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Go directly to: New Guidelines for ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program New Guidelines for ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program Save the Date!—ACTA Informational Meetings An Apprenticeship in Classical Cambodian Dance Former ACTA Apprentice Marika Tobak Performs in Mendocino In Memoriam: Wilma McDaniel, 1918-2007 Proceeds from the license plate sales will benefit the California Arts Council (CAC) To subscribe to the weekly CAC update, please visit their website.
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WHAT'S NEWSubscribe to The New Moon, ACTA's Monthly E-Newsletter. See the latest edition of The New Moon. New Guidelines Available for ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program
North Fork Mono master basketweaver Avis Punkin (right) This month the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) announces the availability of guidelines and application forms for the eighth round of its Apprenticeship Program. Guidelines and application forms are now available online. Alternatively, please call ACTA at (415) 561-1562 to request a copy be mailed to you. The postmark deadline for submission of applications is August 31, 2007. ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program encourages the continuation of the state’s traditional arts and cultures by contracting master artists to train qualified apprentices, working in a one-on-one relationship. Each contract will support a period of intensive learning for individuals who have shown a commitment to and a talent for a specific artistic tradition. Contracts of $3,000 will be made with master artists throughout California to cover master artist’s fees, supplies, and travel. Descriptions of previous apprenticeships are available on ACTA’s website. ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program is supported by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, the James Irvine Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For More Information ContactSherwood Chen New Guidelines Available for ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program
Somali incense displayed by participants of the Center for
Bridging This month ACTA announces the availability of guidelines and application forms for the third round of its Living Cultures Grants Program. Guidelines and application forms are now available online. Alternatively, please call (415) 561-7893 to request a copy be mailed to you. The postmark deadline for submission of proposals is August 1, 2007. ACTA staff is always available to discuss the program and is happy to work with first-time grant seekers. The Living Cultures Grants Program funds nonprofit organizations to support exemplary projects in the traditional arts in California. Approximately 35-40 grants of up to $7,500 will be made in this funding cycle. Descriptions of previously funded projects are available on ACTA’s website. The Living Cultures Grants Program is a project of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in partnership with the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation. For More Information ContactLily Kharrazi Save the Date!—ACTA Informational MeetingsThroughout May and June, ACTA will host eight informational meetings around the state – Riverside (May 14), San Diego (May 22), Oakland (June 4), Eureka/Arcata (June 5), Fresno (June 5), San Jose (June 14), Los Angeles (June 21), and Santa Cruz (June 25). Please join ACTA staff for a meeting in your area to learn more about ACTA and its programs. Complete guidelines and application forms for all three of ACTA programs – the Apprenticeship Program, the Living Cultures Grants Program, and the Traditional Arts Development Program – will be available on-site at the meeting, as well as on ACTA’s website. Please visit ACTA’s website to view a complete informational meeting schedule. An Apprenticeship in Classical Cambodian Dance
(left to right) Prumsodum Ok and Charya Burt. Sherwood Chen, Associate Director, ACTA Classical Cambodian dance is considered one of Cambodia’s most revered treasures, and can be traced back a millennium. The classical dances represented highly stylized interpretations of mythology, and served as a communication between the king and his gods. A thousand years later, in the historically agricultural city of Windsor, California, master dancer and choreographer Charya Cheam Burt continues the traditions by working intensively with San Francisco-based Prumsodun Ok at Charya’s and her husband Rob Burt’s home. Burt and Ok are participants in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program this year, and have been working one-on-one since December 2006. Both have a connection to maser dancer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro (Apprenticeship Program 1999-2000), Burt being Shapiro’s younger sister, and Ok studying at the Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach as a protégé of Shapiro, who introduced Ok to classical Cambodian dance five years ago. Together, Burt and Ok have been focused on classical repertory pieces, original new work, and fundamental dance training required in this exacting and highly disciplined form, emphasizing Ok’s ability to develop appropriate expression, and the ability to master the essential flow of movement. Burt begins her lessons guiding Ok through a series of specific exercises to stretch the limbs and spine, emphasizing precise carriage, pliability in the fingers, wrists, elbows, and sustaining sitting and kneeling postures common in the dance. What follows is practicing the kbach baht, a choreographed dance which encompasses fundamental movement vocabulary and sequences present which all classical dancers must master throughout one’s dance career. Ok practices a condensed version of the kbach baht, in contrast to longer versions which have been known to be danced for hours at a time. Vorachhun is a solo piece from the classical repertory, which Burt has been teaching