The Esalen International Arts Festival:
Six Workshops & July 4 Performances

A Celebration of Art, Culture, and Spirit
Big Sur, California, June 29 through July 6

For seven days in June and July, the Esalen Institute celebrates the creativity and diversity of the arts with the Esalen International Arts Festival 2008. Six workshops, a special day of celebration and performances on July 4, and a group of exhibitions will pay homage to the infinite creative force within us all.

Registration for the seven-day workshops begins on the afternoon of June 29 and the festival continues through July 6 as the Esalen grounds pulsate with irresistible rhythms and sounds, acts of truth and imagination, and invocations of joy and beauty all woven into a vibrant tapestry of art, culture, and music.

Afro-Cuban Music and Dance
Francisco Aguabella & Pedro “Muñeco” Aguilar
http://www.franciscoaguabella.com/

This workshop is a high-energy celebration of Afro-Cuban music, dance, and culture. Taught by two world-renowned Cuban performers, the workshop weaves together traditional and contemporary concepts of Afro-Cuban percussion and choreography. Drumming classes will provide students with an introduction to techniques, strokes, and basic patterns for the conga, batá (talking drum), and hand-percussion instruments such as cowbells, claves, shekere, and other hand-percussion. Francisco will teach participants the fundamentals of soloing and group playing. The dance classes will focus on the three basic types of Afro-Cuban Rumba-Rumba Yambú, Rumba Guaguancó, and Rumba Columbia-and traditional and folkloric dances of the Orisha. Through singing, movement, and infectious rhythms, the group will create a joyful and passionate week together.

Francisco Aguabella, born in Cuba, is a master of the Yoruba-derived bata drums and rumba form, as well as contemporary traditions including Cuban son, salsa, and Latin jazz. He has recorded and/or performed with artists such as Tito Puente, Dizzie Gillespie, Cal Tjader, and Celia Cruz.

Pedro "Muñeco" Aguilar, dancer and drummer, has been a fixture in Macho Men for the past two years, providing the movement and soul necessary to bring the show to life. He has performed with the legendary Congero Francisco Aguabella and appeared in the feature film Dance with Me.

Soul Voice Song: The Music of SoVoSo
David Worm & Sunshine Becker
http://www.sovoso.com/

SoVoSo is a highly imaginative a cappella ensemble that sings a unique, rhythmic mix of jazz, gospel, world, and R&B music, all rendered in their trademark improvisational style. This interactive workshop explores the exciting world of a cappella singing, including improvisational singing, instrument simulation, and vocal percussion. The workshop will go from learning the basic elements of vocal improvisatory sound to singing in front of a full a cappella rhythm section; from creating the beginning sounds of a complete drum kit vocally to being part of a rhythm section as a competent vocal percussionist. The group will also create its own arrangement of an a cappella song. Experience the voice and all its possibilities.

Sunshine Becker has, since age 5, experienced the positive, healing effect that music has on folks from all walks of life. She toured with Vocal Motion, the professional ensemble of the Oakland Youth Chorus, for four years before becoming a member of SoVoSo 13 years ago.

David Worm began his singing career in 1985 in the Bay Area. In 1989 he became a founding member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra ensemble and remains a regular performer with McFerrin. A founding member of SoVoSo, he has over 50 record credits as a session singer.

Mirror in the Waters: Art, Ritual, and Performance
Luisah Teish & Leilani Birely
http://www.luisahteish.org/
http://www.daughtersofthegoddess.com/leilani.html

To understand the currents of the river, she who wishes to know the truth must enter the water. Join Luisah Teish and Leilani Birely in an extraordinary journey into the rich artistic and cultural heritage of Africa and Hawaii. Utilizing traditional dances, songs, visual arts, storytelling, and poetry, this workshop will explore the sacred element of water-an immersion into the mythical tales and dances of waterfalls, lakes, rivers, and oceans. Participants will draw from these powerful, creative forces to create individual and group works of art, theater, and ritual. The beauty, sensuality, and power of the Esalen grounds, river, ocean, and hot springs will serve as a renewing and inspirational source. Exercises in sensory and emotional awareness, voice and movement, and ritual will enable participants to deliver their stories in the call-and-response style of village story-theater. Participants will work in small groups to create body adornments, costumes, art pieces, and props using driftwood, stones, shells, and seaweed from the river and sea. This is an invitation to create and embody the sacred arts and to share in an unforgettable week of magic.

