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‘Upcoming Events’ Category

Join us on Saturday December 13 for a special Connecting Communities with Artists Son Jarocho workshop with Maestro Claudio Naranjos Vega and La Rama + Community Fandango in the neighborhood! RSVP required due to limited capacity!
Saturday, December 13, 2025
⭐ Son Jarocho Workshop with Claudio Naranjos Vega ⭐
4-5pm at Brava Theater
⭐ La Rama + Community Fandango ⭐
5-8pm
Meet at Brava Cabaret

Claudio Naranjos Vega has participated in “Los Vega” for 25 years to date. He has contributed as a musician (requinto instrument and guitarra de son), composer and arranger, and as of 2020, director of the group. Los Vega has performed in a large number of cultural and artistic festivals in the country and abroad;  such as China, the United States and Canada. They have participated in different film recordings, such as for the theme La Bruja from the Oscar-nominated, movie Frida.

As of 2022, Mr. Claudio has been working at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts as the Music Specialist for Mexican Music in Son Jarocho. During his time at the East Bay Center, he has given classes to over 1,000 students and led a Resident Company called Son de la Tierra. In 2023 & 2024, he received two grants from Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). He recently participated in recording for a CD called “Caminos” in which he led a Son Jarocho version of a track. In 2024, Mr. Naranjos was invited to perform in Washington D.C for a Day of the Dead event at the National Portrait Gallery where 7,000 people attended.


La Rama is a traditional festivity from Veracruz, Mexico that takes place during the December season before Christmas where community members parade through the neighborhoods singing and carrying a decorated branch. Akin to Christmas caroling, they stop at various houses/locations to sing and then continue on to a final party location for a fandango. A fandango is a participatory musical celebration with music from the Sotavento region of Mexico that has folks improvising music and dance like a jam session. Brava’s Cabaret Theater will be the final stop of La Rama and host the celebratory fandango.

El Ahualulco is a new multidisciplinary dance and music work in development by choreographer Vanessa Sanchez, exploring the cultural, historical, and rhythmic connections between Veracruz [Mexico], and Cuba. The work layers traditional Mexican Son Jarocho rhythms and Afro-Cuban folkloric movement with original tap dance choreography, tracing the intertwined histories of African and Indigenous resistance across the Caribbean. Following bi-coastal development residencies in NYC and SF, we are excited to share this work-in-progress showing with the community! RSVP required due to limited capacity!

 

 

RSVP HERE!

Saturday Dec 6, 2025

12pm Doors | 12:30pm Showing with Q&A and Reception

Brava Theater Studio in San Francisco, CA

Suggested donation $10 | No one turned away for lack of funds.

RSVP Required due to limited capacity!

Register here!

Friday November 21, 11am-12:30pm at Brava Theater. With LIVE drumming accompaniment! 

Bernard Brown is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, choreographer, educator, curator and artist-citizen working at the crossroads of Blackness, Queerness, and belonging. As artistic director of Bernard Brown/bbmoves, he choreographs for stage, specific sites, film, and opera which has been presented across Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe, including The Getty, On The Boards, Dance Camera West, Dance Camera Istanbul, American Dance Festival’s ADF Movies by Movers, the Oscar-qualifying African Diaspora Cinema Festival, Seoul International Dance Festival, Royce Hall and US State sponsored tour to Centre de Developpment Choregraphique La Termitierre, Burkina Faso, West Africa. His concert dance performance credits include Lula Washington Dance Theatre, David Rousseve/REALITY, Doug Elkins Dance Company, Jazz Antiqua Dance and Music Ensemble, and founding member of TU Dance. Other stage credits include “Letter to a Man” with Mikhail Baryshnikov, “Treemonisha” (choreographer and performer), Los Angeles Opera’s “Aida,” titular role in Nike’s “12 Miles North: The Nick Gabaldon Story,” and the Kennedy Center’s Masters of African American Choreography, as répétiteur and performer. Commissions and residencies include institutions such as The Music Center, Dance Italia, The Wende Museum, the City of Los Angeles, danceBox (Kobe, Japan), South Chicago Dance Theatre, Dance Mission Theater, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, among others. A first-generation college graduate, he is an Assistant Professor of Dance at UC San Diego, a Certified Katherine Dunham Technique Instructor, Cultural Trailblazer for the City of Los Angeles, and a California Arts Council Established Artist Fellow. The Los Angeles Times has called him “…the incomparable Bernard Brown…”

Photo Credit: David B. Arenas

Register here!

Friday November 7, 10-11:30am at Brava Theater!

Namita Kapoor is an interdisciplinary rhythm dancer, choreographer, and visual artist whose work spans Tap, Jazz, Body Percussion, and Indian dance. She has performed nationally and internationally—from Broadway and Lincoln Center to SFJazz and the Ford Amphitheater—with credits across India, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Iceland, and Japan. Her collaborations include global percussive groups like Barbatuques (Brazil), Leela Petronio (France), Gamelan Sekar Jaya (Bali), and KeKeÇa (Turkey), as well as performances in film and television from Bollywood to Hollywood. Kapoor has worked with legends including Gregory Hines, Jerome Robbins, Jimmy Slyde, and Farah Khan, and recently served as Associate Choreographer for Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding with Broadway choreographer Lorin Latarro. She currently directs the Tap program at the California Academy of Performing Arts, and is also a multimedia artist and Creative Director for Priya Living. Her latest work focuses on designing boutique community living spaces in India that embody vibrancy and reflect her lifelong commitment to the integration of art, music, and dance.

Register here!

Friday, September 26 at 12-1:30pm. In-person at Brava Theater!

Bring your folkloric skirt and join us for a workshop with Portsha Jefferson!

Haitian Folkloric Dance brings to life a wide spectrum of diverse dance forms, which integrates the grace, strength, and fluidity of Haiti – the first free Black Republic in the world.
From the vibrant rituals of Vodou, the turbulent legacy of political struggle, to the celebratory and festive dances of Carnaval, each dance has its own distinct character, choreography, and energy. Participants are introduced to basic dance vocabulary, form and function, and explore the relationship between the dance and the drum. Expect a high energy class, featuring spine undulating, shoulder shaking dances, in celebration of a rich spiritual tradition. A dance experience guaranteed to Uplift, Inspire, and Inform!