Top Vegetarian Chef Concerned about San Francisco's 'Monday Vegetarian Days'

One of the city's top vegetarian and vegan chefs has expressed concern about the political approach of enshrining a Vegetarian Day in an official resolution.

For today is the first-ever Vegetarian Day in San Francisco. No longer Monday but renamed last week by the Board of Supervisors. Their goal, to encourage San Franciscans to have one meatless day per week and eat more vegetables.

'It's kind of odd. I'm not opposed to it, not at all, in that it calls attention to people's diets,' said Chris Tucker, Executive Chef of the city's fine-dining vegan restaurant, Millenium.

But he has qualms about the effect the resolution will have on people and what it will do for the image of the city. He thinks people will see it as ''just more of that nanny government as before. And,' he said, 'just another thing that people will look at San Francisco and say "Oh, that's San Francisco! An island of craziness!"'

He went on in lampooning vein, 'I hear the naysayers. Monday is Vegetarian Day, Tuesday should be Foie Gras Day, Wednesday.....!!!'  ...'San Francisco is a bunch of crunchy sprout-eating people...it's just funny!' he said. He had taken time out of his working day for the interview and was sitting in the empty restaurant inside the Hotel California on Geary, a few blocks from Union Square.

The resolution, passed unanimously last Tuesday, is designed to encourage restaurants and schools to serve vegetarian food on Mondays, for grocery stores to promote the sale of vegetables, and for the population to eat vegetables in a bid to improve people's health and have an environmental impact on the planet.

How, he queried, was it going to be enacted? Were they going to send round the vegetarian police?! Or spend city money promoting it?

'To me, politically, I think the Board of Supervisors spending time on this is a little strange,' he said,  concerned also about the financial health of the city and its predicted budget shortfall of $483 million.

'To be quite honest, I hope they don't spend a dime on this. If you want to go down half a block away, I'll show you what they should be focussing on.' He pointed towards the Tenderloin area, noted for its jobless and homeless community.

San Francisco was elitist, he said, and also made it very difficult for small businesses and restaurants to survive, being one of the most expensive cities in America to work in.

The resolution would be a good thing if it changed people's eating habits and made them aware of where food came from, he said. But, 'Monday, Vegetarian Day. Great!' Just a name would achieve nothing. He wanted to see the 'trickle down' effect.

'There should be some curriculum in schools about diet, and the impact foods have on yourself and the environment, and that's where we should be targeting things, on education.'

Surprisingly, perhaps, while he and his staff obviously have a lot of positive things to say about vegetables, they are occasional meat-eaters.
 
'A lot of people in this restaurant are not vegetarians or vegan, we just like this food and eat it most of the time,' he said. 'I'm not vegetarian.' He eats 'sea food once in a while and a little bit of meat, but I eat this way most of the time because I like it.'

As a restaurateur, Chris loves working with local farmers. He grew up in farm country in New Jersey at a time when 'there was a real disconnect' with what farmers grew and restaurants served. But the 'local cuisine' movement has changed all of that.

How will the resolution affect restaurants?

It might attract new clients to vegetarian restaurants, he said, but although most chefs in San Francisco produce meat-based cuisine, there were so many talented chefs and many already producing regional Italian cuisine which is fairly vegetable-based, he said, that he thought it wouldn't make much difference.

'Everyone in this town can cook great vegetables.'

Millenium, who provided the food for the private party in Supervisor Sophie Maxwell's office after the resolution was passed, combine a sophisticated, fine-dining cuisine with a casual atmosphere.

'The depth and scope of what we can do with vegetable-based products is endless,' Chris said. 'When I step away from it, I hope it will be the best-ever in the history of restaurants because of what we have done.'

When he opened up, people didn't give him one year to survive. He is thriving after 16 years.

Union Square Christmas Ice Skating 2009

The Union Square ice skating rink was filled with skaters on the last Sunday shopping day before Christmas.

