Fez: Queen of Cities

1200 Years of Living History

About MACCLA:

The purpose of the Moroccan American Cultural Center, Los Angeles (MACCLA) is to preserve and foster an understanding of the cross-cultural experiences of the Moroccan American community by embracing the uniqueness and commonalities that are present in both Moroccan and American cultures.

MACCLA's goal is to communicate the importance of embracing diversity while celebrating cultural similarities through educational programs, cultural events, and exhibits.

Locations

  • Geneva - October 23, 2008
  • Los Angeles - November 15, 2008
  • New York - November 19, 2008
  • Rabat - November 23, 2008
  • Paris - November 26, 2008
  • Barcelona - December 1, 2008

Performers

  • Musicians:
  • Ali Alaoui and Moultaqa Salam
  • MoMo Loudiyi and LoudOasis
  • Fattah Abbou and AZA Band
  • A.J. Racy
  • Raphael Skouri
  • Abderrahim Amrani
  • Rashida Tallal
  • Sanaa Marahati
  • And more...
  • blue13 dance company
    Principal Dancers:
  • Kory Keith
  • Arun Mathai
  • Marisa Cleghorn
  • D. Valentine
  • Erin Dwyer
  • blue13 dance company
    Ensemble Dancers:
  • Tammie Johnston
  • TJ Cruz
  • Kyrra Richards
  • Kelly Allen
  • Christopher Fox
  • Joelle Cosentino
  • Jade Haviland
  • Achinta S. McDaniel

Artists

Kamal Oudrhiri, Artistic Director & Producer

With a passion for history, world culture and the arts, Kamal created Fez, Queen of Cities: 1200 Years of Living History as a tribute to one of his favorite cities. Kamal's admiration for Fez is tied to the city's rich cultural and spiritual heritage which he finds as a continual source of inspiration in his desire to increase an understanding of world cultures. In 2005, Kamal founded the Moroccan American Cultural Center (MACCLA) in order to preserve and foster an understanding of the cross-cultural experiences of the American and Moroccan people. Kamal has realized a personal dream in seeing this production come to fruition and is grateful to be taking Fez, Queen of Cities on an international tour which includes Geneva, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Rabat. He is thankful to the Association 1200¸me Anniversaire de la Foundation de la Ville de Fès under the direction of Mr. Saad Kettani for its unyielding support of this production.

Achinta S. McDaniel, Choreographer

Achinta S. McDaniel is a pioneer of mixed genre contemporary dance in the United States, working as a leading choreographer both on stage and on camera throughout the nation for over 10 years. In 1999, she founded blue13 dance company, and has since enjoyed great success in creating live, critically acclaimed dance productions internationally in her signature styles, Neo-Kathak™ and Bollywood-Tech™. She is known for her experimentation with a wide variety of multi-ethnic, multi-genre movement styles, fueled by a commitment to athletic and fluid contemporary dance theatre. A prolific choreographer, performer, and instructor, McDaniel's powerful style encompasses techniques from ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, and hip-hop, to Bollywood, Bhangra, African, Moroccan, and classical Indian Kathak. McDaniel is a 2008 Horton Dance Award nominee in the choreography - long form category for her contemporary epic "Six.Fifteen and Everything Senseless."

Musicians

Ali Alaoui

Born in Fez, the cultural and religious center of Morocco, Alaoui has been practicing the art of percussion since childhood. He studied Arab-Andalusian music at the National Academy and at age nineteen joined the prestigious Orchestra of Fez, and subsequently, the Moroccan National Orchestra. Considered one of the best percussionists in North Africa and in great demand as a soloist, since 1999 he has been living and teaching in Toulouse, France, where he has been sharing his mu- sical expertise with French musicians and directing the ensemble known as Moul- taqa Salam.

Moultaqa Salam

Under Ali Alaoui's direction, Moultaqa Salam plays a varied repertoire of tradi- tional and sacred music, leading their audiences into the heart of Moroccan musi- cal culture and its rhythmic diversity. With Andalusian inheritances, malhun po- etry, exhilarating rhythms of trance, and polyrhythmic creations, Ali Alaoui and Moultaqa Salam provide a passion for rhythm and a unique cultural imprint. Moultaqa Salam performers include Ali Alaoui, Izdihar, Sabrina Mauchet,Patricia Nortes, Thierry Di Filippo, Nadine Laurens, Thibault Laurent, Radhia Meraghni, Mehdi El Karoui and Abderahim Semlali.

