Dance Mission is proud to be the HOME of several companies. Check out the work of these resident artists.
HOME Artists
AFRICAN & AFRICAN-AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COALITION
The Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now is an annual event celebrating African and African American Dance and Culture with three weekends of dynamic performances, featuring award-winning Bay Area choreographers and companies. Lead organizations AAAPAC and K*STAR* Productions have joined forces to present a comprehensive festival celebrating the diverse artistic expression within the context of African and African American dance and culture. The festival strives to offer multi-faceted programming that addresses the needs of artists: networking, mentoring, training, outreach; and the community: affordable/accessible programming, cultural enrichment and arts education.
ARENAS DANCE COMPANY
Susana Arenas Pedroso, Director of Arenas Dance Company, is an internationally recognized Cuban Folkloric and popular (i.e. social) dancer. Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Ms Pedroso began her career in dance at age twelve, studying at La Casa de Cultura de Matanzas and at Cojunto Folklorico Nacional in Havana. She danced professionally for seventeen years in Cuba with popular, folkloric and theatrical performing groups, including Tierra Virgen, Alafia Ire, Oche Olorun, Oriki, Clave y Guaguancó, Oba Wemilere, Rumberos de Cuba, and Raíces Profundas. Since her arrival in the United States in 1998, Ms Pedroso has performed and choreographed numerous pieces that have been exhibited throughout the United States, Mexico, Cuba and Hong Kong with companies such as Omo Ache, Omo Oddara, Ban Rarra, Ire Ile, Alayo Dance Company, Las Que Son Son and Obini Ashe.
EMBODIMENT PROJECT
Embodiment Project serves to uplift the ancestral and primordial power of dance as an act of resistance, collective healing and social transformation. Founded in 2008 by Nicole Klaymoon, Embodiment Project is a Bay Area Performing Arts Organization that began as a street dance theater company. We honor and express Black Social Dances and street dance forms and recognize them as healing modalities. We draw on other dance traditions including modern dance and use choreo poetry, documentary theater, live song, and video art to articulate and hold stories of liberation. Our work uplifts the narratives of Black Indigenous and People of Color, the voices of survivors of sexual violence, youth, and communities impacted by the carceral system.