The opportunity to skate as well as Christmas shop attracted all ages and all abilities of skaters. Some glided elegantly, some wobbled and some tumbled! But everyone was enjoying it.









'It's great! Very well organized,' said dad Philip who was taking his five-year-old daughter, Maddy, around the ice. It was the first time he had taken his daughter ice skating and she was enjoying it.

The ice rink will be there until January 18.





On another side of Union Square, students Brendan and Ryan were trying to raise a few extra bucks by offering a photo opportunity with 'Santa's Sled Dog.' Handsome three-year-old Titan, an Alaskan Malamute, was decked out in a Christmassy harness.

Pics were being charged at $1, only just as Brendan and Ryan were settling down in the corner of the square, they were spotted and moved on by security.







Shining out onto the square, was the four-storey tree in Neiman Marcus, that rises into the stained-glass dome.

And facing the square was Macy's with it's customary wreaths and trees lighting up the store.

President Obama's Visit Met with Protests Over Range of Issues

President Obama's San Francisco visit sparked responses ranging from those willing to pay $30,000 a couple to meet him at a VIP dinner - see previous blogs - to a placarding protestor who called him an 'Obamination'.

In between, were the protestors and campaigners squeezed into the end of Union Square opposite the Westin St Francis Hotel who hoped to catch his eye on a range of issues.

Greenpeace placards and banners were probably second in profusion to those on healthcare.

'We are all here today to make sure that President Obama keeps up with his campaign promises of strong climate action,' said Courtney, an environmental science student - pictured second from right

Local Greenpeace organizer, Lauren, said the day coincided with 'Blog Action Day,' a day when bloggers around the world were drawing attention to environmental issues.


Small businesses found a voice in David and Heather, co-owners of a company who make Obama Jack-in-the-boxes - 'the company is us!' - who illustrated their point in costume.

Another poster asking, 'What happens when small businesses like mine can't pay skyrocketing taxes + fees?'












Political thespians, Billionaires for Wealthcare, were in their pin-stripes, feathered boas and hats.

'We thank the little people for shying away from desiring real healthcare reform,' said Janine, pictured below left, with Ingrid.




Bystanders, many of them tourists, were on the streets opposite watching the event and the quintessential cable cars made a careful ascent and descent between the protestors and the hotel.

'This is our first day here and we didn't know this was happening,' said Alan, on holiday with his wife from Scotland. News of the President's arrival had eventually reached them and they had gone to the square in the slim hope of a glimpse of him. However, their expectations of seeing him were realistically low.

'I'm fairly neutral said Rupert, also from Scotland. 'I think he's a welcome change from Bush. I think Bush made a bit of a mess of the war, but then we're complicit, we're British.

'How he's going to fix it, I don't know. Good luck to him!'

President Obama in San Francisco Avoids Protestors

President Obama arrived in town early this evening as protesters with a panoply of costumes, colors and placards were in Union Square to meet him.

However, even the news media were left wondering where he was for a while.


The President, here for a Democratic Party fundraiser, arrived at SFO at about 5 pm, and pics - in previous blog - show his cavalcade entering the city on the Expressway at Mission Bay at 5.21 pm. But it was nearer 6.15 pm before he arrived at the Westin St Francis Hotel and went in through a side-door.

Code Pink, a women's protest group active in the city over the war, attempted to hang a banner over the side of the flagship Macy's store that faces the square. They were hoping to cover the Nike Women's Marathon banner that was already there.

Members of the group began to put their banner over the side of the terrace but were stopped before they could unfurl it completely.















Pictured here are Code Pink members Sherri and Cynthia, who were also protesting health care. The faint pic showing the attempt to hang the banner is a photo of the pic on Sherri's camera.

To meet President Obama at a reception, according to the politics blog of Carla Marinucci in the San Fran Chronicle, Democratic supporters have had to pay $500 or $1,000 for a seat in the VIP section.

A VIP dinner in the Penthouse with a presidential appearance cost $30,000 a couple.

NBC11 said the evening would raise $2 million.

