Festival Flash Sale
15% Discounts for Mothers Day Gifts
100% Discounts (FREE) Scholarships Available for
Women in Jazz & World Music Program

To celebrate Mothers Day on May 14, we at SFIAF are tipping our collective caps to mothers and offering a 15% discount on tickets until Sunday evening. To purchase tickets at the discounted rate, simply enter the code Mom23 when purchasing tickets. For a full listing of Festival concerts and performances, scroll down.

Festival passes still remain the most cost effective way to see the Festival for those interested in seeing three or more shows. For more information on Festival Passes:

Women in Jazz & World Music
Vocal Course for 15-18 y/o
Led by Professor Dee Spencer
May 31- June 30

We are also pleased to offer 100% scholarships to aspiring young vocalists to take the Women in Jazz & World Music class with Professor Dee Spencer from San Francisco State University and a star studded cast of guest lecturers including Michelle Jacques, Fely Tchaco, Renée Lubin, Teresa Tam and Lisa Graciano.

A high school/college level course whose main subject matter is Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Ella Fitzgerald. Not only do students get to sing the repertoire of these legendary women, but also learn about their lives, times and activism. It's a Black feminist history class with rhythm led by one of California’s most highly regarded music scholars—and includes instruction on how to work healthily, safely and with integrity in the music business.

The classes take place at Dance Mission Theater (directly across from the Mission/24th Street BART Station) and are held on Saturdays at 10:00am and Wednesdays at 3:00pm (the first one on May 31 is at 4:00pm).

To secure a scholarship for your budding Ella, Nina (or Sting or Harry Belafonte) press the button below and click on the WAIVER box to sign up.

Other June Classes, Workshops and Educational Activities can be viewed

 
FULL SFIAF 2023 PERFORMANCE LISTINGS!

Dance

Piñata Dance Collective / Liz Duran Boubion
Cuatro Vientos: Middle of Nowhere (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Thur Jun 8, 2023 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 10, 2023 6:00 PM
Cuatro Vientos: Middle of Nowhere, is a multimedia dance-theater production about the risk and freedom of being alone. Dancers and ceremonialists investigate the physiology of fear, the concept of freedom and finding refuge in the natural world. It is dedicated to raising awareness and building solidarity for murdered and missing women.

Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco
Sones y Tradiciones (Sounds and Traditions) (90 minutes with intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:00 PM
Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco presents Sones y Tradiciones, a vibrant production full of rhythm and color that manifests the customs of the indigenous people of México. It is an evening of Mexican sones, a traditional musical style with origins in Spanish, African and Indigenous rhythms. Accompanied by dances from across many different regions of Mexico.

Ranko Ogura Dance
HAMON-ring on the water (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:15 PM, Sun Jun 18, 2023 2:00 PM
HAMON-ring on the water is a new multi-media performance. Representing the unifying nature of water, HAMON-ring on the water integrates Butoh, contemporary dance, storytelling, sound instrumentation and digital projections. The mission of my dance-journey is to raise awareness on water stewardship.

Nash Baroque & Dance through Time
Pulcinella's Dream (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Fri Jun 16, 2023 7:00 PM, Sun Jun 18, 2023 5:30 PM
A lively spectacle of music, dance and pantomime of eighteenth century Italian theater. Live music, live dancing, live acting and audience participation for those who dare. A period instrument ensemble, choreographies and stage performances from original sources will transport you to a world where story is everything and everyone dreams.

Steamroller Dance Company
Young Gods Reimagined (2000) (45 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Thur Jun 15, 2023 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 17, 2023 3:30 PM
Shared bill with Jessica Fudim
Young Gods, Reimagined re-investigates one of the company’s seminal works by interviewing former company members to delve into their experiences of the creative process. Choreography from the original work is reconfigured so former dancers can engage with new dancers cast for the performance. The interviews and archival footage are woven throughout the performance to create an immersive experience for the audience.

