Tag Archives: Mountain View CA

Lively Foundation Creates Community: Embarcadero Publishing

This article appeared in Our Neighborhoods: Mountain View and Los Altos, December, 2019, a magazine published by the Embarcadero Publishing Co., which publishes the Mountain View Voice, Palo Alto Weekly, Menlo-Atherton Almanac newspapers. Lively thanks Embarcadero Publishing for recognizing The Lively Foundation as a leader in creating community and selecting us to represent our community.

The first thing Leslie Friedman notices when she enters a room is the floor. Wooden? Concrete? Tiled? Her dancer’s eye is always looking for good floors for dancing. She is also always searching  for ways her work can serve the community. She brings people together to dance, to enjoy dance, to learn about our many cultures, and about each other. Her dance succeeds at building community.
As an internationally touring performer, choreographer, and artistic director of the nonprofit Lively Foundation that operates in Old Mountain View, her deep passion for life and her art energizes her choreography and performances. She is first American dancer or artist of any kind to perform with joint sponsorship of the US State Department and host countries around the world. These “firsts” include performances in Moscow and Leningrad/St. Petersburg, Russia; Beijing, Shenyang, and Shanghai, China; Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Poznan, Poland; New Delhi, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), India; Bucharest, Romania; Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt; Tunis, Tunisia, and more. Her performances in these cities plus London, Tokyo, Toronto, Seoul, were all given ovations and invitations to return.
She stirs up artistic presence on the Peninsula by inviting renowned dancers to teach and  perform in the annual International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley that she hosts in Mountain View.

Artistic Director, Leslie Friedman
First launched in 2012, the week long festival seeks to create performance opportunities for professional dance artists, offers intensive training for dancers and dance students, and invites the whole community to experience dance in professional performance. “Some audience members would be dance lovers, for some it would be their first time watching, for all we hope to give them the excitement and beauty of dance,” says Leslie. The Festival also attracts adults aged 15 and up to classes in a wide variety of dances and  exposes them to the new choreography created by the teaching artists.  Performances and classes include traditional dances from many cultures flourishing in the Bay Area: Irish set dancing, Salsa, Polish folk dance, Mexican Folclorico, Afro-Haitian, several kinds of classical Indian dances, classical Chinese dance. These are in addition to Ballet, Tap, Line Dances, Contemporary, Jazz, and Ballroom dances.

Crystal Bella Chen and Oscar Adrian Rodriguez perform Ballroom dance in the International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley, 2019

“There is a rich variety of movement styles available for our open Master Classes on the Festival’s Full Day of Dance©,” says Leslie, “We encourage everyone to do what they love and also try something new.” All the classes are mixed levels. That includes beginners and pros.
“A ballerina will have an opportunity to learn Afro-Haitian Dance and love it as a beginner in the class. A complete beginner might have a wonderful time in Line dances or find a gift for Tap,” Friedman explains. “Professional dancers can showcase their work here. It gives them new audiences, a chance  to demonstrate and develop their art.”
Through the IDF@SV, Friedman said she hopes to bring the diversity of arts of different origins while involving the community in dance. She also believes it is possible and important that everyone finds a way to move that they enjoy enough to keep doing.
“Move whatever moves, wiggle whatever wiggles,” she said. “If my work inspires someone to keep moving, wow!”
]ennifer Urmson, a mother of two boys, was happy to endorse the way Leslie Friedman and The Lively Foundation build community. She started taking Friedman’s weekly ballet classes when a friend invited her two years ago. “I had not been dancing for a very long time, and I was nervous about the idea of doing ballet as an adult,” Urmson said, adding that as a child, she was told ballet was for bodies of a certain shape. “But Leslie is wonderful as a teacher, very open and supportive. I was really pleased that after a couple of lessons, I felt myself getting stronger and improving my balance.”
Within Jennifer’s class there was a woman in her early 20s, other moms, and retirees. A few of them were organize activities for their dance class friends outside class, such as going together to attend a ballet performance at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
Urmson said whether you attend several classes or take part in a single workshop at the Festival, The Lively Foundation seems to have a way of connecting people.
“Months after the dance Festival, you’ll hear people exchanging highlights from the event when they run into one another around town,” she said. “Even if it’s just one class, you see a different side of people. You feel you know them better.” For more information about the International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley, contact livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net
­—Esther Young, 2019; photo of Leslie Friedman demonstrating a movement for Julie Van Gelder, private student and Festival participant, by Magali Gauthier