A. J. Racy

A. J. Racy is a performer, composer and Professor of Ethnomusicologyat the University of California at Los Angeles. Born in Lebanon, hecomes from a well-known family of artists, scholars, and academicians.Racy is internationally recognized for his extraordinary musicianshipand his numerous publications, including his award-winning book,Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab(Cambridge University Press, 2003). He is a master of many traditionalinstruments, particularly the nay, a reed-flute, and the buzuq, along-necked fretted lute. He has performed extensively in Lebanon andhas appeared in major U.S. theaters, such as Carnegie Hall, theKennedy Center, and the Hollywood Bowl and at international venues,including the Beiteddine Festival in Lebanon and the CommonwealthInstitute in London. He has composed and performed for the KronosQuartet and the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra, as well as for featureand documentary films. His music has been released on a number of CDs,including three Lyrichord albums, Ancient Egypt, Taqasim, and MysticalLegacies, and on a Kronos Quartet release titled Caravan. Dr. Racy isthe recipient of numerous honors and tributes from a variety ofcultural institutions for his outstanding artistry and his continuouswork toward greater intercultural understanding and cooperation.

Fattah Abbou and Aza Band

Fattah was born and raised in a small Moroccan village before moving to the city of Marrakech. He has played Tamazight and other traditional Moroccan music for over 23 years. He is proficient in many stringed instruments (banjo, oud, lo- tar, bouzouki, sentir, gimbri, mandolin, violin, and guitar), and an array of Mo- roccan percussion instruments. Fattah's AZA music ensemble combines tradi- tional Tamazight (Berber) music and culture indigenous to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, with the global influences of its diverse members. Performances fea- ture deep danceable grooves with infectious vocals and melodic style. AZA Band includes Mohamed Aoualou and Patrick Richey.

MoMo Loudiyi and LoudOasis

MoMo Loudiyi is a Los Angeles-based performing artist, songwriter and producer. His debut album, Miss Peace, was captured on location through the mountains and coast of Morocco and in the U.S. The album incorporates the rich rhythms of his homeland with his warm, fluid touch on the guitar, to dazzling effect. Complex polyrhythms become simple with smart arrangements, making the whole experience accessible and entertaining for modern audiences. Uplifting and revived, the melodies from centuries past will linger in your ears.Loudiyi has performed at such venues as the Hollywood Bowl, Beacon Theater in New York, Le Lido in Paris and at the Festival of Essaouira in Morocco. LoudOasis is Loudiyi's ongoing cross-cultural project in dissolving cultural boundaries, featuring high-caliber musicians eager to take you on a transformational musical experience. LoudOasis includes Hussain Jiffrey and Patrick Richey with special guest Abderrahim Amrani.

Guest artists include singer Rafael Skouri, Abderrahim Amrani from the Fez Sufi brotherhood of the Hamadcha, and two Moroccan Divas, renowned singer Rashida Tallal, with songs from the Hassani tradition from the south of Morocco and Sanaa Marahati with poetic Malhoun music.

Dancers

Blue13 Company

Blue13 Company's mission is to advance experimental and non-traditionalcontemporary dance, while preserving and cultivating the cultural and classicalforms of multi-genre, diverse international dance styles. Passionately translatingdance into enduring societal contributions, blue13 dispels cultural stereotypesand connects diverse communities through cross-genre and multicultural classes,workshops, and live performances that inspire global unity and togetherness.Since 1999, blue13 dance company has performed to sold out audiences all overthe United States and abroad in director, Achinta S. McDaniel's signaturecontemporary multi-genre, multi-ethnic dance theatre style. The company isrenowned for it's critically acclaimed dance productions, as well as for its work ontelevision and in film. 2007 marked three sold-out World Premieres for blue13dance company: Bollywood-Tech, PAHELIYAN: The Story of Alice, andBollywood-Forever. This year, blue13 premiered another 3-show sell out,Bollywood Cabaret! in January, and in August premiered KHEL! A BollywoodBedtime Story, live at Hollywood's Ford Amphitheatre, to another sold outhouse.blue13 dance company is passionate about performance and dance, continuing to expand and explore new repertoire encompassing contemporary dance with an international sensibility, as well as to collaborate and create with multi-genre, multi-ethnic performing artists all over the world, and to present work to more diverse and new audiences. For further information on blue13 including classes and events, visit www.blue13dance.org.