Jessica Fudim
Venomous (world premiere) (45 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Thur Jun 15, 2023 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 17, 2023 3:30 PM
Shared bill with Steamroller Dance Company
Her tale is more than two thousand years old, but what would Medusa say if she could speak for herself? Jessica Fudim’s dance-theater solo, Venomous, combines contemporary movement, storybook tableaus, and unabashed party dancing, playing between whimsy and darkness as she moves Medusa’s story beyond that of a monster.

Diamano Coura West African Dance Company
JUSAT (120 minutes with intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Sat Jun 17, 2023 8:00 PM
This original work by one of the Bay Area’s foremost West African dance companies, explores a personal journey and its universal expression in ritual. JUSAT blends traditional West African dance with contemporary American influences and features both traditional and pop music from Senegal and Mali. This dynamic suite has four scenes, beginning with, JUSAT, which represents the cyclical stages of life’s trajectory. The piece uses traditional West African dance and music as its focal point, which is enhanced by contemporary moves and music.

Abhinaya Dance Company
Trial by Fire (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Sun Jun 18, 2023 2:00 PM
Shared bill with Samudra Dance Creations
Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose presents Trial by Fire, a new work performed to scintillating music. The concert will include traditional depictions of the Sun-god, the primal and immortal flame; Jwala Devi, a goddess worshipped in the Himalayas; as well as a new work on the wildfires that have devastated Northern California, a direct consequence of global warming.

Samudra Dance Creations
The Earth Speaks (2019) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Sun Jun 18, 2023 2:00 PM
Shared bill with Abhinaya Dance Company
Earth Speaks is a dance-music production that explores humankind’s intricate physical, emotional and spiritual relationship to the EARTH (PRITHVI in Sanskrit). When that connection, that umbilical cord is disturbed or even severed what happens to our being, our existence? The production incorporates Indian mythology, Greek mythology and contemporary stories to tell the story of Mother Earth in HER voice.

Music

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Kaleidoscope! Jörg Widmann: Duos for Violin and Cello (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Thur Jun 8, 2023 7:30 PM
Left Coast presents a kaleidoscopic set of Austrian composer Jörg Widmann’s miniatures. This rising modern star's pieces were in the 2022 worldwide top 10 list of most performed contemporary music! Each tune is no longer than a pop song but transports us to a different and unique emotional world.

Amelia Romano
Amelia Romano and Guests (world premieres) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sat Jun 10, 2023 3:00 PM
Amelia Romano brings together an all-female cast to present an innovative program that presents the lever harp in a new light. The concert features original, classical and quartet works for small ensemble; from Camille Saint-Saens’, The Swan, to Piazzolla's Oblivion, as well as Romano's own Latin inspired original pieces. Closing with a work for quartet, piano and harp by William Grant Still.

Clyde Leland
A Benefit for Jewish Voice for Peace - Bay Area Chapter (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Sat Jun 10, 2023 4:00 PM
Clyde Leland is an award-winning singer-songwriter with guitar and banjo playing original songs that are sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, sometimes political, and often memorable.

Francis Wong
Wong Works! A Memoir in Music (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sat Jun 10, 2023 7:15 PM
Saturday Jun 10, 2023 7:15 PM
Wong Works! A memoir in music will feature original compositions framed by personal reflections on family and cultural legacy, his life in music, and experiences in the struggle for peace and justice in our world. Wong will be joined by both long-time and recent collaborators to be announced.

Las Almas Trio
The Sound of Contemporary Tango (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:00 PM
After their inaugural concert outdoors with SFIAF in October 2020, the all-women Las Almas Trio, led by Sumi Lee Levy will celebrate the release of its first CD with both original and classical tango compositions by Ms. Lee and others.