REGISTER NOW: International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley

IT’S TIME! Early Bird deadline is May 20. If you register on or before May 20, you will save from 10%-20% on class fees. HERE’S HOW TO REGISTER WHETHER YOU ARE ABLE TO BE AN EARLY BIRD or REGISTER LATER. Send a check made out to The Lively Foundation to The Lively Foundation, 550 Mountain View Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94041-1941 Attention: Leslie Friedman

Enclose a note listing the classes/workshops/performances for which you are paying. Include your name, street address, email address, best phone number. If you have questions for which you have not found answers in the posts on this blog, contact Lively at livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net     All events take place at the Mountain View Masonic Center, 890 Church Street, Mountain View, CA 94041. Concert tickets and entrance to workshops/classes will be available at the door as available.

Schedule and prices for all the IDF@SV 2017 classes & events:

CHOREO-CUBATOR@ meets 6:00-7:30 p.m. June 20, 22, 23, 27, 29, 30. Showcase Performance for works created by participants is June 30, 6:30 p.m. Fee: $90 Early Bird; $108 after 5/20

FULL DAY OF DANCE© June 24. Classes run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Doors open at 9:30. Class schedule: 10 a.m. Tap (Audreyanne Delgado-Covarrubias), 11:15 a.m. Contemporary (Elisabeth Kindler-Abali); 12:30 p.m. Pilates mat (Amity Johnson); 2:45-3:45 Electric Line Dances (Etta Walton); 4:00-5:00 p.m. Mexican Folklorico (Arturo Magaña) Price per class reduces with each added class. EARLY BIRD: Single class$20, 2 classes $36, 3 classes $48, 4 classes $56, 5 classes $60. REGULAR PRICE: Single $25, 2 classes $40, 3 classes $54, 4 classes $64, 5 classes $70.

Arturo MagañaAudreyanne Delgado-Covarrubias

FREE COFFEE TASTING EVENT June 24, 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thanks to Don Francisco’s Coffee which is providing its fine coffee for this special event. Great time to meet other dancers, relax, and enjoy great coffee.

PHYSICAL COMEDY WORKSHOP meets 2:00-4:00 p.m. June 25. Workshop is led by Ringling Bros. trained professional clown, Megan Ivey. Fall down! Walk into walls! Have a great time. Fee: $30, bring a pal, Boy Scout, complete stranger and the second person pays $15. Great discount for you both.

Megan Ivey

CONTEMPORARY DANCE, Technique & Repertory taught by Elisabeth Kindler-Abali, visiting artist from Berlin, Germany, will teach her dynamic technique and excerpts from her choreography. Classes meet 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. June 26, 27, & 30. Don’t miss the opportunity to work with this international artist. She returns to Berlin soon after the Festival Concert. Fees: $75 Early Bird/$85 after May 20.

Elisabeth Kindler-Abali

PERFORMANCES:  Showcase Performance, 6:30 p.m., June 30, tix: $10  This performance features ALL new work, improvisations, experiments. Includes select performances from winners of the Choreography Competition.

FESTIVAL CONCERT, 3 p.m. July 1, tix general admission $20; srs. over 65 and children 10 and younger $12. Sponsor tickets $30 gives you reserved best seats and tax deductible donation. Program will include PREMIERE performances by Audreyanne Covarrubias, Elisabeth Kindler-Abali, Megan Ivey, Arturo Magaña & Ensamble Folclorico Colibri, Etta Walton leading her amazing Line Dances, plus a performance of the winner of the Choreography Competition.

Etta Walton

For more details, watch this livelyblog and facebook/the lively foundation    or facebook/international dance festival silicon valley

 

IDF@SV: NEW PRICES FOR FESTIVAL PROGRAMS!

Dollar Great news for everyone who wants to participate in the International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley: Price reductions are happening NOW. Do not hesitate; these deals are too good to pass up. New offerings are (1) for the Festival Preview Day, take one class for $12.50; take TWO for $20. (2) for those wanting to take only two of the M2F© workshops, new price is $180. These are great deals for amazing experiences. The Festival Preview classes can be enjoyed by total beginners who have never tried to dance before AND by experienced, even professional dancers. DO NOT MISS THE FUN! and remember that on August 9, Festival Preview Day, you can watch Leanne Rinelli’s fabulous Salsa Demo Performance for FREE, and you can participate in the Gavina Gourmet Coffee Tasting for FREE whether you take a class or not. Special note to those new to IDF@SV or new to dance: during the week, 8/10-8/14, there are definitely dance experiences which welcome YOU. The Salsa class welcomes non-dancers as well as those who Salsa even in their sleep. Do you have a lot of dance training but not in the kinds of dance being offered? NO PROBLEM. You are welcome in all the classes. Did you dance years ago but have not danced recently. NO PROBLEM. Come back to dance. Try something new and have a great time. Contact livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net for more news. Gavina Logo

