Peninsula International Dance Festival

Guest artists from 20 Bay Area companies featuring over 200 dancers and musicians - resplendent in colorful costumes - performing traditional works from Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Congo, Greece, Hawaii, India, Mexico, Native America, Peru, Philippines, Spain, and the USA. An extraordinary feast for the eyes and ears.

This year's Peninsula International Dance Festival proudly welcomes to the stage many of the Bay Area's
award-winning ethnic dance and music interpreters led by distinguished master teachers and choreographers
in an exuberant showcase of sacred, secular, traditional and community work.

Produced by Christine Leslie, Executive Director of Peninsula Ballet Theatre (PBT), the Bay Area's second
oldest ballet and dance company, the Peninsula International Dance Festival 2023 participants have been
thoughtfully selected and invited by PBT's Artistic Director Gregory Amato working closely with Zenón Barrón,
revered dance ethnologist and artistic director of Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco; Carlos
Carvajal, former Co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and Peninsula Ballet Theatre
Artistic Director Emeritus; and Charlotte Moraga, artistic director of the esteemed Chitresh Das
Institute/Chitresh Das Youth Company.

SATURDAY, JULY 15 at 7pm

Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (Stage Blessing)
Bolivia Corazón de América (Bolivia)
Calpulli Tonalehqueh (Aztec/Mexican)
Charya Burt Cambodian Dance (Cambodia)
Chitresh Das Institute/Chitresh Das Youth Company (South Asian Indian)
Eddie Madril/Sewam American Indian Dance (Native American)
Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco (Mexico)
Feng Ye Dance (China)
Fua Dia Congo (Congolese/Central African)
Gurus of Dance (South Asian Bollywood)
Jaranón y Bochinche Dance Performance Company (Afro-Peruvian)
Peninsula Ballet Theatre (American)
Peru Expressions (Peru)
Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco (Spain)

SUNDAY, JULY 16 at 3pm

Amor do Samba (Brazil)
Antara Asthaayi Dance (South Asian Indian)
Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno (Mexico)
Calpulli Tonalehqueh (Aztec/Mexican)
Eddie Madril/Sewam American Indian Dance (Native American)
Feng Ye Dance (China)
Fua Dia Congo (Congo/Central African)
Gurus of Dance (South Asian Bollywood)
Halau o Keikiali'i/Kaululehua Hawaiian Cultural Center (Hawaiian)
Jaranón y Bochinche Dance Performance Company (Afro-Peruvian)
Jubilee American Dance Theatre (American Folkloric)
Melissa Cruz Flamenco (Spain)
Minoan Dancers (Crete/Greece)
Parangal (Philippines)
Peninsula Ballet Theatre (American)


Christine Leslie commented, "Last year we launched the Peninsula International Dance Festival and it was
enthusiastically embraced by the Bay Area. It's an exciting new initiative and part of our expanded mission to
connect with more community residents on the greater Peninsula. Six years ago, we began exploring the
addition of hip-hop to our classical ballet offerings and it has been a huge success, attracting a new audience
to our theater. Presenting an international dance festival is an extension of the many diverse dance classes
that are offered weekly in our five studios at the Peninsula Ballet Theatre center. This is also our way of
connecting with and proudly showcasing the extraordinary world dance and music talent in the Bay Area.
We're enthusiastic about the future and look forward to sharing this latest iteration of the festival with the
public. No passports needed; no TSA security lines to go through: travel the world with the Peninsula
International Dance Festival."

Carlos Carvajal said, "This newly imagined world dance and music festival is truly a Bay Areas cultural jewel
which expresses in dance and song exactly what our society is desiring so intensely at this time - equity,
diversity and inclusion. We're delighted to present this season's dance companies in a stage production that
captures the joy and passion of the common language of dance and music."