Pusaka Sunda
Utama Gamelan Degung and Vocal Music of West Java (75 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Sun Jun 11, 2023 4:00 PM
The performance Utama Gamelan Degung and Vocal Music of West Java showcases the music from Pusaka Sunda’s recent recordings Utama and Ningnang. Award-winning musicians from Indonesia join Pusaka Sunda to present a dynamic range of music, from the spirited gamelan degung to the refined sung poetry of Tembang Sunda.

Purnamasari
Amazeum (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:00 PM
Amazeum tells the story of an elderly woman and her great-great-granddaughter living on an artificial island orbiting the sun. They exist as refugees, waiting for decades to inhabit a new planet. Through songs and stories, Amazeum examines the displacement of populations amidst the collapse of global systems on Earth, and human identity in an imagined community of people born in outer space.

Alex Conde
Piano Jazz Flamenco (Bay Area Premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:00 PM
Spanish virtuoso pianist Alex Conde presents a ''jazz and flamenco'' solo piano concert full of energy and sensitivity. A repertory of original compositions and arrangements of T. Monk and B. Powell compositions in Latin Jazz Clave.

Neblinas del Pacífico
In Concert (120 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:00 PM
Marimba music from the Pacífico Afro-Colombiano. Neblinas del Pacífico hail from Colombia, the Bay Area, and Canada/Holland/Indonesia, and are based in La Mission and East Oakland. They study and share this music in the spirit of respect and solidarity with the maestros and communities who are the guardians of this music.

Fely Tchaco
In Concert (90 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:00 PM
Originally from Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast, Fely Tchaco is an accomplished singer-songwriter and composer. Her repertoire includes popular and traditional West African, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Colombian sounds.

John Calloway
Tribute to the Buffalo Soldier and the Afro-Filipino (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sat Jun 17, 2023 2:00 PM
John Calloway will give a work-in-progress presentation of the piece that will premiere at the Asian Art Museum in October 2023. Tribute to the Buffalo Soldier and the Afro-Filipino examines the confluence of the African / Filipino aspects of the Calloway family history.

Dee Spencer
The BluesFem Project: Smile Orange (world premiere) 60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sat Jun 17, 2023 5:00 PM
The BluesFem Project: Smile Orange is a musical experience arranged and directed by Bay Area virtuoso Dee Spencer, pairing the 1976 film Smile Orange with a live performance of the soundtrack composed by trombonist Melba Liston. Spencer’s arrangement combines soul, R&B, jazz, pop and blues with traditional Jamaican sounds and pays homage to two great artists: Author Trevor D. Rhone (1940–2009) and Melba Liston (1926–1999).

Gisela Tangui and The Voodoo Cabaret
In Concert (75 minutes with intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret; Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:00 PM
The Voodoo Cabaret is an ongoing musical performance project driven by the songs and theatrical presence of Gisela Tangui. Her compositions reflect a singular relationship to the Orishas/Loas of the African diaspora and are written to fulfill her personal spiritual quest as well as entertain, educate and inspire. Gisela uses extensive percussion, rock instrumentation, humor, devotion and her operatic voice to connect and uplift her audience and community.

Elena Durán and Nicholas McGegan
México de mi Corazón (Bay Area premiere) (75 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:00 PM
Flautist, Elena Durán and Music Director Laureate, Nicholas McGegan (on piano), celebrate the "Golden Age" of Mexican Cinema; an era that produced a musical renaissance as well as many unforgettable movies. Durán and McGegan will present a program highlighting: the films of mega-stars such as Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete and Javier Solis; composers include Manuel Esperón, José Alfredo Jiménez, Rubén Fuentes and Consuelo Velazquez; with notable songs such as Bésame Mucho, Ay, Jalisco!, Amorcito Corazón and México Lindo y Querido.

Performance Art

inkBoat
Clouds from a Crumbling Giant (45 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Wed Jun 7, 2023 7:30 PM
This work in progress of Clouds from a Crumbling Giant delves into the decay and regeneration of human structures/forms/ideas, combining traditional Daoist cultural perspectives with theatrical performance-devising traditions rooted in the Japanese avant-garde.

