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CARNAVAL SAN FRANCISCO Email: info@carnavalsanfrancisco.org Web: www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org

ISSUE #3
Meet our
Carnaval San
Francisco
2014 Queen
Valencia
Newton & King
Delvis Savigne
Frion!
T
wenty contestants
vied for the Carnaval
San Francisco King and
Queen crown in this
years competition on
April 26th and performed
to a sold-out house at
Brava Theater Center
in San Francisco. The
winners were Valencia
Newton, this years
Carnaval Queen, and
Delvis Savigne Frion, our
King, who will serve as the ofcial ambassadors
of Carnaval San Francisco 2014, and lead the
Grand Parade on May 25th.
King and Queen contestants competed in
a 3-minute dance in Carnaval costumes,
sometimes accompanied by other dancers and
musicians. In a stylish, high-powered yet graceful
display, Valencia Newton demonstrated her
talents in Calypso, Caribbean,
African and Samba dance
along with her partner
and King contestant Dave
Dickson from Sistas-Wit-Style,
accompanied by CD and live
drumming from Val Serrant.
Delvis Savigne Frion, with his
partner of one year, Fredrika
Keefer, wowed the audience
with a modern fusion dance
lled with balletic leaps, mixed
with Caribbean folk and Salsa!
Valencia Newton
Queen of
Carnaval San
Francisco 2014
By Michael Nolan
A
cross the street from the
cloistered Mills College
campus in East Oakland, a
group of women are listening to Soca music and
busily sewing Carnaval costumes in the Sistas
WitStyle storefront studio (also referred as Mas
Camp). Valencia Angela Newton sits down at a
kitchen table to be interviewed in her new role
as Queen of Carnaval 2014.
Valencia, 23, is a proud native of Oakland who
graduated from Webster Academy, Frick Middle
MAY 7, 2014
Queen Valencia and King Delvis
Photo by Max Koo
School and the East Oakland School of the Arts,
located in Castlemont High School where she
was Salutatorian in her 2008 graduating class.
She entered UC Berkeley that fall where she
pursued a course of study in Social Welfare and
Dance and graduated with a BA in 2012. She
also took classes in Theater and worked on
several productions.
Valencia became immersed in Carnaval culture
in her preteen years. She has trained with various
Caribbean groups such as Jouvert, Islands
of Fire, Malick Folk Performing Company, and
Embarcadere Travelers. She has performed with
renowned drummers Val Serrant, Swadi, Tumani,
and Hugh, and studied dance in Trinidad and in
Salvador, Bahia Brazil. She has also performed
at numerous Soca Monarch and Calypso Fiesta
competitions and traveled extensively with
SistasWitStyle in Houston, Texas, Miami, Brooklyn
and Trinidad and Tobago.
Valencia has been colead dancer and
choreographer for Trinidadian group SistasWit
Style Folk Performance Dance Company (SWS)
for the past 13 years. SWS is Oaklandbased,
founded in October 2000, by Merissa Lyons,
and Kianna Rachal, managed by Annabelle
Goodridge, later accompanied by Valencia
Newton. This year, the company celebrates its
10th year as a Carnaval contingent.

The Caribbean, the American South and Gulf of
Mexico are denitely in her blood line. It is not
surprising that she was adopted by the Trinidad
and Tobago community at an early age. Her
mother, Veronica Hernandez of Oakland is the
daughter of Antonio (of Puerto Rico) & Flora
Hernandez (from Mississippi). Her late father,
Walter Newton (brother of Black Panther Party
co-founder Huey Newton), was born in Louisiana
and came to Oakland in the mid-1940s.

Valencia has been utilizing her artistic talents
for the greater community good in poetry,
dance, theater and academics. Together with
SistasWitStyle, Queen Valencia provides a
support system for youth and adults who want
to ght obesity and channel their energy into
positive pursuits. The goal of their classes is to
help create a safe space free of the negativity
and violence the participants often face. It also
offers what Valencia coined a dance workout
workshop or tness fun providing a sense of
self. Valencia continues to teach dance and
academics to children, youth and adults in
Bay Area schools and New Karibbean City in
Oakland, Saturdays 122pm; and costume
making in the Sistas Mas Camp, 5859 Mac
Arthur Blvd. Oakland, open daily after 4pm,
sistas-wit-style.com.