Put Your Heart Back in Your Art: Scholarships Applications for IDF@SV-2015

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Scholarship application form is below. Deadline for us to receive your application is June 30, 2015. That will give us time to review your information and reply. There are full and partial scholarships. Application is below.

ADDITIONAL AID is available in the form of:

1)  FREE Home Stays in the charming, residential neighborhood near our center. Within walking distance for all classes and rehearsals.                                                                                                          2)  FRIENDLY FRIEND FEE: bring a friend with you and both of you receive a discounted rate              3)  EARLY BIRD FEE:  You will still have time to apply with the Early Bird fee, another big discount. So, if you receive a partial scholarship, you can save more by getting the Early Bird rate, too.

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FOR AUGUST 10-16, 2015; Deadline is June 30, 2015. You may add pages if necessary for any items.

NAME:

Home Address:

City, State, Zip code:

Email address:

Tel: _____________________________(home)____________________________(cell)

Previous Dance Training:

 

 

I am primarily a dancer of ( ) Ballet ( ) Contemp ( ) Jazz ( ) Other –please specify

 

Please describe your interest in the International Dance Festival‐Silicon Valley

 

 

What are your previous performance experiences?

 

 

Will you perform in the Festival Concert? ( ) yes ( ) no

Will you take the full Festival or only part of it? {  } yes  {  } no

The Lively Foundation offers a limited number of full or partial scholarships. Partials include help for the M2F© workshops and/or Full Day of Dance©. Please let us know if you would accept any of these opportunities or only one. NOTE: The Lively Foundation scholarship does not cover transportation or housing. We try to find suitable home stays for full time students who request this.

VIDEO: Do you have a video of yourself dancing? Please send it to The Lively Fndn by email: livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net OR by US mail: 550 Mountain View Ave, Mountain View, CA 94041-1941

IF you have a resume which shows your education, dance training, performance experience you may send that, but we also must have this application form. For more information, please see Facebook/The Lively Foundation   AND Facebook/international dance festival silicon valley

OUR GOAL IS TO DANCE WITH YOU. WE MAKE THE APPLICATION PROCESS ACCESSIBLE and OFFER YOU HELP WITH HOUSING. YOU COME TO DANCE, EXPRESS YOURSELF, INVENT YOUR OWN DANCES, WORK WITH FANTASTIC ARTIST/TEACHERS. APPLY NOW!!!

Wonderful Winter Workshop/TIME TO DANCE!

Here’s the poster for WWW 1.0 It’s the first Wonderful Winter Workshop of IDF@SV. The International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley wants everyone –beginners & pros–to dance and have a wonderful time. Join us; it’s time to DANCE!WWW 1-1.0FlyerHow to register? Just send an email to livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net Let us know which classes you want to take. Send a check to The Lively Foundation/550 Mountain View Avenue/Mountain View, CA 94041-1941. Prices are very reasonable, and the more classes you take the less they cost per class. Here’s the break down: $25 single class/$40 for 2/$54 for 3/$64 for 4/$75 for 5/$78 for 6/$77 for 7/AND $77 for ALL EIGHT! What you are looking at for example is paying $15 per class for 5 Master Classes with artist/teachers who are here to make you shine. OR Take all 8 classes and each class costs only $9.60. That is such a great deal! Email or call with ANY questions and then, come on and DANCE!!!

Starbucks in Mountain View! Thank you!

StarbuckslogoThe Lively Foundation asks everyone to patronize the businesses which so generously help Lively in our work. Please stand and cheer Ashley Whitlock, manager of the Starbucks on Castro St., Mountain View, CA. She has donated coffee (and cream, sugars, cups, stir sticks) for the International Dance Festival-Silicon Valley in all three seasons: 2012, 2013, 2014. She also helped  The Festival of Lights, Dec. 2013, Lively’s Holidays concert. Ms Whitlock is a musician in addition to being a manager. She says she loves to help Lively help the arts. Thank you, Ms Whitlock! Dear Readers, now that you have stood up and cheered for her kindness, please stop at Starbucks on Castro@ High School in Mtn. View, enjoy a latte, a bear claw, a sandwich, and remember that IDF-SV 2015 comes soon. Here’s Ashley Whitlock:AshleyWhitlockSmall

Salsa for Everyone! Come to Dance!

