La Peña Cultural Center

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Fiesta Puertorriqueña: Celebrando y Recordando

Doors open at 4:30pm
$10 Advance / $15 Door / $5 Kids under 12

 

The Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop invites you to remember and celebrate life and growth that results from loss and suffering. Through death and loss comes rebirth and strengthening.

Join us in remembering & celebrating by participating in our COMMUNITY ALTAR. This installation will represent, in an authentic and intentional way, the suffering, loss, and renewal of life that Puerto Rico and its people have and are experiencing as a result of hurricane Maria. We encourage you to bring pictures or object to add to the community altar!

Come hungry so we can enjoy a COMMUNITY MEAL with Puerto Rican cuisine by Cali-Rican catering. Menu coming soon! (Food not included with Ticket.)

Bring your dancing shoes, because DJ JOSE RUIZ will be throwing down his incredible collection of tropical music!

Plus, the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop invites you to participate in a special BATEY BORICUA COMMUNITY BOMBAZO (BOMB & PLENA JAM). So bring your faldas, barriles, panderos, voice and positive vibes to join us in a community jam. Or just come enjoy the music and dance!

Capoeira Angola for Kids (8 Week Series)

DUE TO UNDER-ENROLLMENT WE ARE POSTPONING THIS CLASS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

YOU ARE WELCOME TO APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS HERE AND WE WILL NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE CLASS IS RESCHEDULE. THANK YOU. Apply here.

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$120 per 8 Week-Series

Saturdays at 1pm-2pm (Sept. 8-Oct. 27)

 

SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE!

The deadline for scholarship applications is Monday, September 3rd.

La Peña Cultural Center is excited to present Capoeira Angola Classes for Kids!

Please note: This class is best suitable for children ages 7-11.

Capoeira Angola is a game that helps to develop students’ physical, mental and social abilities. All students are encouraged to have fun and to be themselves while broadening their horizons and working together as a group and a community. The practice of Capoeira Angola provides a holistic education that can benefit people of all ages – children and young adults, in particular – through a focus on the following components:

Physical movement and play – The movements of Capoeira Angola are simple and playful, enabling students of all ability levels to hone their balance and coordination, as well as to express themselves in an authentic and unique way.

Musical and rhythmic literacy – By training students to play Brazilian percussion instruments and sing traditional songs in harmony with each other, Capoeira Angola develops key perceptual skills such as timing and listening.

Self-control and discipline – Capoeira Angola provides a structured and orderly environment for learning, which is especially conducive for children and young adults to cultivate virtues such as patience, self-control, attention to detail and respect for their peers and elders.

SERIES SCHEDULE (8 weeks)

Saturdays at 1pm-2pm (Sept. 8-Oct. 27)
Saturday, September 8: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, September 15: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, September 22: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, September 29: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, October 6: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, October 13: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, October 20: 1pm-2pm
Saturday, October 27: 1pm-2pm

ENROLLMENT DETAILS
Series Tuition (for 8 classes): $120

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Classes are taught by Sergio Bitencourt Ferreira, the long-time director of Project No Balanço de Angola at La Peña Cultural Center. Sergio is a capoeirista from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, with 25 years of practice and 15 years of teaching experience. He has coordinated Capoeira Angola theatrical performances, berimbau orchestras, and classes for children and adolescents. He is currently the director of the Project No Balanço de Angola, which offers Capoeira Angola classes for adults every Tuesday and Saturday at La Peña Cultural Center.

QUESTIONS? Contact the instructor: sergiobitencourt81@gmail.com

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT LA PEÑA SOON!

Poets for Puerto Rico: ¡El Grito de la Bahía!

Doors open at 7pm 

$15 Advance / $20 Door

 

Join us for a night of poetry and music benefiting the Puerto Rican artist community in San Juan!
 
The #PoetsforPuertoRico movement is gaining national traction. Thus far, events have been launched in NYC, Philadelphia, and now the Bay Area! A movement of stateside Puerto Rican poets, created in response to Hurricane Maria, our goals are to amplify the needs of the island and to send our community a message: Sometimes poetry is about more than the poetry.
Proceeds from this event will support hurricane preparedness for The Poet’s Passage – a living museum of poetry, art center, café, gift store, and local craft studio for local and visiting poets in Old San Juan, founded by poet, artist, and creative director Lady Lee Andrews.