Queen Valencia aspires to pursue a Masters in
Social Work and Fine Arts
Delvis Savigne Frion
King of Carnaval San
Francisco 2014
By Michael Nolan
T
he 24yearold Cuban dancer descended
the stairs of Dance Mission and entered Cafe
Boheme for the interview with Drum Beat. It was
just a few days since the gracefully muscular
Delvis Savigne Frion was chosen Carnaval
King at the annual Competition held this year at
Brava.
Delvis was born in Santiago de Cuba on Nov.
20, 1989 and has resided in San Francisco for
the past year. He is a graduate of the Jose
Maria Heredia Academy of Art in Santiago with
a degree in Contemporary and Folkloric Cuban
dance. He was evaluated by the national court
and gained the place of soloist for his advance
dance technique.
Nobody in his family was previously involved in
dance. In his boyhood, Delvis mostly played
baseball and did judo, but his mother noticed
his natural dancing talent at various family and
neighborhood celebrations and sent him to
performing arts school in Santiago.
In Cuba, he has danced professionally with
Danza del Caribe Dance Company and
performed with them at the 2008 Expo Mundial
del Agua in Zaragoza, Spain. He has also
performed with the National Dance Theater of
Jamaica, which draws upon African Caribbean
folk traditions as well as modern dance.
Since moving to the States, Delvis has danced
DRUMBEAT NEWSLETTER ISSUE #3 MAY 7, 2014
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CARNAVAL SAN FRANCISCO Email: info@carnavalsanfrancisco.org Web: www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org
with Kim Epifano, Dance Brigade, Arenas Dance
Company, Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers and
the Alayo Dance Company. He teaches modern
dance Saturday mornings at Dance Mission.
He went to New York with Nicole Klaymoon's
Embodiment Project where they participated
in the annual APAP (Association of Performing
Arts Presenters) conference, and at ODC last
December. Delvis recently was awarded a
scholarship to study at the Alonzo King LINES
Ballet of San Francisco this summer. He will be
performing at Dance Brigades Summer Feast
in August held at Dos Rios in Mendocino County.
His parents and siblings still live in Cuba. His
father, Victor Savigne Savigne is a sailor in the
merchant marine and his mother, Georgina
Frion Alvarez is a director of personnel at a
large agricultural farm. His older sister, Maillenis
Castillo, is a teacher of computers in Havana.
His older brother, Dennis Savigne Frion, is a
pianist, and his younger sister, Yaretza Perez
Frion, works in immigration at the Havana
Airport.
Delvis has participated in the Carnavales of
Santiago, Cuba since he was 10 years old. He is
well versed in the dance and music Carnaval
traditions of Conga and Comparsa. He has also
danced in El Festival del Caribe, a festival that
is held every July in Santiago, dedicated to the
traditions of Caribbean countries.
Coincidentally, Delvis hometown of Santiago
de Cuba is an ofcial Sister City of Oakland,
California, the hometown of Queen Valencia.
Carnaval After Dark at the
Exploratorium
By Amie Valle
O
n May 1st, 2014, Carnaval San Francisco
drummed their way through the
Exploratorium for a night lled with science
and Carnavalthemed activities. Starting with
a presentation by guest curator and Executive
Producer of Carnaval, Roberto Hernandez,
participants enjoyed entertainment by steel pan
drummer Lisa LaMantia; mask making with Steve
Pogni, owner and designer of San Francisco's
MASK; cuica, glove-a-phone, and shaker
making; Samba and Zumba classes with Maisa
Duke, director of Energia do Samba and Jaime
Martinez, director of the Pan American Dance
Company; drum circles with Carnaval San
Francisco's own Arturo Carillo; costume making
with Jorge Durate; and a scientic look at
soccer, in tribute to Carnava's theme, La Rumba
de la Copa Mundial Celebration of the World
Cup, with physicist and author Paul Doherty,
Science writer Pearl Tesler, and members of the
Stanford Women's Soccer Team.
The evening was cappedoff by an exciting
parade through the Exploratorium, led by Metzi
Henriques and Fogo Na Roupa. Eventgoers
were able to join the parade with their newly
made instruments, costumes, and dance moves
they learned earlier in the evening. It was a truly
unforgettable event.