Kory Keith as the City of Fez

Kory has performed as a lead dancer with blue13 since 2004. With a primarily modern background, she has studied and performed in Boston, Richmond, Lon- don and Los Angeles.

Arun Mathai as the People

Arun's formal dance training began over 15 years ago in the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam, under Smt. Sundara Swaminathan. He was one of the first males in the United States to complete his Arangetram. Arun has performed all over the country, danced and choreographed with USC's Indian dance teams and with the USC Repertory Dance Company. He has been a principal dancer with blue13 since 2005.

D. Valentine as Idriss

D. Valentine has been performing on stage since the age of ten. At age sixteen, D. Valentine choreographed a dramatic stage play of the holocaust story "The Genocide Project" told through dance. As a result of this project, he decided that his lifelong calling would be to utilize his talents for the better of society.

Marisa Cleghorn as Kenza

Marisa has worked as an educator, actor, dancer and choreographer from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Having performed and trained in various genres of dance, Marisa has spent the past fifteen years endeavoring to take the best of traditional cultures and rich history of live performance and meld them with modern techniques to communicate ideas and emotions shared by people of diverse cultures and life experiences.

Erin Dwyer as Fatima

Erin has been dancing for twenty-six years with training in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance. Dance has been a part of Erin's soul since she was a child and she continues her passion in her second season with blue13.

Chris Fox

Chris's deep passion for dance not only satisfies him artistically but also allows him to work out life's frustrations through movement. Chris is an aspiring actor and working dancer.

Kyrra Richards

Kyrra took her first dance class at two years old and has never stopped dancing. Kyrra received her bachelor of arts degree in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA. Kyrra works as a professional dancer, actress and model. She has worked with renowned entertainers and appeared in national marketing cam- paigns as well as music videos and concerts. In 2007, Richards traveled to Af- ghanistan and Qatar to support and dance for U.S. troops. As a result of this experience, Kyrra was inspired to develop a dance and recreation program in New York City for former refugee children resettling in the United States with the International Rescue Committee.

Joelle Cosentino

Originally from New Jersey, Joelle completed her Bachelor of Arts at UCLA. She has an extensive and impressive career in both film and television, and choreography. Joelle is happy to be touring with such a wonderful cast and expresses her love for her family.

Tammie Johnston

Tammie has extensive training in various dance styles. She can be seen on the television show American Dreams. She has choreographed and performed in music videos and several live performances. Tammy is the dance coach for the West Ranch Dance Team and teaches dance in Southern California.

TJ Cruz

A native of Guam, TJ started his dance training at the age of five and has com- peted in numerous international and national dance competitions. In 2003, TJ was awarded the title "Mr. Showbiz" in Dallas, Texas. At the age of 18, he found his true talent in choreography. TJ continues to share his talent as a client of DDO Artists Agency. His major accomplishment was being cast as a warrior in the Indiana Jones film Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Kelly Allen

Kelly began training at an early age in ballet. Kelly has taken on the role as assistant choreographer and continues dancing with several dance companies. Kelly proudly makes her debut with blue13 in the Fez, Queen of Cities Interna- tional Tour.

Jade Haviland

Jade is the Director of Dance at Raqs Entertainment and an international choreographer and dancer whose work has been transmitted all across the world. Her fluency in several dance styles has made her a source for both fusion/crossover projects and precise single-style work for a number of film, television, music video and live events. A proponent of per- sonal transformation and cultural exchange through the arts, Jade founded Yale University's Belly Dance Society and frequently works with women's and youth charities as well as academic institutions. Jade has been a principal dancer with blue13 dance company since 2005.

Crew

Costumer Designer Maria Chadi Ouazzani
Costume Designer Lisa Garr
Stage Manager Gregg Hudson
Production Manager Diane Wilson
LA Production Manager Kiersten Leigh Johnson
Lighting & Scenic Design Dawn Ferry
Sound Engineer Yoshi Miyamoto
FOH Sound Engineer Keiko Takeda
Public Relations, US Steve Moyer
Artwork Elana Kundell