Olivia Decker Power of Music at the Top of San Francisco

BY OLIVIA DECKER

FESTIVAL NAPA VALLEY BROUGHT THE LOS ANGELES-BASED modern dance group BODYTRAFFIC and its unique style to the ’Ohana Floor of Salesforce Tower for a collaborative performance with cellist Sophia Bacelar. The performance included a world premiere of a new work by composer Pedro Osuna. Atop the San Francisco company’s iconic headquarters, the breathtaking event was part of the festival’s year-round Olivia Decker Power of Music Series and featured a reception with Miner Family wines from Napa Valley.

More than 170 guests attended the event, including Olivia Decker, Daru Kawalkowski, Joel Goodrich, Rick and Karen Walker, Charles Letourneau, Elizabeth Welborn, Gary Linnen, Mark Calvano, Kara Warrin, Alice Corning, Stephanie French, Dena Grunt, Anne Kensok, Christina French Houghton, Amy Ko, Iraj and Fariba Zolnasr, Paul

Kalifeh, Tami Carlson, and Hydra Mendoza. Also attending were composer Pedro Osuna, BODYTRAFFIC Board President Gillian Winn with friend and long-term Bay Area resident Don Santa, and Tina Finkelman Berkett, BODYTRAFFIC’s artistic director and founder. Berkett is an influential dance leader and community builder, producing an original, compelling repertoire and sharing a new vision of dance across the United States and around the world.

BODYTRAFFIC’s eight dancers and world-renowned cellist Sophia Bacelar shared the stage for a program of solos, ensemble numbers, and collaborations.

Dancers Katie Garcia and Joan Rodriguez performed Three Preludes by Gershwin, choreographed by Richard Siegal. Dean Martin’s Pacopepepluto on choreography by Alejandro Cerrudo featured solos by Joan Rodriguez, Pedro Garcia, and Guzmán Rosado.

Sophia Bacelar performed “Beau Soir” by Debussy, “The Swan” by Saint-Saëns, “Moon River” by Henry Mancini, “Meditation” by Massenet, “Nocturne in C# Minor” by Chopin, and “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla.

The event’s centerpiece was the world premiere of an excerpt from Blockade by Pedro Osuna, choreographed by Joan Rodriguez, with Bacelar and the entire cast of dancers: Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Alana Jones, Tiare Keeno, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, Guzmán Rosado and Jordyn Santiago.

This powerful dance was inspired by the dramatic history of Cuba, the choreographer’s own narrative as a Cuban refugee, and the duality of the immigrant experience. The work is a love story framed by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and demonstrates the necessity of community and camaraderie in times of insecurity in the fight for human rights.

The performance brought tears to many in the audience and closed with a rousing ovation, a fitting end to an extraordinary event in this top-of-the-world setting.