Roberto's Rendevous with
Latin Music and Carnaval
By Michael Nolan
I
ts the First of May and were inside Kanbar Hall
at The Exploratorium where Carnaval Executive
Producer Roberto Hernandez is serving as
guest curator for Carnaval After Dark at the
popular science museum on the San Francisco
waterfront.
Roberto talks about growing up with Latin
music in the Mission and his decades-long
involvement with Carnaval. His Nicaraguan
grandfather cultivated his early interest in the
music and culture, and by the time he was 7 he
The Carnaval After Dark Parade winding through the West Gallery
DRUMBEAT NEWSLETTER ISSUE #3 MAY 7, 2014
FACEBOOK: CARNAVALSANFRANCISCO TWITTER: @CARNAVALSF #CARNAVALSF #RUMBACOPA2014 INSTAGRAM: @CARNAVALSF
CARNAVAL SAN FRANCISCO Email: info@carnavalsanfrancisco.org Web: www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org
FACEBOOK: CARNAVALSANFRANCISCO TWITTER: @CARNAVALSF #CARNAVALSF #RUMBACOPA2014 INSTAGRAM: @CARNAVALSF
CARNAVAL SAN FRANCISCO Email: info@carnavalsanfrancisco.org Web: www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org
was playing guitar at Sunday Mass at St. Peters
Church on Alabama Street.
Later it was Desi Arnaz Ricky Ricardo character
in I Love Lucy that sparked his passion for
percussion rst the bongos, then the congas.
A Cuban neighbor further cultivated Robertos
interest in drums and their intersection with the
religion and culture of the African diaspora.
As a teenager, Roberto joined the Rumba
percussion parties in Dolores Park. He described
the role of Chepito Areas in bringing strong
AfroCuban percussive elements into the
performances of Carlos Santana.
In 1979, he joined Marcus Gordon and Adela
Chu in the rst Carnaval Parade in Precita Park.
Roberto told how Carnaval grew every year
expanding into the Mission, then Civic Center,
nally returning to the Mission and its current
location.
As an adult, Roberto got to travel to Cuba,
Jamaica, Brazil, Trinidad and Nicaragua where
he observed how the drum and dance are so
embedded in the daily lives of the people. In
the Rumbas he observed in Havana, he saw
how people spontaneously connected through
music, culture, food, cigars and conversation.
In Brazil, he learned how the Samba escolas
work yearround on their costumes, songs, and
choreography.
They get a lot of love allyear long, Roberto
declared. Central to it all is the connection
of the human hand to the animal skin of the
drum."
UPCOMING EVENTS:
PreCarnaval Party at
Cha Cha Cha/Original
McCarthy's
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14TH
6 PM TO CLOSING TIME
2327 Mission Street betw. 19th & 20th
A Salute to the Carnaval Volunteers. Free
admission.
Sign-up to be a volunteer at Carnaval San
Francisco! Or come and support us with
Carnaval-themed cocktails and tapas on menu.
Your purchases help support Carnaval. Join us
as we celebrate with music by Jorge Alabe &
Samba Rio LIVE at 8 PM, and meet our newly-
crowned Queen Valencia & King Delvis.
CARNAVAL WOULD LIKE TO THANK SOME OF OUR
SPONSORS:
DRUMBEAT NEWSLETTER ISSUE #3 MAY 7, 2014
SFMTA
ProLocal
FunCheapSF
XFINITY
Alcance Media Group
KOFY
Barefoot Wine & Bubbly
Grants for the Arts
Ford
Monster Energy Drinks
ESPN Sports
Post Cereals
Sparkling Ice
Nestle Nesquik
Facebook
Budweiser
Telemundo
Recology
BART
Carnaval San Francisco is May 23RD25TH!
GRAND PARADE MAY 25TH
PURCHASE GRAND PARADE SEATS NOW!
www.carnavalsanfrancisco.org/parade.html
Roberto Hernandez discusses the history of Carnaval
DRUMBEAT NEWSLETTER STAFF:
Roberto Hernandez, Publisher
Michael Nolan, Editor
Amie Valle, Art Director
Stella Adelman, Reporter