ELECTRIC
VARDO presents
Vuelvo Al Sur:
- Return To The South -
Flamenco Remixed Tribal Fusion
Friday May 25, 2007
at Club Six (in the Dark Room)
60 Sixth Street - San Francisco
9 pm to 3 am - $10 adv/$15 door – 21 & over
Advance tickets: Virtuous.com
ELECTRIC VARDO is proud to present
a night of Flamenco Remixed Tribal Fusion,
Belly Dance, Live music and Dancefloor
vibes with DJs, musicians, and dancers
from Vancouver, New York, San Diego,
Eugene and the Bay Area.
This night is a dedication to Sabrina Fox's mother
(pictured below and to the right), to her beautiful soul and inspiration.
This night’s
lineup will feature an amazingmix of performers
coming from all corners of the nation's global culture, including:
 |
Sabrina & Auberon (Atash Maya - San Diego)
Atash Maya is one of Southern California's premier dance troupes. Sabrina was raised with Flamenco in her blood, her mother being a world renowned Flamenco dancer. Auberon received her training in flamenco dance in Spain, and creates her own style of fusion dance incorporating her broad background of dance styles.
Sarah Johannson Locke (Alchemy Dance Theater - NYC)
Sarah Johansson Locke is a performer, choreographer, and teacher with more than twelve years of experience in Tribal and Fusion dance styles. Her eclectic style draws from her work in many forms of contemporary dance, theater, and visual art as well as her interest in cultural studies and international folk art traditions.
Lady Ra (Beats without Borders - Vancouver BC)
She is known for expressing her musical energy on the dancefloor vividly, fusing modern beats with ancient melodies. Lady Ra's balkan heritage and gypsy passion are expressed in her ability to bring non-traditional dance music to the club atmosphere. Her knowledge and background in Flamenco is apparent when you see the dancefloor connecting with the music.
Freyja + Amar (Electric Vardo)
Freyja began her study of dance in early childhood. Her mother studied Flamenco Dance in Spain and performed it on tour across Europe. Freyja’s dance background includes ballet, jazz, hip hop, ballroom, salsa, club dancing, flamenco and Indian dance.
Amar has built a reputation for bringing a unique sound to the dancefloor. As a DJ, he pushes the boundries of musical styles and introduces culture through music. His internal connection to the gypsy culture of Andalucia and passion for flamenco music and dance led him to taking Electric Vardo into a flamenco fusion theme.
DJ Layla (Global Infusion, Eugene, OR)
From Eugene, OR, DJ Layla takes her mixes to another level with the storylines she creates using music as her muse, mesmerizing the dance floor with her sultry beats and vibrant depth of energy.
Sooozhyq (Triple Power)
Resident percussionist for Triple Power and Electric Vardo, Sooozhyq adds traditional middle eastern rhythm on doumbek to the dance/electronica scene. She is sought after by many for her vibrant energy on stage and true collaborative nature as well as her delicate style.
Shiraz Ali Khan (Guitar)
Shiraz Ali Khan takes guitar to a new level mixing traditional sufi melodies into the electronic age. He performs on 12-string guitar with Pakistani sufi group Shabaz (Ali Khan Band, Sukhawat Ali Khan, Riffat Sultana). Shiraz Ali Khan will be debuting his new solo work.
plus a special Special Surprize guest performer
ATASH MAYA - Sabrina & Auberon
Atash Maya Dance Co. has been creating their edition of Tribal Fusion dance since early 2002. Their edgy blend of Middle Eastern, Modern, Asian style dance influences, and jazz technique is fused with a beautiful trend setting style all their own. Atash Maya focuses their Dance Collective in a revolutionary way by remaining open to change and welcoming new influences through other performers and artists.
With a background of 25 years in music and various dance forms that include flamenco, African dance, yoga, jazz,lyrical, ballet, modern, tap, hip hop, theater, along with Middle Eastern and African percussion, SABRINA has been studying American Tribal Style dance for 7 years where her group Atash Maya’s unique style of Tribal Fusion belly dance branches from now.
AUBERON, currently residing in San Francisco, is a master of American Tribal style dance, Afro Cuban dance, a Yoga and Martial arts, Modern dance and Spanish forms of dance from Flamenco to Salsa. She received her Flamenco dance training in Spain.
LADY RA
Lady Ra emerged in 1996 via CFRU 93.3 fm in Guelph, Ontario, Canada . Freshly trained on antiquated community radio equipment and given free reign of the extensive music library, each show she was able to program was a revelation. Ethnic flavours quickly emerged as her primary passion.