It's Christmas - Again! Sales (2)

While Christmas shoppers flocked into the stores, the ice-skating rink in Union Square attracted post-Christmas revellers for an early morning glide and twirl.

Meanwhile, further down the street Father Christmas' bulletin in the Macy's Christmas pet Adoption Windows were announcing success. By today 272 pets had been adopted, just five short of last year's total and with nearly another week to go until New Year's Day.

Nearby, Crate and Barrel's ground floor where the Christmas decorations were was heaving. Many items had price cuts of 40 or 50 per cent while blue Sonora vases and silver tealights were being offered for up to 62 per cent off.

For more sales reports see next blog.

It's Christmas - Again! Sales (1)

Santa has had less than 24 hours in his bed after his exhausting round-the-world schedule but already San Francisco shoppers are preparing for next Christmas!

Thousands of shoppers had descended on the centre of the city by mid-morning and one of the most popular buys, judging from the queues, was Christmas decorations.

Macy's had performed a considerable feat by having taken down most of their decorated trees from their Holiday Lane and laid out the ornaments in open boxes - ready for eager shoppers. Not that all of their sales items were popular.

Kelly, a young woman of refined taste when it comes to tree decorations, was shopping because of the 50 per cent reductions. But she was disappointed at the quality of what was on offer. She was looking for higher priced items that would retail normally in 'the high 20s' of dollars, but today she couldn't find them.


'I think stores are not buying more expensive ones,' she said, also saying, 'We're noticing every year they seem to get smaller and smaller.' She held up a three-inch gold coloured ornament by way of illustration.

She used to purchase designer ornaments by Polonaise and Christopher Radko but these appear to have disappeared from Macy's. Instead, in her basket that she displayed for the pic, were trinkets worth originally about $17 dollars.

I asked if she had shopped before Christmas or if she had saved her spending for the sales, and she said that she had shopped beforehand as well.

In the queue in the Holiday Lane was Liana holding several overstuffed bags of already purchased goods - 'they're for my mum' - she said, just as mum Lily appeared.

Like Kelly, Lily had spent in the stores before Christmas but was back with a post-Christmas glow that would light any tree. 'The sales have been pretty good. It's tempting!' she said. 'But the time to get here is early because the sizes are limited.'

Lily, however, had triumphed with 40 per cent reductions on a cashmere and Elie Tahari sweaters, and a pair of Ralph Lauren pants - trousers - for $50 that would sell at full price for $300.

'We've also shopped before Christmas because the stores had 40 per cent off,' she said, pointing out, though, that in these credit crunch days some of the best bargains had sold then.

'But we're tired and we're ready to go home!' she concluded, heading with a patient Liana in tow to the cash registers.

Around the clothing departments, there were many signs advertising reductions from 40 to 60 per cent.

Not everyone in the store was there for bargains, however. Angela and George were having fun climbing into a replica Santa's sleigh for a pic.

'We're on holiday, this is our first few minutes in Macy's,' said Angela.

The couple are from Norwich, England, and spent Christmas in the city as part of a ten-day holiday here. This is the first time they have visited San Francisco.

pics show: Christmas decorations are very popular; queues in Holiday Lane; Kelly's ornaments; George and Angela take a sleigh ride.

For more reports see next blog

Paris Hilton Launches New Perfume (2)

Paris Hilton appeared like Fairy Tinkerbell in Macy's to promote her new perfume, Fairy Dust. She signed autographs and posed for pics with the first 300 people to purchase a gift pack for $135 dollars but many more went just to glimpse her...see previous blog. Here are more interviews and a further report of the event.


'Im just here hanging out and seeing Paris Hilton as an extra!!!' said Bryson, tongue in cheek. He was standing with friends Doug and Kambiz.

What does he really think of her?

'She's hot! Good looks! Very beautiful! Sexy! he said.

The trio of lads had travelled across

the Bay in order to be there.

Agreeing with all of Bryson's epithets, Kambiz said, 'I just really came to see her.'

