Festival Napa Valley presents BODYTRAFFIC with Cellist Sophia Bacelar

The Los Angeles-based modern dance group BODYTRAFFIC will bring its cutting-edge, innovative style to the Bay Area in a collaborative performance with cellist Sophia Bacelar on the ‘Ohana Floor of Salesforce Tower on Thursday, May 18. Presented by Festival Napa Valley’s Olivia Decker Power of Music Series, the unique site-specific performance will feature 360-degree views of the Bay’s world-famous bridges from an unparalleled vantage point. The evening also includes a reception featuring Napa Valley wines provided by Miner Family Winery.

BODYTRAFFIC

BODYTRAFFIC is an internationally, renowned forward- thinking dance company proudly hailing from Los Angeles with a mission to champion contemporary dance, educate audiences, present new voices, question the future, and incite positive change. Its goal is simple: get the world moving. The company, with its inclusive nature and human-centric values, attracts skilled dancers from throughout the world who have trained at such places as The Juilliard School and the School of American Ballet, and its enviable repertory includes the works of stellar contemporary choreographers like Kyle Abraham, Ohad Naharin, Fernando Magadan, Sidra Bell, Victor Quijada, Hofesh Shechter, and Micaela Taylor. This combination of superb artists and highly creative choreographers has elicited numerous critical accolades, including one from the Los Angeles Times, which described BODYTRAFFIC as “one of the most talked about companies—not just in LA, but nationwide.”

Since its founding in 2007 by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett and her co-founder Lillian Barbeito, BODYTRAFFIC has preserved its place at the forefront of the concert dance world with a style that, according to The Boston Globe, “suggests invention, attitude, and urban edge,” an aesthetic that has led to appearances at many prestigious international theaters and festivals. In 2015, the company was selected by the Obama administration to be United States cultural ambassadors to Israel and Jordan through DanceMotion USA, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US State Department that sought to engage international audiences through educational opportunities, cultural exchange, and performance. BODYTRAFFIC also served as cultural ambassadors of the United States in South Korea (2016), Algeria (2017-2018), and Indonesia (2018).

In 2016, the company made its Hollywood Bowl debut when it performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, during the 2017-2018 season, it went on to celebrate its 10th anniversary season with an international tour to more than 20 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg for the CONTEXT Diana Vishneva Festival, and The Hague for The Holland Dance Festival. The celebratory season culminated with performances at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, where BODYTRAFFIC is honored to be the current company-in-residence.

BODYTRAFFIC’s extensive outreach and education programs are essential to its commitment to ensuring that dance endures for both the artists and the audiences of the next generation. Touching lives in Los Angeles and beyond, the company provides training opportunities for pre-professional and professional dancers, as well as customized dance experiences for all people, with an emphasis on sharing the art form with underserved and diverse populations.

For more than fifteen years, BODYTRAFFIC has exhibited the talent, devotion, and discipline necessary for preserving the art form. As it looks forward to a future filled with even more dance, the company thanks those who have supported it along the way.

Sophia Bacelar

A Festival Napa Valley favorite, Cuban-Chinese cellist and interdisciplinary artist Sophia Bacelar was born in 1996 and grew up between New York, Paris, and Berlin. Her work has appeared at Carnegie Hall, La Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA NY), the Fashion Institute of Technology, Alice Tully Hall, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Le Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Tonhalle Zürich, and other renowned museums, galleries, and concert halls worldwide.

Concurrent to solo cello performance, Bacelar is conversant and active in various artistic disciplines, including fashion, film, photography, and visual art. Recent projects range from a Carnegie Hall recital to video art with dancers and touring the world as the solo cellist in The World of Hans Zimmer.

Often recognized for her idiosyncratic and fluid style, Bacelar has acted as a brand ambassador and performed for various global luxury brands such as Harry Winston, Salvatore Ferragamo, Pomellato, Alexis Bittar, and Morgane Le Fay. She is also an artist ambassador for the Grammy Music Education Coalition and a GEWA Official Artist, for whom she designed a custom cello case.
Bacelar studied at Le Conservatoire de Paris and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, and in 2019, she was awarded a Celia Ascher Artist Diploma Fellowship at the Juilliard School, which she completed in 2021.
When not traveling or performing around the world, she can often be found training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai or spending time with Cuba, her Havashu.

Festival Napa Valley

Festival Napa Valley celebrates music’s unmatched power to enrich, uplift and inspire. Napa Valley’s flagship festival presents international stars and emerging talent in free and affordable concerts in iconic venues, and to audiences virtually worldwide. With inspiring education programs for youth and seniors, tuition-free summer academies for vocalists and instrumentalists, and scholarships for talented students, Festival Napa Valley plays a vital part in creating a thriving, healthy, and engaged community, fulfilling its mission to bring the arts to all. www.festivalnapavalley.org