Ok. Named after a divine prince, Vorachhun is a piece which represents ideals of refined male beauty and “the epitome of manhood” and is traditionally danced by women. Ok’s prior dance training has primarily focused on demon characters, also typically danced by female dancers. Vorachhun has allowed him to deepen his studies and to feel the stylistic contrast between the two character forms. Despite this unconventional choice to include this piece in their apprenticeship, Burt emphasizes the importance of ruk, a concept in traditional performance roughly translated as the energy and character that is innate and flowing from one’s movements. Ok takes on the challenge whole heartedly: “When performing, Vorachhun should be on stage – not Prum… [I] lose a sense of self in order to become someone, something else. I am still working on it. Vorachhun is my way of exploring cultural codes of gender in Cambodian classical dance… My identity is incongruent with this character for he is of a different – mythical and social – world. Taking up this dance is a personal challenge to find what it means to be a Cambodian male.” Where the classical piece Vorachhun evokes for Ok questions around cultural and gendered identity as a Cambodian-American, Burt herself explores where contemporary and traditional intersections meet based on her own experiences as an immigrant woman. A year after arriving in the United States in 1993, Burt established the Charya Burt Classical Cambodian Dance Company, based in Windsor. Another component of Burt and Ok’s apprenticeship is the development of Pkaa Kolab Khiev (Blue Roses) an innovative new company work choreographed by Burt and inspired by Tennessee Williams’ play, The Glass Menagerie. Made possible in part by funding from the Dance: Creation to Performance program (funded by the James Irvine Foundation and administered by Dance/USA), ACTA’s Traditional Arts Development Program, the California Arts Council, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Roses will make its premiere this June 16 and 17 at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts (please see ACTA’s online calendar). Burt describes the basis for the piece: “Like other Asian women in the United States, many Cambodian women are able to have professional careers and live independently, yet feel compelled to follow more traditional norms. The cultural constraints of living in immigrant communities can make the adoption of contemporary ways remarkably difficult.” Blue Roses explores the life of a Khmer princess who masks her unhappiness by surrounding herself with familiar things – her “glass menagerie.” She yearns to break out of her safe world to experience a new life, but becomes frightened by the unknown. Despite the promise of a new world, the princess retreats back, as the pull of tradition is too strong. Choreographed as a trio between Burt, Ok, and Burt’s niece and dancer Chamnan Renz, Blue Roses explores the counter tension between new social expectations and traditional values. Burt wants to engage Ok with her company in order for him to gain more performance experience since his time at the Khmer Arts Academy under Shapiro. The opportunity to include Ok in her new piece deepens their apprenticeship, “pushes Prum further” by placing Ok in a formalized stage setting to instill “more confidence in his dancing.” Reflecting on the opportunities the apprenticeship with Burt offers him, Ok, who is also a student at San Francisco Art Institute studying experimental filmmaking, expressed, “It feels great! She has provided a rigor and intensity that I have not experienced in a long time. My involvement in dance has been shadowed by filmmaking, and working with Charya instilled in me a sense of determination: I cannot stop dancing for film. I must do it all and I must invest fully in all that I do.” Burt, who began her training in 1982 at the prestigious Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh by masters who survived Pol Pot’s regime, feels that the apprenticeship has allowed her to work and grow even closer to Ok, whom she has known since he was teenager. “He has so much passion for the form. As a teacher, I would like to have Prum become a more professional dancer, because he has talent.” “I believe that it is important for me to try to do whatever I can to pass on this priceless tradition to the next generation of young dancers so that they can value and recognize where they come from… to connect to their own cultural background and to be proud of who they are.” As Burt and Ok practice generations-old stretches and postures, classical repertory, and contemporary pieces out of Burt’s home, Ok reflects on their work, “I find it to be an art form of harmony and balance. This is what I believe to be the true essence and spirit of classical Cambodian dance and these are the things that I seek out in my life.” California Association for Music Education Presents Six California Traditional Artists at Annual Teachers’ In-ServiceRichard Rodriguez, Multicultural Music Representative, California Music Education Association
Jose Hernandez and Mariachi Sol de Mexico perform
at the annual The California Association for Music Education (CMEA) presented six prominent California traditional artists that participated in the annual state teachers’ in-service held March 15-17, 2007, in Ontario, California. ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program sponsored the participation of world-renowned Jose Hernandez and his Mariachi Sol de Mexico, and the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA’s) Traditional Arts Growth Program supported participation of the Chinese ensemble “Zheng,” Master Nigerian drummer Francis Awe, and Yoruban dancer Omowale Orisayomi. Approximately 300 music educators attended sessions given by these artists over the 3-day event. Expert classroom teachers, music administrators, university professors, early childhood experts, as well as student participants, found the presentations to be one of the highlights of the state conference.