Her flair for selecting wicked tracks and mixing them with ambient global
sounds brought her many requests for djing local parties. After a year
in Asia absorbing the local flavours, from Indonesian
Dangdut, Sri Lankan Baila, Punjabi Bhangra, and everything in between,
she relocated to Vancouver on Canada's West Coast. Returning to her Balkan
roots and gypsy passion, Lady Ra has become known for her rare finds from
her homeland and fusing the close-to-her-heart flamenco sounds onto the
dancefloor.
SARAH JOHANSSON LOCKE
Sarah Johansson Locke is a performer, choreographer, and teacher with more than twelve years of experience in Tribal and Fusion dance styles. Her eclectic style draws from her work in many forms of contemporary dance, theater, and visual art as well as her interest in cultural studies and international folk art traditions.
Sarah has extensive training in a wide range of contemporary and folk dance styles including Ballet, Modern, Tribal and Tribal Fusion Bellydance, North Indian Khatak, Butoh, West African, North African, and many styles of Rom (Gypsy) dance including Rajasthani, Turkish, Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, and Spanish (Flamenco).
Throughout her performance history, Sarah has been involved with projects ranging from site-specific installations and street theater to international arts festivals and large theater productions. As a principle dancer with Gypsy Caravan, an internationally renowned and award-winning Tribal bellydance troupe, she performed at numerous theaters and festivals throughout the United States. Her international projects have included work in France, Croatia, and Slovenia, performing and teaching workshops in dance, theater, and body awareness (incorporating elements of yoga, physical theater, and dance). In New York she has performed with numerous artists across all disciplines, at venues including HERE Arts Center, the BRIC studio theater, Galapagos Art Space, Dance New Amsterdam, Satalla, Joe's Pub, the Brooklyn Lyceum, the Knitting Factory, Symphony Space, and Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center.
The Artistic Director of Alchemy Performance, Sarah is also a founding member of Adelantre, a Sephardic performance ensemble, and a facilitator of the dance and music collective PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment). She is a resident artist at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn where she curates and produces HYBRID, a series that showcases new evolutions in contemporary global performance. She currently teaches dance and yoga in New York City and across the U.S., and performs regularly as a soloist, with Alchemy Dance Theater, and in collaborations with artists in all disciplines.
AMAR
Amar is amongst a handful of local DJs whose taste cuts a path through an abundance of musical selectionsand leads dancefloors into a hypnotic sway like snakesbefore the charmer. In this instance the muse is a masala that brews sounds from the Middle East and Balkans with rhythms of the Asian underground and electric Brazilian vibes. Whether its breaks, bhangra, house, drum & bass or downtempo the global nature of Amar’s sets bridge a multi-culti span from the world to the Bay Area.
As a DJ and promoter, he has collaborated and shared the bill with some of the Bay Area's & world's most innovative Musicians, DJs and dance troupes including DJ Dragonfly DJ Sep, Janaka Selekta and the Dhamaal Sound System Cheb i Sabbah, Soulsalaam, Ultra Gypsy, Urban Tribal, Dhol Rhythms, Nitin Sawhney, Lorin, Nader, Unmata, Midival Punditz, Shabaz, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience, SooozhyQ, Beats Without Borders, State of Bengal, Karsh Kale and others.
Producer and resident of the bay area's Global Gypsy night ELECTRIC VARDO, Amar regularly performs at SFs hottest venues including Club Six, DNA Lounge, Nickie's, 1015 Folsom, 111 Minna, Mighty, El Rio, Underground SF, Rickshaw Stop & Elbo Room with Dhamaal, Nonstop Bhangra, Triple Power, Worldly, & the Groove Garden, plus other ongoing and special events & festivals in CA, Oregon, Hawaii, Canada & beyond.
FREYJA
Freyja began her study of dance in early childhood. Her mother studied Flamenco Dance in Spain and performed it on tour across Europe. Freyja’s dance background includes ballet, jazz, hip hop, ballroom, salsa, club dancing, flamenco and Indian dance.
She has developed her own unique style drawing from many of these sources. Freyja has studied American Cabaret, Turkish and Egyptian styles of belly dance, as well as American Tribal style, which later led to Tribal Fusion. Most recently she has taken up Indonesian dance which she has performed with the San Francisco based group Harsanari.
Freyja fell in love with belly dance through her first teacher, Ansuya, who inspired her to pursue this dance form wholeheartedly. Over the years she has studied with many different teachers and, being a life-long student, she continues to study seriously with Frederique and Suhaila Salimpour.
In 2005, Freyja joined forces with Frederique with whom she taught and performed in the bay area dance co-operative Bellygroove. She is still a member of the cooporative, but is currently focusing on her solo carreer and colaborations with various other bay area dancers and musicians, including Jennifer Faust, SooozhyQ and DJ Amar.
Freyja has performed all over the United States, Canada and Europe at such notable venues as the Staples Center (home of the Los Angeles Lakers), The Ford Ampitheatre and various high profile nightclubs and restaurants.