Leanne Rinelli, our Salsa teacher, says absolutely anyone can take her Monday-Friday Salsa classes. You do not need to be an advanced dancer or even someone who takes dance classes at all. This is Salsa for everyone! She will teach footwork and a circle dance. You will have plenty of time in each class to learn. No special training, no partner, no dance experience required. This will be fantastic and fun. Leanne is a great teacher who is eager to share the dance with you. Contact Livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net and sign up now!LeanneSmallPicture: Leanne Rinelli

FULL DAY OF DANCE© CLASS SCHEDULE NOW

FULL DAY OF DANCE© is the unique, amazing innovation of International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley. The greatest dance experiences for everyone from pros to beginners. Take something you already know and love AND try something completely new to you! Never danced before? This is your time. A professional ballerina who stays up late watching Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers tap? This is your chance to give it a try. Supportive, enthusiastic teachers. You’ll be in a class with all different levels. Someone might be a complete beginner at classical Indian dance but terrific in tap. Or — a total complete beginner–you name it; it’s all possible. You can take one, some, or all six classes. The price per class reduces with each added class. No special outfits or shoes required. Even for tap, wear a shoe that will stay on your feet; you can learn the rhythms & steps without taps on your soles, but your true soul will be dancing!!! Here’s the class schedule. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Save time & pay in advance. Information: call 650/969-4110  or see us at facebook/international dance festival silicon valley and at facebook/The Lively Foundation.

9:00-10:00 Pilates mat (bring a towel or mat if you can); 10:15-11:30 Dunham technique; 11:45-1 p.m. tap; 1-1:30 Lunch Break; 1:30-2:30 Line Dancing with Etta; 2:45-4:00 Salsa; 4:15-5:30 Manipuri, an Indian classical dance. Prices: single class $25/all six $84–in between reduces per class with each added class.Dance Fest Photos

Scholarships Available to Dance at Festival!

doughGET SOME DOUGH!! Cookie Dough 4Financial aide is still available to help you attend the International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley. Funds are available NOW. Do not miss this great opportunity! Let us know of your desire to attend as soon as you can. In addition to scholarship aide, IDF@SV offers more ways to reduce your costs: FREE homestays in lovely homes only a few blocks away from the Festival center for all classes and events; bring another dancer to the Festival, and you both will get a discount; members of Dancers’ Group get a 10% discount on all classes and events.This is YOUR time to dance. It is YOUR time to perform in a real, public concert on a program with acclaimed professionals. It is YOUR chance to create a dance to be performed on the Festival Concert. Come dance with us!!

International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley: Beauty & Fun in Mountain View

Live your dreams. DANCE. You can do it! Why come to Mountain View, California to dance? IDF@SV offers you the finest artists who want you dance your best. Teaching artists who want your artistry to shine. (SCROLL DOWN TO ENTRY BELOW THIS ONE FOR REGISTRATION FORMS.)And, Mountain View has it all, that’s why. Castro St. is the charming main street downtown. It is lined with bookstores, cafes, and restaurants. Not sure what to eat? You can choose from Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Mediterranean, Italian, fish, burgers, vegetarian, & lots more, all in one walkable area. Need to grab a quick salad between classes? That’s available, too, just a block away. That block is actually Pioneer Park. It has beautiful trees, grassy places and benches to sit on, an awesome Japanese garden of plants and rocks donated by Mountain View’s sister city. The Mountain View Masonic Center, home for the International Dance Festiva@Silicon Valley, is next to the park and the Mountain View Public Library, a great place to read and relax or use one of their computers. Worried you’ll miss big city life? Mountain View is the world headquarters of Google. Microsoft, Apple, and dozens and dozens of amazing companies right here. In the Starbucks one block from the Festival Headquarters, you’ll see computer wizards working on the newest biggest thing. See the Pacific Ocean? It’s just over the mountains or down the highway to Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel. Take a train, bus, or car to San Francisco–when you have time. You’ll be dancing your heart out every day & performing new works for a dance loving public on Sunday on a program with the acclaimed artists who were teaching you their work all five days before. Don’t miss this chance! Live your dreams. Dance.mail-2picture: Leslie Friedman, Artistic Director