North Bay connoisseurs of culture, art, music and dance – and those who just enjoy the spice of life – are in for a treat when the ‘Resilience’ tour takes the stage at the Davedi Club Saturday, July 30. Tickets are $20 and the show starts at 7 p.m.
Joining forces for this unique performance are eight internationally-acclaimed and diverse artists combining all art forms to create an “optimistic message from the pandemic to the future.”
“Our group of performance artists – singers, dancers, and musicians – has worldwide recognition and experience,” says organizer Cesar Forero, describing how they include Ontario residents living in the north and south, as well as international artists who are multilingual, multi-ethnic, francophone, and members of the LGBTQ2S+ group with an age range from 21 to 60.
The emcee for the North Bay performance is Justine Gogoua, a culture and music teacher with African roots, who is also francophone and based out of North Bay. She is the artistic director for the 2022 World Culture Fusion Fest taking place at multiple venues in North Bay Sept. 16-18, with the Resilience show providing the opportunity to announce the Fusion Fest details and celebrate the second year of the festival.
Forero said the Resilience show is inspired by the World Culture Fusion Fest goal of combining multiple disciplines and artists bringing a variety of backgrounds to create together. “It is a spoken word, poetry, acting, flamenco, hip-hop, acro-contemporary dance with the soprano Samanta Izquierdo and the baritone Mateus Fantelli F2, F4 performers,” Forero says. “The music grows its inspiration on the string finger style - Latin guitar and Spanish styles."
Carmen Romero is an award-winning established flamenco dancer positioned at the national and international scene. He coached Latin Pop star “Shakira” in her 2010 world tour.
Daniel Gomez was nominated for Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the 2018 Dora Awards, works with Gadfly Urban Dance Company, Citadel and the crew Twisted Ankles and is at several commercial projects.
Gabriel Cifuentes, a renowned finger style musician and founding member of the Jazz Faculty at Incca University in Colombia, has been touring and directing for world famous Latin artist and performs with Don Ross in Canada.
July Arboleda, first Violinist of the Orquesta Filarmónica Juvenil de Tlalpan Mx, works as music composer and played for musicals and Charlie Zaa’s album Primera Fila.
Samanta Izquierdo, currently a North Bay performer, received awards from the government of Ecuador and world music competitions like Unsigned Only, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Cesar Forero, Kirkland Lake based architect, artist/performer and curator, has shown worldwide, received multiple awards and sits at several art-boards in Ontario. His works stand in public and private collections and currently performs with acrobat and photographer Alex Boudreault.
Other stops include the Midland Art Gallery July 29, Temiskaming Art Gallery in Haileybury Aug. 3 and the Kirkland Lake Art and Culture Fair Aug. 6.
See a video interview with Cesar Forero and Gabriel Cifuentes at the World Culture Fusion Fest YouTube channel
