Over 60 choreographers and Bay Area dance organizations (from children to professional companies and everything in between) present many styles of dance on the Eastridge Festival Stage during a free non-stop 5-hour program each day. The professional dance portions of the show are at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and on the half-hour all day long. Free dance classes will be offered at 1:00pm, 2:00pm, and on-the-hour throughout the day. The celebration is part of Bay Area Dance Week and National Dance Week (April 26- May 5, 2024) and showcases the diversity of the Bay Area dance community.
Calpulli Tonalehqueh of San Jose will be presenting the Art of Ancient Aztec Dance to open the festival on Saturday from 12:00 noon to 12:30pm. The opening ceremony is a ritual with drums which calls the four elements (wind, water, fire, earth) and the four cardinal directions...North (Tezcatlipoca), East (Quetzalcoatl), South (Huitzilopochtli), and West (Xipe Totec) along with the Great Cosmos, Mother Earth, and the Center - Our Hearts. Photo by Buggsy Malone.
Professional Dance Groups:
· sjDANCEco Contemporary
· Rosangela Silvestre (from Brazil) Afro-Brazilian
· N'fungola Dance Company (New Orleans) West African
· Abhinaya Dance Company (San Jose) Indian Classical Dance
· Tachiria Flamenco (San Francisco) Flamenco
· Diablo Ballet (Walnut Creek) Ballet
· Monsoon Dance Company (Palo Alto) Contemporary Indian
· Magnetic Pole Fit (San Jose) Contemporary Pole
· Hermosura Dance Productions (Fremont) Social Latin
· Aboriginals (Manteca, CA) Hip Hop/Breakdance
· Kyleigh Brine (Arcata, CA) Contemporary
· Agua Doce Dance (Santa Cruz) African-Brazilian Contemporary
· Los Lupeños de San José Mexican Folk Dance
· Jenni Hong Dance (Palo Alto) Contemporary
· Noorani Dance (Menlo Park) Kathak
Free Classes offered in various styles: West African, Flamenco, Classical, KPop, Salsa, Hip Hop, Symbology of the Orixas.