Luisah Teish, known worldwide for her performances of African, Caribbean, and African-American folklore and feminist myth, teaches at New College of California, JFK University, and Naropa. Founder/president of Ile Orunmila Oshun, she is a chief in the Fatunmise lineage as head Oshun Priest in the U.S.

Leilani Birely, Hawaiian priestess and ceremonialist, embodies the ancient Hawaiian Aloha spirit and teachings. She was educated in the oral tradition of her elders, as well as by the natural forces of the islands, passed down the generations in storytelling, hula dancing, chants, and ceremonies.

Improv: Expanding Yourself with Laughter
Clifford Henderson & Dixie Cox
http://www.funinstitute.com/

Just as our muscles can tighten with stress and age, so can our notions about ourselves. Indeed, if these core beliefs aren’t stretched and made flexible, we run the risk of growing into the stereotypical narrow-minded “adult”—comfortable and unwilling to try new things. One antidote to this curmudgeonly affliction is improvisational workouts. Improv is the adult equivalent to play. While children love to stretch their sense of self through this powerful medium, adults often find it too scary. Their unwillingness to play means they miss out on the potent tool of trying out new ways of being or behaving without the serious consequences of real life. In this workshop, participants are guided through simple improv exercises aimed at personal expansion. Using tenets of improv such as trust and spontaneity, participants are encouraged to say “yes” to situations offered to them in group play. They also have the opportunity to try out personalities that are hugely different from the ones they use in their daily lives. The group will also explore one of the most compelling tools in improv: status, the human pecking order. Participants will familiarize themselves with the subtle clues they send and receive to define their status, and have a chance to try out new status choices. The payoff is successfully playing a new way of being and incorporating it into daily life. Laughter lessons stick. This workshop is for people who want to rattle their personal status quo with laughter.

Clifford Henderson is cofounder of the Fun Institute in Santa Cruz, Calif., an enterprise that brings improv to the community and into the workplace. She also performs regularly with the improv groups Loose Cannon and Crash Test, and has had numerous plays and sketch comedies produced.

Dixie Cox, cofounder of the Fun Institute in Santa Cruz, Calif., has been facilitating people’s expansion through improv for 15 years. She performs regularly with the improv groups Loose Cannon and Crash Test, and serves on the Board of Directors for Santa Cruz County Actors’ Theatre.

Mapping the Soul: Collage, Poetry, and Creativity
Patrice Vecchione
http://www.patricevecchione.com/

“Beneath the facade of daily life, just on the other side of our skin, a wellspring of creativity waits to be tapped,” writes Patrice Vecchione. “We’ll immerse ourselves in that mysterious sea of imagination, finding images and words to map our souls. The exhilarating and democratic art form of collage unites pictures from various sources to make something new, a visual mirror to tell the stories of our lives. Who gave the small child wings, and where might she fly?”

In this workshop-for non-artists and artists alike-discover ways that creative expression can enhance your thinking and your resilient nature. Create with abandon in an environment free of doubt and criticism. Collage and poetry allow us to say what we didn't know we could. Answer old questions, and ask new ones. Unleash your imagination! Make art for the fun of it!

Participants will create several collages and poems, working both figuratively and abstractly, small and large. Bring a pair of scissors, a journal, copies of old photos, receipts, birth certificates, small objects, whatever catches your eye.

Patrice Vecchione, collage artist and author, has exhibited her work in galleries and museums. She is the author of Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within and a book of poems, Territory of Wind. Editor of many anthologies, her newest collection is Faith and Doubt.

Family Arts Creativity Celebration
Jayson Fann & Festival Artists

Come and join an extraordinary multicultural family-arts celebration. Painting by the ocean, African stone carvers, mask-making, Brazilian drumming, Tibetan monks teaching their traditional arts, fire-dancing, Native American storytellers, and performances under the stars will be among the many creative, dynamic elements woven into this unforgettable family week. Drawing from a stellar group of artists from around the world, this workshop is designed to be an inspiration for both children and adults.

All ages are welcome, including parents with small children. The family-arts program will help you rediscover that “Yes, this is exactly what I want to be doing!” feeling.

Jayson Fann, creative director of the Big Sur Spirit Gardens and former Esalen Arts Center coordinator, has 19 years of experience as a musician, performer, visual artist, costume designer, composer, and musical director. He studied music in Africa and the Caribbean, and has taught at Cal State University, Monterey Bay.

On Friday, July 4, the gates of Esalen open for a day of performance and celebration at 1pm. Performance run from 2-10pm. Gates open at 1 pm. General admission is $65 for ages 17 and over, $35 for children 9 through 16 years of age, and free for children age 8 and under. Workshop participants are admitted free. Space is limited.

To purchase tickets for the July 4 day of celebration and performances, call: (831) 667-3000 ext. 3950

Featured performers include:

• Tuck and Patti: exquisite virtuosity and grace to take you on an unforgettable musical journey.
  http://www.tuckandpatti.com
• Francisco Aguabella: afro-Cuban jazz legend, “the John Coltrane of the conga drums,” said Dizzy Gillespie.
  http://www.franciscoaguabella.com/
• Claudia Villela: called "the greatest expression of Brazilian music in the U.S. today" by bossa nova great Helcio Milito. Imbued with the inexpressible longing Brazilians call saudade, her voice moves like a bird, glowing, sensual, and lush, as she transports the listener to Brazil.
  http://www.ricardopeixoto.com/

• Deepok Ram: mysterious, passionate, and haunting, a masterful fusion of classical Indian and jazz.
  http://www.deepokram.com/
• Yaocuauhtli Aztec Dancers: a whirling array of feathers, sacred fire, and pounding ancestral rhythms from the heart of the Mexico.
• Virginia Iglesias Flamenco Music and Dance Company: Duende (magic) surges up from the soles of their feet with burning passion, as voices, hands, and guitar echo the gypsy soul.
  http://www.flamenco-academy.com/
• The Costanoan Rumsen Humaya California Indian Singers & Dancers: honoring Big Sur’s indigenous people, these tribal dancers will give a ceremonial blessing and performance.
• The Gaden Shartse Monastery Tibetan Buddhist Monks: bringing cultural exchange of Sacred Earth and Healing Arts of Tibet.
  http://www.gadenshartsetour.org/
• Asheba: musician/storyteller born on Trinidad, influenced by its spectacular Carnival and the folkloric oral tradition. Today, he is a renowned world musician who playfully blends reggae, calypso, neo-folk, and more.
  http://www.asheba.net/
• Aguas de Yemanja: Brazilian Dance Company-Dancers of the oceans and rivers, led by dancer and choreographer Cida Vieira, well-known inspirational dancer and purveyor of Brazilian culture.

Waters of Life Mural Exhibit
http://www.myspace.com/bigsurspiritgarden

Founded by artist and festival director Jayson Fann, the Waters of Life project will exhibitt ten large-scale murals painted by students and artists from around the world. The project brings artists and performers together with leading ocean-ecology educators to promote care, respect, and practical strategies for protecting our planet’s most precious resource. Each mural presents the sacred relationship between people and water from cultures around the world. Contributing artists include Betty LaDuke, Julia Cairnes, Luisah Teish, Krista Lynn Brown, Jill Gibson, Rachel Fann, Mara Friedman, and William E. Marks.

Betty LaDuke
http://www.bettyladuke.com/

Betty LaDuke’s painted world is a universe in which a multitude of mythic visions come alive in the creative female matrix. LaDuke enables us to see the Earth, the mother, and the artists giving life, shelter, and nurturance to all aspects of her creation throughout the many stages of its growth.

“Betty LaDuke's multicultural vision enlarges our understanding of the symbolic meaning of The Great Earth Mother in extremely important ways. She clarifies for us the way in which the magical resonance of the Goddess as an image of creation, fertility, ecological balance, spirituality, and political empowerment functions both historically and cross-culturally to invest creative works of art with sacred powers of transformation.”
—Gloria F. Orenstein, University of Southern California professor and author.

Crossing the Bridge: Love, Intimacy, and Race in America
by Heather Cohen

An exploration of love, intimacy, and race in America in a series of photographs and personal interviews that serve as a window into the lives of interracial couples and families. Their stories serve as both inspiration to the power of love and an unflinching look at race relations in our increasingly diverse communities.

Lighting the Earth: Exhibit and Book Signing
http://www.newmoonvisions.com/

Written by Diana Hoffman and illustrated by Mara Friedman. A timeless and powerful tale, told in Sashi’s voice, follows her on a journey of discovery and transformation, ending in the joyful realization that the greatest expression of her light is to protect the waters of Mother Earth. Says Malidoma Somé: “In West Africa, it is held that each of us comes into this world with a purpose, a gift to deliver. Children and adults alike will recognize the voice of spirit in these pages as they take this gentle journey into remembering who we are and why we are here.”