Taught by Todd Thomas Brown, assisted by Mia Paschal 6 week course: Mondays, November 10th - December 15th A half-hour for first-timers... 6:30pm-7:00pm: The basic of basics - introduction to weight-shift and maintaining axis in the embrace (if you have never taken a tango class, you should make sure to arrive for this segment) Regular class begins.... 7:00pm-8:00pm: Fundamentals of walking in the embrace 8:00pm-8:30pm: Introduction to figures (combinations of steps), musicali...

"A dream from which you have no desire to return. You learn the roots while listening to experts play music they clearly love. " - Sing Out! Magazine The sound of Cascada de Flores echoes the golden age of Latin American radio, where exquisite bolero and earthy country traditions were juxtaposed.  Their new album, Radio Flor, features Arwen Lawrence and Jorge Liceaga’s duet of song, guitar and dance, supported by pillars of the San Francisco traditional music and Latin jazz scenes: Saúl Sierra-...

Quijeremá infuses their original contemporary Latin American compositions with a deep sense of ancient musical traditions. Primal, real, and ethereal environments permeate their music, creating an amalgam of masterfully fused traditional and contemporary styles. They blend rhythm, texture, and color seamlessly and transparently to arrive at a rich sound that integrates traditional Latin American instruments and vocals with jazz, classical, and world idioms. The diversely expert musicians of Quij...

Landing in San Francisco from different parts of the world, Makrú fuses Rumba Flamenca, Reggae, Cumbia, Ska, and other global beats to create a unifying vibe in the Bay Area through its music. Originally from Madrid and trained in Spanish art forms, lead vocalist and composer, Raúl Vargas, first created a musical/circus/theater group called "La Malamaña" in 2006 - the first of its kind in San Francisco. The musical component of “La Malamaña” would eventually become “Makrú.” Since then, their mus...

"... cutting edge Jazz player and writer." - Jazztimes Trumpeter/composer Erik Jekabson brings his quartet to the Red Poppy to play his originals and arrangements of standards.  Jekabson's music has been described as a "...thoughtful, cerebral post-bop affair that is a perfect balance between melodic artistry and probing, knotty jazz improvisation (Allmusic Guide)." He's played with Illinois Jacquet, Galactic and John Mayer and is currently leading bands around the Bay Area. "He’s straight-ahea...

Two of jazz's finest saxophone virtuosos, Grant Stewart and Patrick Wolff, join forces in an evening of classic bebop. Patrick Wolff is a mainstay of the San Francisco jazz scene, known for his work with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra and Diana Gameros, and praised for his original music and explorations of overlooked jazz repertoire. Grant Stewart, hailing from New York City, is an international favorite of critics and musicians, admired for his powerful tone and deep swing, and respected for...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, tonight's performance with The Beth Custer Ensemble is cancelled.  The Beth Custer Ensemble is a veritable crème de la crème of Bay Area musicians and has been delighting audiences for fifteen years from across the US to abroad. On this night the ensemble will perform music from their vast repertoire and new tunes from their upcoming release 'Aguaplano.' Their unique blend of styles underscores the Beth Custer Ensemble's lyrical depth and showcases recent proj...

The Red Poppy Art House is excited to warm you up with two hot dance sets of original tunes and unique arrangements of Latin Caribbean classics by La Mixta Criolla . “La Mixta Criolla is a home grown stew flavored with Puerto Rican melaza and Bay Area salsa picante. This magical Music will heal your Soul and take you places you've only dreamed about. " -Avotcja Jiltonilro, poet, musician, DJ at KPOO (89.5, San Francisco CA) and KPFA La Mixta Criolla will enchant and move you with an intima...

The Red Poppy Art House is pleased to present a double bill featuring Sang Matiz and Gringa for a night of Latin and Afro-inspired Brazilian music that will transport you to the shores of Rio. "Afro-Rumba Funk and Brazilian-Flavored Pop" Sang Matiz has developed a mix of Afro-Brazilian/Peruvian rhythms fused with funk and R&B. Comprised of a talented collective of Bay Area musicians, Sang Matiz have found their own zone of high-energy vibrant sounds and contagious beats from South America ...

Ganesh Vasudeva and Srinivas Pisharath join to present an evening of captivating Bharatnatyam dance and Carnatic singing. Along with violin and percussion, they will be performing these classical forms of Indian dance and music through lyrically enchanting romantic ballads called Padams and Javalis. The theme of these compositions is always Shringara, or Love, in its myriad ways. Join us as Vasudeva and Pisharath unite their exquisite talents in an inspiring evening of "romancing the gods," depi...

This Sunday's celebration will open at 1pm with a rumba by well-renowned Bay Area rumberos, hosted by Afro-Cuban percussionist Miguelito Leon. This rumba serves as both a celebration of life and to express resistance to oppression and cultural violence. An open jam continues from thereafter, featuring local members of Taraf de Locos and La Familia Peña-Govea as they share the music of Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Spain, and downhome United States - as a ref...

