March 4, 2024
For immediate release

Contact:
Andrew Wood: 415-399-9554 (o) 415-305-1102 (c) [email protected]

Risa Adachi: (415) 481-9137 [email protected]

SFIAF presents CALI & CO and Joe Landini including the world premiere of Freddie Vs. Elvis 

Calendar Editors Please Note
Who: Joe Landini Dance and CALI & CO dance in co-lab with The Welcome Matt
What: Freddie Vs. Elvis and PERFECT.RESPONSE.
Where: Dance Mission Theater
Date & Time: Fri May 3 8:30pm; Sat May 4, 4:00pm
Tickets: Early Bird: $20, Advance: $25, Door: $28
Early Bird Tickets On-Sale Until March 31, 2024
Box Office and Information:https://www.sfiaf.org or 415-399-9554

Artist Festival web pages
https://www.sfiaf.org/2024_cali_co

https://www.sfiaf.org/2024_joe_landini_dance

Photos Available on Request

March 4, 2024, San Francisco.
San Francisco International Arts Festival is pleased to present a double bill concert featuring  Joe Landini Dance and CALI&CO dance, the latter of whom will feature an original live score by The Welcome Matt. The performance will also include the world premiere of Landini's, Freddie Vs. Elvis.

Freddie Vs. Elvis is comprised of two abstract dances influenced by iconic imagery, pop culture, and collective memory, set to the music of Freddie Mercury (Queen) and Elvis Presley as backdrops to create a series of dances that are influenced by iconic imagery, pop culture and collective memory.

In part one, Landini uses the isolated vocals of Freddie Mercury, to deconstruct Queen’s best loved songs into plotless ballets that are inspired by the stories of queer men living through the AIDS pandemic.

By contrast, part two features karaoke renditions of Elvis Presley hit songs (with live singers). Channeling 1970s era Las Vegas style and glamor, the vocalists inspire elaborate movement explorations that might or might not have something to do with Elvis’ music.

CALI & CO artistic director, Christine Cali will present PERFECT.RESPONSE., a piece she originally premiered in 2023.

This is also a work in two parts. PERFECT. explores perfectionism and its impacts on the individual body, and the collective body, and seeks to dismantle notions of standards and norms (whose standards, whose norms!?) RESPONSE. explores the space between stimulus and response and what is possible in the pause, the breath, the moment, the choice.

PERFECT.RESPONSE. is fueled by a cast of 11 dynamic dancer-actors, live music by The Welcome Matt, and an integrated theatrical design. It’s something of a nontraditional musical! The work is rooted in Contemporary dance forms, original music, deep collaboration, and community and audience engagement. There is something in it for everyone!

Jen Norris, writing for Jen Norris Dance Reviews, said of PERFECT.RESPONSE., “…releasing perfectionism, and affirming the power of responsiveness, versus re-activeness, leaves us satiated.”

CALI & CO dance in Co-Lab with The Welcome Matt
CALI & CO dance//The Welcome Matt believe that their actions, movement, language matter; and rigorously and lovingly work to align their intentions with impact. They acknowledge the responsibility that comes with making live performance, and the trust/relationship building necessary to honor diversity in their creative practices. CALI & CO dance and The Welcome Matt believe that everyone is already dancing, choreographing & improvising their daily lives, embodying and sharing their gifts, as well as their struggle. They seek to honor their performers and audiences by co-creating work that is collaborative, in shared-purpose/shared leadership that also challenges conditioned perspectives and constructs. They are also deeply-rooted in the interconnectedness of dance and live music, and have been collaborating to create original works in the SF Bay Area and beyond since 2010.

Artist Biographies

Joe Landini
Joe Landini has been making dances in the Bay Area for 30 years and founded SAFEhouse Arts in 2007. His work has been seen in Laguna Beach, Sacramento, Marin, Mexico City, Santa Fe and London.  

Christine Cali
Christine Cali is the Chair and Associate Professor of Theatre Arts & Dance at Sonoma State University. Cali directed a site-adaptive series, performed in 20 locations in San Franciso in collaboration with Matt EL Music (17-19’). She performed with Brooklyn-based Urban Bush Women (UBW) in Hair & Other Stories, (2019) and has been invited to curate a CSU Summer Arts program featuring UBW and Matt EL. Cali has been described as “one of the most ferocious, spell-binding dancers I’ve seen in this city” in the SF Chronicle and has been nominated for two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for her performances. Christine Cali's work has been seen throughout the Bay Area and she has toured to the Saeng Saeng Festival and Seoul International Improvisation Festival both in South Korea. Cali's creative work and teaching are rooted in anti-racist practices/pedagogies, embodied story-sharing, original live music by Matt Langlois and collaborators, and community building through art-marking. During the COVID 19 Pandemic she offered SIP Somatic Dance & Wellness classes via ZOOM, with donations supporting SF Bay Area BIPOC artists and organizations.

Matt Langlois
Matt Langlois is a San Francisco singer-songwriter, video/audio artist, music for dance composer and live performer. He has created multiple long-running music projects under the names The Welcome Matt and Matt EL. Over the past two decades, Langlois has amassed an extensive library of music including nine albums, 22 singles and a compilation CD. Touring regularly, pre-pandemic, Langlois and his band embarked on a cross-country tour from Los Angeles to New England and back. He has songwriting credit on the top 40 hit “San Francisco” by “CASCADA” from Germany, his “Wake Me Up In San Francisco” (original version) has played on KFOG 104.5 and at SF Giants games. His eclectic musical range, ranging from quirky pop, alternative rock to thoughtful instrumentals have been featured in music videos, live concerts, and virtual performances. Live performance credits include concerts at landmark San Francisco Music Venues including The Fillmore, The Great American Music Hall and Yoshi’s. He is also a member of WIXEN publishing. During Covid, Langlois wrote and recorded a new album, “The New Weird World” with a feature song matching its title.

Calendar Editors Please Note
Who: Joe Landini Dance and CALI & CO dance in co-lab with The Welcome Matt
What: Freddie Vs. Elvis and PERFECT.RESPONSE.
Where: Dance Mission Theater
Date & Time: Fri May 3 8:30pm; Sat May 4, 4:00pm
Tickets: Early Bird: $20, Advance: $25, Door: $28
Early Bird Tickets On-Sale Until March 31, 2024
Box Office and Information:https://www.sfiaf.org or 415-399-9554

Photos Available on Request

~XXX~


San Francisco International Arts Festival
Phone Number: 415-399-9554 | Email: [email protected]
1471 Guerrero Street, #3 San Francisco, CA 94110

 

CONTACT

Mailing List

Facebook

Instagram

ABOUT

Mission

Archives

Funders