CubaCaribe and Dance Mission Theater present
EXPLOSIÓN CUBANA: UNA NOCHE TROPICAL

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In the spirit of Havana’s celebrated Tropicana nightclub, CubaCaribe and Dance Mission
present a sizzling evening of Cuban cabaret, complete with dinner and a show.

Featuring Alayo Dance Company and guests.

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November 21-December 6, 2014: Fri, Sat, Sun at 7:30pm (no show December 7th)

Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF 94110

Tickets in advance: $45 (opening weekend), $60 at brownpapertickets.com or (800)838-3006

Tickets at the door: $50 (opening weekend), $65
Info: dancemission.com; 415-826-4441(San Francisco, CA)

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In the spirit of Havana’s celebrated Tropicana nightclub, CubaCaribe in collaboration with Dance Mission Theater presents a sizzling evening of Cuban cabaret
featuring Alayo Dance Company, complete with dinner and a show. With artistic direction and
choreography by Ramon Ramos Alayo and live music by Patricio Angulo, this dance
extravaganza takes its audience on a journey celebrating the evolution of Cuban dance and music
– from Folkloric to Popular to Modern (and everything in between). The intimate Dance
Mission Theater will be turned upside down, with the audience sitting on the stage to experience
this tropical spectacular. Additional choreography is by Jose “Cheo” Rojas of Cuba’s Ban Rara,
Yismari Ramos Tellez of Cuba’s Lady Salsa, and Denmis Bain Savigne of Las Vegas’ Havana
Nights.

Joining the stellar dancers of Alayo Dance Company on stage are visiting artists from Santiago,
Cuba’s Danza del Caribe as well as other guests. Danza del Caribe dance company made its
explosive US debut at the Annual CubaCaribe Festival in 2013, delighting dance enthusiasts.

The colorful evening will be accompanied by a live band and Cuban meal, complete with an
appetizer, main course, and dessert (Please note: Cuban tapas only will be served for first
weekend).

Explosión Cubana will run for three weekends November 21 thru December 6, Friday-Sunday at
7:30pm at Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco. Tickets are $45 opening weekend and $60
for weekends two and three in advance or $50 opening weekend and $65 at the door. Advance
tickets are available for purchase at brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1800-838-3006.
For more information, please visit dancemission.com or call 415-826-4441.

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Ramon Ramos Alayo, Artistic Director
Ramon Ramos Alayo, Artistic Director of CubaCaribe and Alayo Dance Company, was selected
at age eleven by the Cuban government to study dance in Santiago de Cuba. He later received a Masters Degree in Contemporary and Folkloric Dance and Dance Education from Havana’s
National School of Art. He was the principal dancer with Danza del Caribe, Narcisco Medina
Contemporary Dance Company, and has performed in Cuba, Europe, Canada, Belize and the US.In 1997 Ramón moved to the US and began his professional career in the Bay Area and
performed with a variety of local artists including Robert Henry Johnson, Kim Epifano, Krissy
Keefer, Sara Shelton Mann, Joanna Haigood, and Robert Moses. Ramón founded Alayo Dance
Company in 2001 as a vehicle for his innovative choreographies and in 2003 co-founded
CubaCaribe, an organization that promotes Cuban art and culture through programs such as
CubaCamp and the Annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music. He currently teaches
Cuban Salsa and Afro-Cuban modern at a variety of Bay Area dance studios and also teaches
movement for children. His work has received support from the San Francisco Arts Commission,
Alliance for California Traditional Arts, CA$H – Theater Bay Area, LEF Foundation, Haas
Foundation, California Arts Council and the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Ramón is also the
recipient of the Gerbode Foundation’s prestigious Emerging Choreographer Award and was
featured in National Geographic Magazine’s, Dance Across America. He was named “Best
Dance Dynamo” by the SF Bay Guardian’s Best of the Bay and received a GOLDIE Award from
the SF Bay Guardian in 2010. Alayo Dance Company was one of the first American companies
to ever perform at the Annual Festival del Caribe at Teatro Martí in 2010 in Santiago, Cuba and
in 2011 the company performed at Teatro Mella in Havana, Cuba.

Patricio Angulo, Musical Director
Patricio has been residing in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2000. Born in Los Angeles,
California, he studied classical percussion before discovering the world of Latin rhythms. In the
Bay Area, he studied intensively under world-renowned percussionist Michael Spiro. He has
performed and/or recorded with international and local artists such as Danny Lozado(ex-singer
for Charanga Habanera), Los Tigres Del Norte, Dr. Loco and his Rockin’ Jalapeno Band, Fito
Reinoso’s Ritmo y Harmonia, Albino!, Charanson, O-Maya/Agua Libre, Orq D’Soul and many
more. Patricio is also the director and founder of the Bay Area’s 11 piece salsa/timba orchestra
Rumbache (formerly Quimbombo), as well as the critically acclaimed Latin Jazz group, The
Sonando Project. He is the president of Oye Productions. 

