To Be A Traveler in Your Own City, Oct 2008

Where would you take out of town visitors if they arrived today? What’s “interesting” about San Francisco, something tourists travel the world to see? How would you compose an insider’s […]

Choreofund: A Work in Progress

IN DECEMBER 2013, with the support of my co-workers, I started an experiment called CHOREOFUND. It has been my life’s work to investigate the creative process. Some of the most […]

What’s a Live Film Festival?: And other fun questions like: Milkbar, a new organic drink or a collective of artists?

This September 12 through 14 MilkBar will be taking over the new Oakland Noodle Factory Arts Center for the 2008 MilkBar International Live Film Festival. The MilkBar Film Festival is […]

Diablo Ballet: The Firebird

Diablo Ballet’s 30th Season concludes with the brand-new production of The Firebird by award winning choreographer Brian Enos. The program also features 4 in the Morning by world renowned dance maker Val Caniparoli; and […]

The Emperor’s Old Clothes?: Reflections on Thirty Years of the Ethnic Dance Festival

Upfront: here is my disclaimer and confession. I owe much to the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival (EDF), which marks 30 years of presenting this June. I have lived on […]

Joy, Risk, and Change: An Interview with Marc Bamuthi Joseph

When any high-profile institution changes leadership, it begs the question of changes in topography. Earlier this year, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts proudly announced Marc Bamuthi Joseph as their […]

One Chinese Foot, One American Foot: Talking with Lily Cai

MY CONVERSATION with dancer and choreographer Lily Cai began with a topic that is probably the most important issue facing artists in San Francisco in 2016: real estate. We met […]

SPEAK: Invaluable Lessons

Photo by Keith Sutter My first week as Artistic Director of Sacramento Ballet, I learned we had lost our warehouse space and would need to deeply consolidate our sets and […]

Stepping to the Beat of a Different Fiddle with the Barbary Coast Cloggers

As the first high notes of fiddle fill the air, a group of twelve men in jeans and flannel shirts begin to clap rhythmically. A banjo joins the fiddle, and […]

Setting Skywatchers’ “At the Table”: Connection, Empowerment, and Art at the Margins

Melanie DeMore is leading a procession from the Tenderloin to San Francisco City Hall. It’s the last Saturday in October, a little more than a week before Election Day, and […]