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Josephine L. Morada
Artistic Director/Choreographer
Administrator - Academicos da Estrada Real
Graduate of UC Berkeley, 1978, with a BA in Social Welfare,
Josephine has
been
involved in Brasilian music and dance since 1980.
She has studied in Rio de Janeiro with Mercedes Batista, the
Brasilian
Katherine Dunham; Charles Nelson Silva, Mercede’s protege, and
Isaura de
Assis, one of Escola de Samba Salgueiro’s top
Porta-Bandeiras.
In the SF Bay Area she was a member of Batucaje dance company
and Carnaval
contingent from 1980-1983. She worked as a dancer for Claudio
Amaral and Viva
Brasil. She has been a member of Bira
Almeida’s ( capoeira master - Mestre
Accordeon) performance troupe Corpo Santo since 1984 and
still does
performances in schools with the troupe.
She has danced with Rio’s Afro-Brasilian dance company Ile-Ofe
and in Rio’s
Carnaval with several escolas. On her most recent trip to Rio
for Carnaval
2001, she danced with Carnaval champions, Escola de Samba
Imperatriz
Leopoldinense.
She has been a student of Jorge Alabe, AfroBrasilian folkloric
specialist in
the dances, songs and rhythms of the Candomble, since 1991.
Josephine is the co-founder of Escola Nova de Samba, San
Francisco community
arts organization whose mission statement is to promote
and perpetuate the
arts of Brasilian Carnaval and its AfroBrasilian roots,
through community
classes, performance workshops, residency programs in public and
private
schools, participation in Carnaval San Francisco and
performances throughout
the Bay Area.
Performances include the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival,
‘85 , ‘88,
‘89, ‘94,
Mendocino Dance Series, New Orleans by the Bay Festival, Russian
River Jazz
Festival, SF Jazz Festival and the Alaska State Fair.
She has also performed with Flora Purim & Airto, Tania
Maria, Sergio Mendes
and SF Bay Area’s own Carlos Santana and Pete
Escovedo.
In the Fall of 1996, Escola Nova underwent administrative and
artistic
changes.
After its 1999 Carnaval SF parade the organization officially
became
Academicos da Estrada Real and continues its goals and
objectives to promote
the traditions of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval and
escola de samba with
community services and performances for the SF Bay Area and
beyond.
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