CubaCaribe
CubaCaribe was founded in 2003 by Ramón Ramos Alayo to preserve and promote the vibrant
cultural and artistic traditions of the Caribbean and its Diaspora. Built around the principal that
dance, music and visual arts can engage and connect people of diverse perspectives, CubaCaribe
organizes festivals, performances, classes, camps, exhibitions, and legal cultural excursions to
Cuba to foster greater understanding and appreciation of Caribbean – especially Cuban – arts and culture. CubaCaribe produces: Alayo Dance Company, CubaCaribe’s resident dance company that features Ramos Alayo’s innovative fusion of Afro-Cuban modern, folkloric and popular Cuban dance; The Annual CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music (2005-2014); CubaCamp, which offers adult campers a four days of Caribbean dance and music classes; and cultural excursions to Cuba. In 2013 CubaCaribe brought the Cuban dance company, Danza del Caribe, to the Bay Area to perform at the CubaCaribe Festival for their US debut.

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Dance Mission Theater
Dance Brigade’s Dance Mission Theater is a non-profit, multicultural dance center located in the
heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. Dance Mission offers a full range of adult and youth
classes from Hip Hop to Salsa to Afro-Caribbean to Taiko to Modern dance and offers a full
season of performance featuring the work of Bay Area’s best and most diverse dance artists.
Dance Mission is available to rent for performances/workshops and is the home of Krissy
Keefer’s Dance Brigade, San Francisco’s groundbreaking, social-change dance company. Dance
Mission has created a foundation of mutual support based on its mission, which values building
community through arts.

Additional Artists – Selected Bios

Teatro de la Danza del Caribe, Guest artists
Teatro de la Danza del Caribe, founded in 1988 by Eduardo Rivero, uses the techniques of
modern and contemporary dance to show the components of identity within the Afro-Caribbean and Cuban cultures. Eduardo Rivero has directed Teatro de la Danza del Caribe from 198 to 2013, when he passed away. The company has a varied repertoire that includes Rivero's own work with its strong emphasis on physical design, and its reflection of folk and contemporary movement. These works include "Sulkary", an homage to the sculptural aesthetic, sensuality and beauty inherent in West African cultural life; "The Rumba", an exploration of the dialogue between dancers and musicians, in which the virtuosity of the soloists competes with the skill of the drummers and singers; and perhaps his most important work, "Sparks", an award-winning piece that evokes the sacredness of water as the basis for all life, and reflects its transitive nature.Teatro de la Danza del Caribe has also been an incubator for many talented young composers and dancers, including CubaCaribe’s own Ramon Ramos Alayo, along with Narcissus Medina, Lesme Grenot, and Arthur Castillo, among others. The vitality and explanatory power of the company’s young dancers - mostly graduates of the National Art School - blends with the freshness of a company that transgresses the boundaries of communication. Danza del Caribe made their US debut in the 2013 CubaCaribe Festival of Dance and Music, performing atYBCA, Laney College Theater and Dance Mission.
 

Yismari Ramos Tellez, Guest choreographer and soloist
Yismari Ramos Tellez graduated from the National School of Art in Havana, Cuba in 1992, with
a degree in modern and Afro-Cuban folklore dance. For six years, Yismari worked as one of the
key dancers for the Tony Menendez Dance Company, which performed in Cuba, Russia and
Italy. She later went on to become one of the senior dancers of the Ballet de la Television
Cubana in Havana, where she regularly performed on television, in video clips and in live shows
for some of the top bands in Cuba, Musicals, and in international productions in Spain, Ecuador,
Panama, and Switzerland. Yismari has also worked with Lady Salsa, an internationally renowned
group, performing Cuban son, mambo, cha-cha-cha, and salsa in Australia, New Zealand and
Germany. She has taught dance to children in Cuba and the United States for years, and has also taught numerous Cuban Dance workshops in Canada and Europe. She currently teaches dance through out the Bay Area and performs with the musical group, Dos Four.

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Denmis Bain, Guest choreographer
Denmis Bain was born in Santiago, Cuba and attended la Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana.
He later joined the world renowned Conjuncto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba. He has expertise in
afro cuban dance, folklore, ballet, jazz, modern dance, contemporary ballet, tap dance, hip hop,
choreography and singing. Denmis has choreographed for artists such as Kenny Ortega,
Siegfried & Roy, Emilio Estefan, Manuel Mendive, and the Latin Grammys. He has performed
with Orishas, Calle 13, Los Van Van, Bamboleo, and Issac Delgado. Denmis is probably best
known for his work with the Havana Nights Dance Company. He toured and performed in more
than 16 different countries and was a lead dancer in about 450 performances of Havana
Nightclub - The Show. The performances received standing ovations and outstanding reviews
from critics and audiences all around. The tour ended in Las Vegas, Nevada with the intentions
of returning back to Cuba afterwards. Political hostilities between the U.S. and Cuba landed all
53 performers in the middle of a dispute that forced them into making life changing decisions. In 2004 Denmis Bain was a part of the largest mass defection in the United States and the entire
cast requested and were granted political asylum. Denmis has remained in the U.S. ever since.

 

WHAT
Explosión Cubana: Una Noche Tropical
A Cuban cabaret complete with dinner and a show featuring Alayo Dance Company and guests.

WHERE
Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF CA 94110

WHEN
November 21 - December 6, 2014
Fri, Sat, Sun at 7:30pm (no show December 7)

TICKETS
$60; $45 opening weekend (Nov 21-23) in advance
$65; $50 opening weekend (Nov 21-23) at the door
Advance tickets available at brownpapertickets.com, 1800-838-3006

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Dancemission.com, cubacaribe.org, 415-826-4441

PRESS PHOTOS
http://www.dancemission.com/press/press_releases.html and by request