With support from the California Arts Council, EAST BAY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS will commission a dance work, Kekeli, drawing on CK Ladzekpo’s deep tradition of Anlo-Ewe (Ghanaian) dance/drumming and, through a dance theater style development, will explore the struggles of one of his students, and will involve young adult Center students as well as other community dancers. One of the performances will be at Richmond’s 2019 Juneteenth Festival, free and open to the public.
1) Training/Instruction: Year-round comprehensive courses, private instruction, recitals & student support services at the Center’s state-of-the-art facility nurture 350 students ages 3-18, including 110 Young Artist Diploma Program students, who represent the most committed 7th-12th graders in our program. The Center provides them with an intensive year-round, 6-year, tuition-free, cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary (music, theater, dance) performing arts program. 2) School Partnerships: Provides foundational music, dance and theater instruction for 3,700 students at 17 Title I TK-12 public schools & 4 community centers, along with professional development for 50 public school classroom. 3) Artistic Productions: The Center’s “Call & Response” program involves our 7 youth/young adult performing resident companies (90+ students) reaching local audiences of 20,000+ annually through more than 75 community gatherings, recitals and the creation of new work.