Raq Sharqi

Fight Fire With Water is a group performance including dance, theater, poetry and performance art. All performers not yet confirmed. Will update

It's as much fun to watch as it is to say!

Cheeky Monkey Sideshow is the first and only Washington, DC area based theatrical sideshow, composed of performers whose combined experience exceeds 85 (that's right, 85) years.

Born of a desire for something new in sideshow--while still preserving the rich history of its past--Cheeky Monkey Sideshow is a breath-taking yet beautiful cavalcade of the bizarre, the shocking, the grotesque, and the strange.
A unique form of entertainment that few will ever experience, but none will ever forget.

Cheeky Monkey Sideshow

It can't be real, but it IS!

DCypher Dance is the resident adult hip hop company at Joy of Motion Dance Studios, the largest dance center in the Washington region. Founded two years ago, DCypher has built a reputation for its high-energy performances that fuse the best of hip hop with traditional Latin and modern/contemporary dance. Company director Juliana Calderon has been nominated for a Metro DC Dance award for her innovative choreography, and the group's kinetic bond translates powerfully on stage. In addition, DCypher is committed to reaching out to underserved communities through dance and supports the philosophy that dance is for everyone!

Three gypsy dancers take you on a romantic journey.

One hour African troupe dance performance with live drumming.

Kelly Mayfield is the Founder/Artistic Director of Contradiction Dance: An Exchange Between Life & Dance. The company blends contemporary and classical forms of modern, jazz, tap, and hip-hop with storytelling and theatre to foster discussion, reflection, and change through live performance and dance education.

In addition to her work with Contradiction Dance, Kelly performs with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Echo Park Contemporary Ballet, and works as a freelance dancer, director, choreographer, actress, model, writer, and education consultant. From 2002-2006, Kelly served CityDance Ensemble as Associate Director, Director of Education and performer. Prior to her tenure with CityDance, she choreographed and performed for Jazzdanzd.c., both in the nation's capitol. Ms. Mayfield has performed in concert nationally and internationally including: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Music Center at Strathmore, Dance Place, as well as venues in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Texas, Nebraska, Poland, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Lithuania, and Singapore. Kelly has a beautiful and precocious daughter who makes every day a worthwhile adventure.

The DC Contact Jam will be performing "Clouds & Rain", a nine minute structured improvisation to a new improivised musical score composed by Steve Gorn, renowned Indian Bansuri flute player. Clouds & Rain uses the Mandala spatial structure developed by Barbara Dilley, one of the Judson Church post modern dance pioneers, as the "container" for the performance of contact improvisation by members of the DC Contact Improv Jam. Contact Improv solos and duets invoke the formation of clouds and the rain drops that quench the thirst of Mother Earth, supported by improvised music based on Indian Monsoon ragas.

Improvisation with Live Music

Libertine Burlesque presents la creme de la creme of DC Burlesque. Join local stars Shortstaxx, L'il Dutch, and Bambi Galore for a riot of classic and neo-burlesque. They shimmy'n'shake, bump'n'grind and rock'n'roll. You'll be amazed and entertained by their eye-poppin', show-stoppin', unusual, hilarious, and outrageous burlesque numbers!

Suspiro Andaluz is a D.C. flamenco group founded in 2007, whose members have been featured at the Annual Spanish Festival at the Strathmore Center for Performing Arts, as well as local venues throughout the greater D.C. area. Accompanied by a live guitarist, Suspiro Andaluz will perform some traditional subgenres of flamenco, including alegrias and tangos, as well as the flamenco-style partner dance from Seville called Sevillanas.

Tehreema Mitha Dance Company is a pioneer in the field of innovative Classical and Contemporary Indian dance and music. The company presents, in its signature manner, all three styles (Classical, Classical-Contemporary and Contemporary) that are unique to this company, highly athletic and theatrical, with solos and ensemble dances. (performance duration 45 minutes)

The Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble "Zharava" will perform several dances from different ethnographic regions in Bulgaria. One suite of dances is from the Western part of Bulgaria,the "shope ethnographic region" characterized by highly complicated uneven rhythms and elaborate footwork. The dance is called "Na Megdana" and represents the dancing around the village square, which is historically characterized as the entertainment venue for Bulgarians. The villagers and their guests usually have gathered in the village square to meet, greet, celebrate and dance. The composition includes several unique dances with different uneven and syncopated rhythms in rythms 7/8, 9/8 and 2/4.

The second dance is from the Dobrujan Etnographic region of Bulgaria, (North East) and is characterized by an intricate dance moves and footwork characteristic of the region. Each move has been influenced from the traditional work and labor related operations in the field of the Bread basket of Bulgaria. The moves are either associated with the sowing of the grain seeds or with harvesting the crops. The dance’s name is “shinitsi” (wooden cut cylinder shaped box), which is the name of the props used to carry the seeds in the field when the season for sowing is underway.