Sha Sha Higby
The Powdered Sea (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Fri Jun 9, 2023 7:00 PM, Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:00 PM
Using micro puppetry there will be serene forests of animals and birds followed by a stylized battle of demons of fire in the forests. After being extinguished by the oceans, the sky opens and begins to snow fishes searching through the remains for flying souls. What is to happen next? …As this ornate Giant watches over.

Guta Galli
Cup of Tea (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Thur Jun 15, 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:00 PM
Galli revisits Cup of Tea, her 2015 video-performance, now bearing the body of a mother that comes back to the art scene and questions why the systemic oppression of women is still so prevalent: laws still place boundaries in women's sexuality, caregiving and domestic work are invisible labors mostly performed by women and rape culture is still widely spread.

Spoken Word

Speakeasy Storytellers Series
(60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio, Sat Jun 10, 6:30 PM
The Speakeasy program provides inter-generational and multi-cultural stories for the purpose of connecting our common experiences. Performers have included artists, medical doctors, carpenters, jazz singers, business women, tech workers and parents.

The Last Supper Party
LSP Season End Celebration  (120 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Cabaret, Sat Jun 17, 8:00 PM
Tickets: FREE Admission
The wildly successful Last Supper Party concludes its second season with a move to the Mission district. Series curator, Kimi Sugioka, brings together an all-star cast of local artists and wordsmiths to mark the occasion. Included in the still evolving line-up are: Darius Simpson, devorah major, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Mimi Tempestt and Ayodele Nzinga.

Theatre

David Kleinberg
He Wants to Run (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen; Fri Jun 9, 2023 6.30 PM, Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:00 PM
He Wants to Run is David Kleinberg's story of a guy who hates running and dogs, and how he ended up running with his neighbor's dog for 13 years in Cloverdale and what Butler teaches David about living and dying.

Bons Tempos Theatre
Qaddafi's Cook (west coast premiere) (55 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Fri Jun 9, 2023 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 10, 2023 3:00 PM
Taste the tyrant! Two young Mexican chefs get caught in the tailspin of Libyan dictator, Muammar Qaddafi, world’s bloodiest foodie and Lockerbie plotter. Inspired by real events, critics from New York to San Diego raved, "Intense and charming... beautifully connects food, passion, and power...” and “Do not miss this fine performance.”

Jason Bayani
Locus of Control (75 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Theater; Theatre of Yugen
Fri Jun 9, 2023 8.30 PM, Sat Jun 10, 2023 5:30 PM
Locus of Control explores the complicated, sometimes fragmented experience of the Filipinx-American background and identity. Setting himself behind a DJ booth, Bayani seamlessly moves between poetry, storytelling, music, and video taking the audience through his family’s history of migration viewed through both a historic and intensely personal lens.

Helen Stoltzfus of Black Swan Arts & Media
Dispatches from the Great Burning (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen; Sat Jun 10, 2023 2:00 PM, Sun Jun 11, 2023 5:00 PM
Dispatches from the Great Burning is a solo performance of one woman’s reckoning with the climate crisis: from Mongolia’s Gobi Desert in search of the nearly extinct Gobi bear to San Francisco's toxic-ridden Bayview, and from Civil War ancestor stories of the “Great Burning” to Wall Street West climate protests.

deCoy Gallerina. Radical Medicine Project. Theatre Movement International
Haunting our His & Her Stories: Indigenous Children’s Boarding School & Related Experiences (world premiere) (45 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:30 PM, Sun Jun 18, 2023 2:00 PM
A presentation that explores the circumstances and state of being of Indigenous children taken from their families and placed in boarding schools. Utilizing a magical realism format, the piece spans a century of actual accounts married with sleuthed deduction. The stories include, Two Mason Jars and Haircutting: A young boy and his sister leave home, to pad the shock, father tells son a tail of a little skunk who goes off to ‘find roots’… Cause in the past, effects in the present, many presents.