Featuring the Americano Social Club, accordionist Rob Reich, and chanteuse Anna Laura Quinn. We invite you to join us for a night of fun and laughter, friends new and old, drinks and of course some beautiful music! The Americano Social Club, led by Michael Zisman, will present "music for la dolce vita:" romantic and eclectic songs influenced by melodies from all over the world. With styles ranging from pop, jazz and folk to classical, rock or opera, tunes from the cafes of Brazil and Europe, ...

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the year’s very best albums,” Gabriel Kahane’s major label debut, The Ambassador, is a meditation on the underbelly of Los Angeles seen through the lens of ten street addresses: one song per address. Named for the demolished hotel that housed early Academy Awards ceremonies and where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, The Ambassador is a song cycle based on life in Los Angeles from the 1920′s to the dystopian future. Using the street addresses as launching points,...

'TARIMBA' is believed to be the African root word of 'tarima', which is the most important instrument and symbol of the Son Jarocho tradition of Veracruz, Mexico. TARIMBA is a band comprised of local Bay Area musicians who have embraced the traditional genre of Son Jarocho music from southern Veracruz, Mexico. The members of TARIMBA have all been active performers and teachers in the Bay Area music community for over ten years. They are excited to have the opportunity to embrace, preserve and sh...

The Bernal Hill Players is an adventurous chamber music ensemble from San Francisco whose diverse repertoire includes European classics, Latin American discoveries, and newly-commissioned pieces from both North and South America. Their program includes North American works by Katrina Wreede, Libby Larsen, and Beth Custer, and Latin American works by Silvestre Revueltas, Carlos Guastavino, Eduardo Gamboa, and Astor Piazzolla. Steeped in the dynamic folk rhythms and the classical and contemporary ...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this performance has been cancelled. Please check back for an update!

Endangered Species is an exciting new collaboration of friends, featuring Oakland-based accordionist, pianist and composer Rob Reich, New York-based reedman Tom Abbott and trombonist, vocalist and composer Emily Asher. This ensemble brings together an unusual alliance of accordion, bass saxophone and trombone to explore, compose and improvise. At the intersection of American popular song, early New Orleans jazz, multi-cultural folk music and European classical music, these three friends meet som...

Wil Blades and Scott Amendola first became a duo when Scott had the vision of performing Duke Ellington's "Far East Suite" with Wil on his Hammond B3. Originally written for big band, translating the suite for a duo was quite a daunting task. With Wil's extensive knowledge of the Hammond organ and Scott's desire to push boundaries, they accomplished this feat in a explorative, yet cohesive manner. Their live shows have been generating a buzz around the Bay Area ever since. The duo continues to p...

GPS stands for a title that is malleable and varied, much like the group's frontman. David James visits the Poppy with a musical background of playing in settings ranging from ambient/noise (Thessalonians) to Hip-Hop (The Coup, Spearhead). His music is as diverse as the range of places he has performed. For this special night, David James will guide his GPS through a number of classic Brazilian songs, newly arranged for six equally diverse musical luminaries who make afrobeat-inspired reels and ...

Alex Conde is an internationally renowned pianist and Spanish native who has a versatile background stemming from classical, jazz, and Spanish religious folklore. Beginning his career in Boston as a composer, Conde released his first album entitled, "Jazz and Claps", which included guest artists from around the world, and received considerable praise. Now residing in the Bay area, Conde collaborates with top Flamenco companies in San Francisco such as the "Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco", all...

"His compositions...move against the current, by retracing the arc from West to East ...not for a departure from Iranian form nor the emulation of Western genres, but arrival at the point where binaries and boundaries bleed and blend until they dissolve completely.” - Frontline, PBS.org Fared Shafinury is an artist that best represents the hyphenated-generation of Iranian-Americans today. He is a critically acclaimed composer, vocalist, poet, Persian setarist and multi-instrumentalist, that has...

Featuring the current resident artists of the Red Poppy Art House! Ensemble Mik Nawooj Tiffany Austin The View from Bernal Hill Family Art Activities: 1pm-4pm Red Poppy Resident Artist Performance Night: 7pm-10pm 7:00PM: Vocalist Tiffany Austin - Creole and Jazz 8:00PM: Live music by The View from Bernal Hill 9:00PM: Live chamber hip-hop with EMN - Ensemble Mik Nawooj On Exhibit: Works by Paz de la Calzada, Alberto Toscano, Todd T Brown, and Ytaelena Lopez Read more abo...

Featuring the Hothouse Transplants Writing Group! The Lit Crawl was created by San Francisco’s Litquake Literary Festival in 2004 with a simple concept: transform a bar crawl into a fast-paced mob scene of literary mayhem. Lit Crawl takes over a neighborhood, adding pop-up events to every conceivable venue - bars, cafes, bookstores, galleries, clothing boutiques, furniture showrooms, parking lots, laundromats, bowling alleys, barbershops, bee-keeping supply shops, parks, police stations. Experi...

Originally from Rio de Janeiro but currently based in the Bay Area, guitarist/composer Ricardo Peixoto is among the top representatives of Brazilian guitar in the US today. He deeply explores the melodic and compositional structures of his country's rich traditions, and strong Brazilian influences can be heard in both his original works as well as in arrangements of classics. He has recorded, performed, and collaborated with some of the very best and has performed throughout the US, Europe, Cana...