Freyja is credited with excellent technique and musical interpretation, crisp isolations and original innovative choreography. As an instructor, she gives a great presentation and breakdown of moves, while emphasizing proper posture and movement in order to prevent injuries and gain muscle strength that aids in healing. She has made an extensive study of anatomy, physiology and body mechanics, and uses this knowledge to help students master the motions and gain the needed strength and flexibility to improve their dance. Freyja’s love of therapeutic healing arts lead her to obtain her yoga teacher training certification at the acclaimed Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco
SOOOZHYQ
- doumbek -
SooozhyQ began studying Middle Eastern percussion in 1994 and performing regularly in 1997. Based in San Francisco, she has also performed in L.A, San Diego, Portland and Eugene Oregon, and New York City. She loves working with belly dancers, having played for 9 years at Amira Restaurant in San Francisco for amazing soloists Nanna Candelaria, Aliena, Nanna Candelaria, Aliena, Jill Parker, Elizabeth Strong, Zoe Jakes, and Rachel Brice. At Amira she has accompanied many talented musicians such as Mary Ellen Donald (her first Middle Eastern percussion instructor), Mimi Spencer, Nazir Latouf, Susu Pampanin, Faisal Zedan, Reda Darwish and Vince Delgado.
She also has a strong passion for blending traditional Middle Eastern rhythms with electronic dance music/culture. She collaborates regularly with Amar, a vibrant member of San Francisco’s world influenced DJ culture and co-founder of Electric Vardo, and is a resident of fantastically fun Triple Power monthly party with co-founders Giamma and Shanti.
SooozhyQ is also a former member of the Strong Current Dance Company, an all woman modern dance company performing works that comment on women’s roles through a feminist perspective, and has performed with Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers, also a modern dance company, committed to cross-cultural collaboration and to creating dance that is women identified, spiritual, passionate, and inclusive of all its member voices.
SHIRAZ ALI KHAN
- guitar -
San Francisco-based guitarist and producer Richard Michos (aka: Shiraz Ali Khan) has performed locally and internationally for many years. He has produced and recorded numerous albums and projects, and is the driving force behind the world music group Shabaz, who are signed with Miles Copeland’s ARK 21 label. Shabaz has recorded with Narada Michael Walden and performed at venues such as the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the We are the Future festival in Rome. Michos has written tracks for the Egyptian star Hakim, and Indian vocalist Najma. In summer 2006 he toured Spain and Italy with his wife, vocalist Riffat Sultana.
His group’s first two album releases with the Ali Khan band, Taswir and Zindagi, earned Bammie nominations, while his 2002 disc, Shabaz, has been reviewed in Billboard and was highly rated on the CMJ radio chart. His most recent independent production “Sufi, Folk, and Love Songs” can be heard and viewed at: cdbaby.com/cd/riffatsultana.
Michos performs on both electric and acoustic guitar, as well as sampling, double string styles, and guitar synthesis, and performs solo and within many group contexts. Michos has recorded with numerous artists, including world- renowned musicians Shafqat Ali Khan, Ustad Sultan Khan, Pandit Ramesh Mishra, and dj Cheb i Sabbah. Michos is known fo fusing traditional melodic forms with modern grooves and instrumentation. www.riffatsultana.com
DJ LAYLA
A rare gem who will transport you into a divine realm of sound and space - takes her mixes to another level with the storylines she creates using music as her muse. She has a natural talent and way to mesmerize the dance floor with her sultry beats, silky smooth segues and vibrant depth of energy that enraptures your soul and body. Layla began her musical odyssey behind the decks in 2000 as DJ Velo. Her Vision: “I was akin to a new caterpillar, devouring everything around. 5 years ago I was first discovering the electronic music culture, going to those “rave” parties, dancing to the best music I’d ever heard. I had to have more. I had to collect it. I had to play it. I had to play it loud…' "
Her first musical forays took her into the realm of hard house and progressive trance, but she eventually made her way through almost all genres of electronic music, and was known for seamlessly mixing genres within her sets and mix CDs. “The music is my voice. It says things for me that I could never put into words. There is a rush of excitement as I make the beats merge, creating a whole new sound with my own hands right in that moment. It’s so beautiful I get lost sometimes, riding the waves of the beat to a high like none other.”
Layla is dedicated to supporting the women of the dance music community, and starting in 2001, held a monthly potluck in Portland called Sister PDX where women could gather in a non-competitive atmosphere to learn about spinning records, share music, connections and advice. By late 2002, these gatherings spawned an invitation to create the Portland branch of the popular San Francisco collective, Sister SF. Although Layla is no longer a resident, Sister PDX is still making headway in the Portland scene, highlighting some of Portland’s established and up and coming female DJ talent.