Poets confirmed: #PoetsforPuertoRico founder Willie Perdomo, Aya de León, Rico Pabón, Berkeley Poet Laureate Rafael Jesús González, Sandra García Rivera, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Paul Flores, L7, Susana Praver-Pérez, Tony Aldarondo, Fish Vargas, Raina León, Vylma V, Ilia Correa, Julia y Jesus Cepeda, Art3mis Prime, ¡y más! In collaboration with Litside Collective.

CaliGente will be rocking the stage with Caribbean music fused with hip hop lyrics!

Plus, LIVE MUSIC by CaliGente, a Bay Area group blending hip-hop lyrics and island rhythms! And DJ GLO will be throwing down tropical tunes!

 
With the recent news revealing the overwhelming loss of life related to Hurricane Maria, and the neglect of government and the media to accurately reflect the devastation, I know that many of us are already suffering from “disaster fatigue,” and/or the general exhaustion of supporting our communities to live with dignity. But we will persevere, and be unrelenting in spreading the word. Thank you so much for your support we hope you will join us in helping to spread the word about this amazing event for this important cause.
 
As stories and news continue to be unearthed, we poets will reflect the resilience, and dignity of our pueblo.
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Important links:
 
The Poet’s Passage: https://www.poetspassage.com/home-poets-passage-old-san-juan-puerto-rico.php
 
The Poet’s Passage Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/PassageVsMaria
 
Poets for Puerto Rico: https://www.facebook.com/pg/PoetsforPuertoRico/about/

SOLD OUT! FEMME IN PUBLIC – A Solo Performance by ALOK

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT! A second Bay Area show has been added at CounterPulse in San Francisco.

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Doors open at 7:45pm

$15 Advance / $20 Door

What feminine part of yourself did you have to destroy in order to survive in this world? At what point does femininity become synonymous with apology? Who hurt the people who hurt you?
Alok is trying to figure it out. Join us for an evening of comedy, poetry, and performance.
ALOK (they/them/their) is a gender non-conforming performance artist, writer, educator, and entertainer. Their eclectic style, political comedy, and poetic challenge to the gender binary have been internationally renowned.
Alok was recently the youngest recipient of the prestigious Live Works Performance Act Award granted to ten performance artists across the world. They have been featured on HBO, MTV, The Guardian, National Geographic, The New York Times, and The New Yorker and have presented their work at 300 venues in more than 30 countries.
**Copies of Alok’s book FEMME IN PUBLIC will be available for sale after the show**
Secure your seat today! Tickets on sale now!

*La Peña Cultural Center is wheelchair accesible. You can email info@lapena.org to reserve wheelchair seating.

*Please note: No refunds available for this event.

Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop’s Student Showcase & Community Bombazo

Doors open at 4:30pm / Performances start at 5pm
$10 Advance / $15 Door / $5 Kids under 12
Join us for a special evening featuring live music and dance performances by the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop’s Youth and Adult ensembles!
The showcase will be followed by a community bombazo jam! So bring your dancing shoes, skirts, y todo eso!

ABOUT BAY AREA BOMBA Y PLENA WORKSHOP: 

At the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop at La Peña, youth and adults study and perform traditional forms of Puerto Rican music and dance. Bringing together folks from diverse cultural backgrounds united by their common love and passion for Puerto Rican music, in particular the traditions of Plena and Bomba. 

Under the direction of Shefali Shah and Héctor Lugo, with the generous support of el maestro Román “Ito” Carrillo as well as numerous masters and practitioners from the Island, The Workshop has been in existence for 17 years promoting the study and appreciation of traditional Puerto Rican music, its history and evolution, and its place in the broader Afro-Caribbean musical culture. The group performs Bombas, Plenas, as well as pieces from the Jíbaro music tradition using a variety of typical instruments such as the barriles, the cuás, panderos, güícharo, maracas, cuatro and guitar.