Ruth Yafonne Chen (San Francisco) will study Chinese Wushu (sword dance) with Ling Mei Zhang (San Francisco). Zhang studied with masters Liu Yuhua and Lee Wenjin in Tian Jinh and became the double straight sword Wushu champion for all of China in 1975. She has taught martial arts for over…
As part of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2006 Marcelo taught Isis Raele, his step-daughter, the art of capoeira. Capoeira is the only indigenous martial art of the Americas and was developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil. Mestre Pereira started playing capoeira on the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, as a child and…
Sabrina Hou was a master artist for ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2007 with apprentice, Janice Ng. Hou studied Kunqu opera, the oldest form of Chinese folk opera, at the Beijing Opera Conservatory and performed with the Beijing Northern Kunqu Opera Theater before moving to the United States ten…
Master artist Fujima Kansuma and apprentice Melody Takata participated in Round 7 of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, conducting an apprenticeship in Japanese Nihon Buyo, or Japanese classical dance. Fujima Kansma is no ordinary figure. Surmounting a series of challenges and discouragements, her long career reflects extraordinary focus and…
Korean Pojagi and Chogak-Po
Sahab Motallebi began playing the tar (a six-stringed plucked instrument) as a child and attended the National Iranian Music Conservatory in Tehran, the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, and RGS University in Turkey. Mehrdad Jahangiri studied the Persian tar with master artist Sahab Motallebi in 2007 as part of …
Master artist Glenn Moore, Sr. taught his grandson, Glenn Moore, Jr. to make a Yurok hand-carved redwood dugout canoe as part of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2006. Used in Yurok and Hoopa ceremonies, master and apprentice carved the canoe from an old-growth redwood tree. Glenn Moore Sr. learned to carve canoes…
We at ACTA were saddened to hear of the passing of Lillian Nakano in February of 2015. In 1936, Lillian Nakano was an eight year old growing up in Hawai’i. At that age, she was attracted to the sound of the shamisen and immediately began studying shamisen as well as…
ACTA is deeply saddened to learn of Luwana Quitiquit’s passing in December of 2011. *** “It’s really important to be able to focus on your basket. If you aren’t in that positive space and you are working on a basket every little mistake that you make is pretty much an…
From time beyond memory or record an intricate textile art clothed Hmong people. A distinguishing technique is elaborate reverse applique carefully cut into a top layer of cloth sewn back to reveal the layers below. Symmetrical designs have names such as elephant foot, spider web, and snail shell. They identify…
