The 34th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, taking place at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from June 16 – July 1. This year’s Festival showcases dance companies performing dance from China, Cuba, Hawai’i, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Liberia, the Middle East, the Native American Plains, the Philippines, Peru, Spain, Tahiti, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, and more. For the 34th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, The World United Through Dance, Festival Artistic Directors Carlos Carvajal and CK Ladzekpo have curated a thrilling line-up featuring 30 veteran Bay Area dance companies performing both ancient and contemporary dances, including ground breaking cross-cultural collaborations and encore performances of some favorite dance pieces from past seasons. The Festival, taking place June 2 through July 1, continues to bring dance to an ever widening audience throughout San Francisco as it opens at Fort Mason Center, moves to prominent San Francisco museums, and once again returns to Yerba Buena’s Novellus Theater for three exhilarating weekends. The 2012 Festival also honors Mexican dance master Zenón Barrón, Artistic Director of Ensambles Ballet Folklórico, with this year’s Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award. San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Executive Director Julie Mushet says, “The Festival presents a wide range of world-class dancers and musicians who call the Bay Area home, and this year, in addition to presenting some of the wonderful highlights from over the years, we look forward to bringing a national focus to the importance and breadth of our companies and artists. There is no other dance community in the world with the cultural diversity, artistic excellence, and vibrancy of the San Francisco Bay Area’s. We currently serve as the hub for over 450 Bay Area dance companies who are networked with many thousands of dancers and musicians all over the world. These deep international relationships sustain and innovate more than a hundred different dance forms. During the Dance/USA conference, we will bring a national focus to our dynamic and diverse dance community and celebrate our local artists who continue to enrich the lives of us all.”