Qi-Chao Liu, Liyn Wang, and Yan Wen Tang perform Qi-Chao Liu, 5-year resident composer for the renowned Beijing Oriental Song and Dance Ensemble, joined with fellow former members of the Beijing Broadcast Music Orchestra, Liyn Wang, and Yan Wen Tang, to present a captivating presentation involving a lecture performance demonstration of traditional Chinese music. The NEA-sponsored session, “Music from China – Old and New,” shared the rich musical culture of their homeland. Audience members participated in an intimate exchange of ideas along with some of the most beautifully exquisite music heard at the conference. The workshop program covered a variety of traditional Chinese music from different regions of the country with an emphasis on southern China. Instrumentation varied from solo to trio combinations, with Master Liu playing the Chinese violin and a handful of different wind instruments to the delight of the audience. “Sometimes you will have a 3/8, 12/8, 3/4, 6/8, 5/8: it can get very complicated to read sometimes. It is folk music. A traditional Mexican folk music, and the way we have learned has always been by ear. Some of us have happened to study, and learned to write and orchestrate it, and this has helped us a great deal [to share our music with everyone].” With this, Jose Hernandez began his marvelous interpretation of mariachi music during the session, “The Secrets of Sol de Mexico,” sponsored by ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program. Improvisation, form analysis, regional practices, recording techniques, and historical context, were some of the topics brought to life with the superb playing of his Mariachi Sol de Mexico. One of the top mariachis in the world, the group thrilled the General Session audience earlier with an amazing display of individual and group virtuosity. Drawing on selections from their 2007 Grammy-nominated CD, 25 Anniversario, Mariachi Sol de Mexico delivered a spectacular performance to approximately 400 audience members. Visiting president of the National Association for Music Education, Lynn Brinckmeyer, was amazed by this performance and commented, “It was energetic, motivating, and of the highest quality. I was impressed with the clarity of their performance.”
Master Nigerian drummer Francis Awe To open the conference on Thursday, Master Nigerian drummer Francis Awe led a lecture and participatory performance of how drums are used for communication and other functions in Yoruban societies. This session, also sponsored by the NEA, featured Yoruban dancer Omowale Orisayomi demonstrating this West African tradition. The high-energy, multi-generational, two-hour session combined direct participation of drumming and dancing by audience members. This was attended by approximately 40 educators, along with 15 music students participating in various school music ensembles at the conference. All the participants were fully engaged in this fun and intellectually stimulating presentation. The desire to connect students to the rich fabric of diversity in California is a common trait of the outstanding artists participating in the event. Francis Awe and Omowale Orisayomi are very active teaching at and visiting Los Angeles schools, as is Qi-Chao Liu, Liyn Wang, and Yan Wen Tang. Sol de Mexico has a terrific website worthy of further investigation to learn more about their music and educational programs. At the conference, Jose Hernandez updated the audience about his work with students, informing them that they have now totaled over 7,500 students served in their education programs. With these continuing efforts, progress is being made to establish CMEA as a welcoming place to share information, as a resource for expertise in different musical traditions, and as an advocate for a more prominent place in school curricula for traditional/folk music learning. To learn more about the CMEA, please visit their website. Former ACTA Apprentice Marika Tobak Performs in Mendocino
Ferenc, Marika, Zoltán, and Mary Tobak. Master artist Ferenc Tobak and daughter and apprentice Marika Tobak (participants in Round 6 of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program) recently performed in Mendocino, California, in a self-produced concert, “Of Two Worlds,” a presentation of traditional Hungarian music and Marika’s own original compositions. This presentation was the culmination of Ferenc and Marika’s participation in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program. The Tobak family musicians – Marika, her mother Mary, and her brother Zoltán – are led by Ferenc. The program included folk tales and music played on traditional Hungarian instruments: furulya, tilinka, duda, gardon, and koboz. Kate Hayes, a local reviewer and audience member, observed that “Marika's love of and commitment to music, family, and community was apparent from the moment she took the stage.” To learn more about the Tobaks, please visit their website. In Memoriam: Wilma McDaniel, 1918-2007
Wilma McDaniel Wilma McDaniel, poet laureate of Tulare County, passed away of natural causes in Tulare, California, on April 13, 2007. Born in 1918 in Oklahoma, McDaniel fled the Dust Bowl during the great migration of Okies to California in the 1930s. McDaniel began writing as a young child. Her poems were widely recognized for the way they captured the life of the Okies as they built new lives in California. Pete Seeger wrote of her poems that they were “. . . little slices of real truth, to be long savored.” But her poetry also resonated with others who had been displaced or struggled with poverty. Her life was featured in numerous documentaries including the award-winning film, Down an Old Road: The Poetic Life of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel. The BBC also featured her in a documentary and National Geographic featured her in a story about the California Okies. She has written over 25 books of poetry and her poems have appeared in numerous textbooks and magazines. Gerald Haslam, a professor, writer, and promoter of Central Valley literary talent, wrote in an introduction to one of her collections, “Wilma’s poetry offers remarkable folk wisdom, revelations of the intimate braiding of her two states, and glimpses of life lived on the cusp of poverty where hope and hopelessness dance.” He says of her passing, “This is a great loss for literature in general and California in particular.” McDaniel lived in Livingston, Hanford, and Tulare. Museums in Livingston and Tulare have her childhood memorabilia displayed and her books for sale. The Kings County Library in Hanford has sponsored presentations of Wilma’s work, most recently in a retrospective on John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. |
