Oakland Ballet’s Dancing Moons Festival moves to San Francisco

Oakland Ballet Company’s annual Dancing Moons Festival, a celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander artists, continues for two weekends April 30 – May 9 in San Francisco. The Great Star Theater will host the first weekend’s program featuring world premieres by Phil Chan and Wei Wang. Over the second weekend the company moves to Herbst Theatre for two special evening-length concerts of Angel Island performed in collaboration with the Del Sol Quartet and Volti.

Oakland Ballet Company (OBC) collaborator Wang and OBC Artist-in-Residence Chan return with a pair of new works “designed to bring a smile to your face,” said OBC Artistic Director Graham Lustig. Wang carries the distinction of being the first Chinese male principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet. As a choreographer, he has made works for the San Francisco Ballet trainee program, Napa Valley Festival, Festival Mosaic, as well as OBC. His newest, Child’s Play, is inspired by the game of musical chairs.

Chan is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an organization that works with ballet companies to eliminate offensive depictions of Asians in their repertoires. This year’s festival marks his fourth commission for OBC, a work titled Double Happiness. Rounding out the program is Elaine Kudo’s fast-paced dance Opposites Distract plus a revival of Chan’s elegant duet, Amber Waves.

Angel Island is a profoundly poignant and inspiring interpretation of Huang Ruo’s 90-minute oratorio of the same name. The piece portrays the anguish, aspiration and hopes experienced by hundreds of Chinese immigrants detained at Angel Island Immigration Station in the decades between 1910 and 1940. With choreography by AAPI artists Natasha Adorlee, Phil Chan, Lawrence Chen, Elaine Kudo, Ashley Thopiah and Wei Wang, Angel Island is a tribute to the fortitude of the human spirit.

With live musical accompaniment by the Del Sol Quartet alongside members of San Francisco-based choral ensemble Volti, under the direction of Robert Geary, Angel Island is a major artistic event.

“With captured imaginations, we take flight on a journey of discovery and storytelling shaped by a beautiful score by Chinese American composer Huang Ruo, and the inspired poetry that was carved into the walls by detainees at the Angel Island Immigration Station,” said Lustig. “Angel Island helps trace who we all are today by remembering our origins and the many perilous journeys made by our ancestors.”

For over 60 years, Oakland Ballet Company has inspired the East Bay community and beyond by keeping the art of ballet exciting, relevant and accessible, primarily through the presentation of works of the Diaghilev repertoire and modern masterpieces. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Graham Lustig, the Company has renewed its commitment to artistic excellence with imaginative programs that engage contemporary audiences through close relationships with living choreographers, the commissioning of new works, innovative collaborations with diverse artists and communities, and compelling educational programs that cultivate the next generation of dance lovers.

Tickets for both weekends of the Dancing Moons Festival are now on sale via oaklandballet.org from $30 – $158.

Lawrence Chen for Double Happiness. Photo by John Hefti