Likewise Doug. 'I came to see Paris!!' he said.

But the lads were in a side aisle rather than in the queue to buy perfume and have their photo with her.

'It's too expensive!' said Kambiz.

Life had indeed dealt them a cruel blow!

Near them, Liliana patiently held her chihuahua, Peanut, with the crowds pressing in all around her. Had she or Peanut come to see Paris?

'Both!' was the answer.

In another side aisle, Gwendolyn shone like the sun in a radiant yellow outfit. Describing herself as a 'singer, actress and sculptress,' she said, 'I'm here because I was so impressed at her perfume. I have lots of her products and I'm not allergic to it.'

Gwendolyn is such a fan that when Paris was jailed for drunk driving, she said she wrote to the prison to ask them to let her out.

'I think she has a lot of heart and she keeps going on despite every day ups and downs. None of us are perfect!' she said.

Paris' appearance was scheduled for noon but the hour came and passed with no sign of her. The crowd kept peering in anticipation round heads and on tiptoe waiting for her to emerge at any second. As the hands on the clock drew closer to 1 pm a voice behind me suddenly launched into a derisive tirade on Paris and the world of celebrity.

I turned round to meet Steven, a young employee of Starbucks within the store, venting his anger at Paris' late arrival and what he saw as 'keeping stereotypical images.'

'It''s interesting how society builds people up to be someone everyone looks up to, and she's just taking her delicate time. She has a priority to sell her product and she's slacking,' he said.

Had he smelt the perfume? He had.

'It smells too much like flowers,' was his opinion.

In a scornful parting shot he said, 'Look at everyone standing round just waiting to see her!'

He obviously wouldn't be impressed by the online advertising blurb: 'It (the perfume) invites women of every age to believe that with a sprinkle of Fairy Dust dreams really can come true.'

Minutes later there was an announcement from the mini platform:

'She'll be here in 15 minutes and she's really, really excited to meet you guys!'

I wandered through to the back of the department. Staff were readying a table which was the collecting point for the celebrity photos. Close by, a perfume counter strategically sited opposite another entrance to the store displayed her perfume products.

Blanca stood at a small round table, bottle of Fairy Dust in hand, offering free squirts onto outstretched wrists and an explanation of what was going on.

She works for Parlux, the company who make the perfume.

'I am very proud to represent Paris Hilton. We are very happy to have her here today. We are thrilled,' she said.

'It is a very big compliment for Macy's.'

And then it was back to the crowd to finally await the appearance of the celebrity heiress herself....see previous blog.

pics show: Paris delighting a fan;Doug, Bryson and Kambiz; Steven; Blanca
For an album of pics click here

Paris Hilton Launches New Perfume

Looking like Fairy Tinkerbell herself, Paris Hilton enchanted hundreds of fans yesterday in Macy's store.

There to promote her new perfume, Fairy Dust, she was signing autographs and posing for pics with the first 300 people to purchase her gift pack.

With an hour's late arrival, she emerged at about 1 pm from behind a curtain in the perfume department to
applause, the excited clicking of cameras and frantic waving of cell phones as the crowd strained to capture a glimpse or an image of her.

The queue of people filled several aisles and stretched almost to the doors.

Paris was introduced by Macy's West President, Harvey Harrison. He described her as an artist, actress, author and clothing designer and said she had produced a scent to 'capture her fairytale life.'

Wearing a dress with a low-cut white bodice, sexy centre peephole! and pale sea-green skirt, Paris welcomed the crowd, gave a coy little wave and sat down at her desk to begin signing autographs and posing for pics.

Around her was a troop of security men and two police officers.

First to step forward was Katie.

'I'm nervous. I really like her,' she said immediately afterwards, and you could see her trembling. She clutched a print of the Fairy Dust promotional poster which Paris had signed and the gift pack.

