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California Traditional Artist Plaza
Mel Orpilla
Filipino Martial Arts + Bamboo carving of fighting sticks
California Traditional Artist Plaza
Amelia Butler
Haka (Traditional Māori War Dance)
Poi ("poi balls")
Kapahaka (Traditional Māori Performing Arts)
Te Reo Māori (Māori language)
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Anil Natyaveda
Kalari ppayattu Martial Arts
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Marcelo “Cadeirinha” Pereira
As part of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2006 Marcelo taught Isis Raele, his step-daughter, the art of capoeira. Capoeira is the only indigenous martial art of the Americas and was developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil. Mestre Pereira started playing capoeira on the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, as a child and…
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Ling Mei Zhang
Ruth Yafonne Chen (San Francisco) will study Chinese Wushu (sword dance) with Ling Mei Zhang (San Francisco). Zhang studied with masters Liu Yuhua and Lee Wenjin in Tian Jinh and became the double straight sword Wushu champion for all of China in 1975. She has taught martial arts for over…
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Crispulo Atillo
Crispulo Atillo is a Grandmaster of eskrima, a non-aggressive, weapons-based martial art rooted in Filipino history and culture. Great Grandmaster Atillo began studying eskrima as a teenager with his father and with Great Grandmaster Teodoro Saavedra. He was a master artist in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2006 with apprentice, Red Dagum. *** From…
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Tekura Jegnas
San Diego-based Tekura Jegnas supports the preservation and continuation of African American martial arts traditions in Southern California. Master artist Dennis Newsome started Tekura Jegnas in 1975, naming his organization in the Ethiopian Amharic language–tekura jegnas means “Black hero/warrior”–out of respect for his African teachers and in…
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Ginga Arts
Ginga Arts is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that emowers underserved and at-risk youth by offering ongoing classes featuring the traditional Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira. Ginga Arts uses capoeria — part martial arts, part dance, part percussion, and part game — as an…
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Dennis Newsome
Kalenda (African stick dance/fight ritual)
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People’s CORE
Multicultural arts and culture