Color Me Arts
Dance Until You…..Homeland Cultural Center DanceFest 2016
DanceFest 2016, sponsored and organized by Homeland Cultural Center in MacArthur Park, is set for Sunday, July 17, 4-6pm. DanceFest 2016 returns to the Scottish Rite Event Center in Downtown Long Beach, 855 Elm Avenue.
Homeland Cultural Center Supervisor Jim Ruggirello gave PalacioMagazine.com a preview of DanceFest 2016. The interview took place in the Manazar Gamboa Theatre adjacent to Homeland Cultural Center.
For more information about DanceFest 2016, call Homeland Cultural Center (562) 570-1655
The Programs at Homeland Cultural Center
The Center at MacArthur Park (1321 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90813) was founded in 1989 by local artist and activist Dixie Swift. DanceFest 2016 is a showcase of the many programs housed at Homeland Cultural Center. They offer two types of programs. One represents the diverse array of ethnic cultures that make up the Long Beach community. Homeland offers classes and drop-in programs in:
- West African drumming and dance
- Hmong, Cambodian and Micronesian traditional arts, music and dance
- An ancient Khmer martial arts discipline known as bokator
- Aztec dance
All these programs are coordinated and led by recognized masters of these disciplines and are included in DanceFest 2016.
The other group of programs can be classified as urban contemporary arts.These include all forms of street dance, graffiti murals, and urban contemporary poetry and rapping.
In addition, Homeland sponsors instrumental music classes and an improvisational music jam, youth rumba, monthly open mic nights, and a comedy improvisation and theater workshop for youth.
Homeland Cultural Center at MacArthur Park
The facility is managed by Long Beach’s Parks, Recreation & Marine Department (PRM), under the auspices of the Community Recreation Services Bureau.
The completion of a new Mark Twain Library building in 2008 enabled Homeland to expand into the former library space which recently underwent a renovation. The expansion allowed them to offer a long list of classes:
- Media arts and photography classes
- Instrumental music classes
- Cambodian music and dance classes
- Dance class for seniors
- Vocal classes
A 70-seat theater, named for the late Chicano poet Manazar Gamboa (Homeland’s former artistic director), opened in June 2011 and is the venue for a revived theater arts program, the popular open mic nights, and an urban poetry workshop for teens and young adults.
Jim Ruggirello, the current Supervisor, has been at Homeland since November 2006. In 2008, Homeland Cultural Center received the Dorothy Mullen Award from the National Recreation and Parks Association for its cultural programming. In 2012, Homeland received an Award of Excellence from the California Parks and Recreation Society for its efforts to serve the underserved. Homeland has since received recognition from Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, City Councilmember Dee Andrews, and the Cambodian Fine Arts Heritage Relief Foundation.
