 2019 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival.