Kids Around the Bay

Dance, Dance, Dance

The 35th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival runs from June 1 to 30, but auditions are being held this weekend and next. If you enjoy dance or you’re curious about the auditioning process this is a “must-see.”

The festival, which is open only to soloists and groups from the Bay Area, including Sacramento, was founded in 1978, and was the first multicultural, ethnic dance festival in America sponsored by a city, in this case through the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.

Those who wished to be in this year’s audition paid $30 in the fall to get a spot. More than 100 groups, duets, and soloists have entered. The largest number represents Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern traditions.

Soloists have five minutes; groups, 10 minutes. The auditioning piece is what will be performed in the June festival. Eight panelists, not to include the artistic directors, pick up to 20 favorites. The panelists are experts in judging cultural authenticity. The total number of favorites is worked down to 60 finalists, and then the directors cut the number to 30, give or take.

Earlier this week we spoke to Carlos Carvajal, the festival’s co-artistic director, along with CK Ladzekpo. We asked about the auditions: “We don’t judge authenticity; that’s for the panelists. What we’re interested in is whether the choreography is stage worthy. We judge music quality; technical execution, and production components, including such things as thematic clarity and use of space.”

Carvajal cut into this answer. There was something more important to say: “But what’s so wonderful about this is that you get to see all the contestants. And it’s a full day. You realize this doesn’t happen anywhere in the world. There is nothing like this anywhere in the world.”

January 12-13, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; January 19- 20, 2 p.m. – 9 p.m. (Saturday), 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. (Sunday) Lam Theater, Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, San Francisco. $10 for adults. Children under 12 are free. See the website for a complete list of entrants and audition times.

"The Land of Listen"

In the Leonard Bernstein tradition, Ben Simon continues his introduction to classical music for young children and toddlers, with his “Very First Concerts” series. Each is a 20-minute adventure complete with tumbling mats, audience participation, humor, and light explanation. The music theme in this concert: The Art of Listening.

“We’re going to teach children what a classical music concert is about,” Simon told us the other day, “what really good music is about, and we do that by getting them to close their mouths and open their ears.”

For Simon, listening throughout the culture has become a lost art, if only because we are besieged by the noise around us. “So this is about the art of concentrating on what’s coming in through ears and letting other thoughts go away so you can pay attention over an extended period of time. Part of the secret here is that this is live, and it’s a little like the difference between seeing a six-inch tall elephant in a book and seeing a real elephant at the zoo. You see the same reaction when a child first hears a tuba. And right away you’ve got them. My philosophy is always to get people, at whatever age, to listen inside the music, and to see that there are no two kinds of music, there’s just good music and bad.”

Jan. 19, 10:30 a.m., 11:10 a.m., and 11:50 a.m., Congregational Church of San Mateo, (Upstairs Youth Room); Jan. 21, 11 a.m. and 12 p.m,, The Crowden School, Berkeley, Very First Concerts.

Keep Your Ear to the Ground: Upcoming Concerts

San Francisco Ballet Community Matinee: Make a note of this one. It’s the first of two, on Thursday, Jan. 31; 11:30 a.m.; second matinee is in March. Each is a 75-minute introduction to the art form and the world of professional dancing, including performances and demonstrations by students at the San Francisco Ballet School, as well as from the company, featuring excerpts from the 2013 season. Tickets are $9 — and going fast.

Jan. 12 at 10:30 a.m., at La Peña Cultural Center, on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, Amiguitos de La Peña presents Eric Hart & Jaime Lee Currier performing classic songs for children, including sing-a-longs, finger plays, chants, Beatles hits, and rock’n roll. “An alternative to commercialized kids TV fare.” Adults, $6; children, $5. Call (510) 849-2568 for more information.

Jan. 13, 10 a.m., at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, across from Yerba Buena Center on Mission Street, Alison Faith Levy, aka “Sippy Alison,” founder of The Sippy Cups. Doing her beloved shtick for kids and adults alike. In connection with an exhibition paying tribute to Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983), author and illustrator of Whistle for Willie, Peter’s Chair and The Snowy Day, the first full-color picture book to feature an African American protagonist. The exhibition features more than 80 original works from sketches to final paintings.

January 26, at 3 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, Robert Geary’s Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir presents its winter concert with works including, among others, Meredith Monk’s Things and a commissioned piece, The Land of Dreams, by Jonathan Goodwin. A note for those interested in auditioning for the Piedmont-East Bay Children’s Choir: The date is barely a month away, on Feb. 2, between 9:15-11:30 a.m. by appointment. To be held at the Piedmont Memorial Veteran’s Building. To schedule an audition, please call (510) 547-4441 or email registration@piedmontchoirs.org.