Lisa A Frias
Gratitude (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen; Thurs Jun 8, 2023 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 10, 2023 9:00 PM
Gratitude is a cloth of hidden scars, liminal spaces, and unexpected wings. From working all night restaurants and mental health agencies to over two decades in the classroom. From close calls and pitfalls, love stories and activism, to prayers, recovering, and laughing. (Note: Gratitude contains some difficult themes and is for mature audiences).

Crescent Moon Theater Productions
Hold On, When Everything Changes in a Flash (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Stud, Fri Jun 16, 7:00 PM, Sat Jun 17, 2:00 PM
Four young adults share harrowing and courageous stories of fleeing their home countries of Guatemala, Afghanistan, Iraq and Venezuela, and starting their lives in the United States. An evening of storytelling with live music accompaniment that reveals intimate and honest accounts of the refugee experience.

US in the U.S.
What Had Happened Was... (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen; Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:00 PM, Sat Jun 17, 2023 5:30 PM, Sun Jun 18, 2.30pm
What Had Happened Was… takes the audience through a process of shedding identity. It is a journey through the past exploring generational trauma and letting go. Making choices in the present moment and navigating the future. It is about selecting one’s own identity or deciding not to have one at all!

Alive & Well Productions / Annie Kahane
Meeting #7 (world premiere) (50 minutes w/out intermission)
Joe Goode Annex; Fri Jun 16, 2023 9:00 PM, Sat Jun 17, 2023 8:00 PM
Meeting #7 is a one-woman show created and performed by dance theater artist Annie Kahane, with projections by filmmaker Ethan Alesch. In Meeting #7, an orientation-leader welcomes the audience to a parody PowerPoint presentation, as if they are in a breakout session at a corporate conference.

Gamal Chasten
Crawfish - We The Invisible (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
BRAVA Studio; Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:00 PM, Sun Jun 18, 2023 4:30 PM
Written and performed by Gamal Chasten and directed by Steven Sapp, Crawfish chronicles one man's journey from home to homelessness, while also sharing his insights on gentrification, global warming and Alzheimer's. Time and place: September 11th, 2020, Berkeley CA, under the overpass of the 580 Freeway. Crawfish did not move here. He was moved.

Put Ur Play On Productions
Unapologetically Black: Here for Facilitating Harm Reduction Services for Those in Need, Incorporated (world premiere) (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen; Sat Jun 17, 2023 2:00 PM
Unapologetically Black is a great jumping-off point for dialogue about racism and the possibilities of ally-ship. This initiative is a celebration of Black creatives coming together with allies to use art as a way to usher in the change we want to see in the world.

Kat Evasco
Mommy Queerest (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen; Sat Jun 17, 2023 8:30 PM, Sun Jun 18, 2023 5:30 PM
Written with John Caldon, Mommy Queerest is Kat Evasco’s autobiographical one-woman show. An unconventional mommy/daughter tale that tackles conflict with humorous insight, while illustrating the experience of being a Filipina lesbian, gay Christian, survivor of sexual abuse and young American just trying to get some.

Walking Tours

Chris Carlsson
A Mission History of Urban Food Production (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Theatre of Yugen, Sat Jun 17, 1:00 PM
Discover the northeast Mission's remarkable history of industrial food production. Including the buildings repurposed during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 70s that led to today's organic food abundance. The tour starts at the old American Can Company (today's Project Artaud) and ends at one of the neighborhood's most inspiring pandemic responses: the Mission Food Hub at Alabama and 19th Street.

Funders
SFIAF 2023 is made possible in part by the support of Bernard Osher Foundation, BRAVA Theater Center, California Arts Council, California Office of the Small Business Advocate, California Venues Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, New Place Fund, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the Western Arts Federation (WESTAF) and many generous individuals.