For the privilege of the occasion, Katie had paid $135 dollars. Inside the gift pack were three small bottles of Paris' perfumes, Heiress, Can Can and Fairy Dust, that retail at $45 dollars each, but also there were free bottles of Paris for women and Paris for men, two little black bags and a soft toy, Tinkerbell the chihuahua, modelled on Paris' pet.

What did Katie think of the new perfume?

'I love it!' she said, and she was led by staff to the far end of the department to wait to collect her prized photo with Paris.

Not far behind Katie was Regan. 'I love her! She's my favourite!' she enthused. Of the perfume, she said, 'It's the best perfume ever! It's great!'

Karla, carrying Bella the chihuahua, thought so too. 'She's hot! she said of Paris, and the perfume 'smells really, really good!'

But it seems not only were the young enamoured. One elderly lady queued in a wheelchair and when it came to her turn to have her photo taken with the heiress, Paris hopped down from the desk and posed with her arm around her.

Seeing Paris there, she looked prettier than in the heavily made-up posed shots of some of her videos and model pics, and with her blonde hair - and perfect teeth! - she did light up her signing area.

She chatted to her fans with a natural vivaciousness and I'm sure put some at their ease, and yes, she pouted for a few shots with the guys!

For Paris fans, they had a day to remember.

For more reports, see next blog.
For an album of pics, click here

Chinese Doctor Persecuted in China

It was fitting for Shu Min Shin to stand in the shadow of the bronze statue of Victory in Union Square on Saturday, for she has sculptured herself into the history books for a victorious stand in China against human rights abuses.

Persecuted for her refusal to stop practicing Falun Dafa meditation, she finally fled to Thailand where she became the first person there to be granted asylum as a Falun Dafa practitioner. Today she lives in San Francisco and on Saturday was in Union Square participating in World Falun Dafa Day. (see previous blog)

Three times Min Shin - Shu is her surname - who is a medical doctor, was kidnapped by Chinese police. Her crime was to refuse to sign an official letter promising that she would no longer engage in Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong as it is also known, meditation. A promise not simply to stop meditating in public places, for followers often gather in small groups in parks or squares, but also in the privacy of her own home.

Min Shin, who was first a doctor of Internal Medicine and then a psychiatrist who also taught her subject, told her story through a translator. She was in the square for the World Falun Dafa Day that sought to publicise the meditation and raise support against the terrible abuses of it's followers by the Chinese Communist Party: abuses that include imprisonment, torture, killing and the harvesting of organs for transplant from people while they still alive.

Her real troubles began on New Year's Eve of the Chinese New Year in January 2000. Chinese officials, expecting a high number of Falun Dafa protesters in Tiananmen Square to mark the New Year, had planned an ambush. But very few people attended. Followers had been in the habit of silently unfurling banners in Tiananmen Square ever since the government had begun a crackdown in the previous year. Faced that night though, with a near-empty square, officials turned instead to people's homes. Min Shin was one of the unlucky ones.

A group of police hammered on her door. She refused to open, so they broke down two doors. Min Shin then locked herself in her bedroom and shouted through the door that she was willing to risk her life to defend her rights and the rights of others for freedom to practise Falun Dafa. She also warned them that they would be held responsible if anything happened to her. So for seven days and nights, in freezing temperatures and with snow falling, police surrounded her home and broke every window. It was so cold, she said, that even the flowers in the house died.

Over the next few months, she was followed every time she left her house and her phone calls and letters were monitored. Once she was kidnapped when she just stepped out of her home. But the last kidnapping was the worst for, physically weak, she almost died. She believes that the only reason she was released was because her son was already in America and had anything worse happened to her, the news would have been published in the USA.

However, in August of that year, she managed to escape to Thailand and gain political asylum. Helped by US congressmen, with a delay caused by events of 9/11, she was able to settle in San Francisco where her son was living and still lives today. Her face lights up with delight at the memory of that precious date of her arrival in the city: June 25, 2003.

However, there is a cost to her exile. Separated from her remaining family in China, she has limited contact with them and has only a sketchy knowledge of how they are. She is afraid to communicate too much in case it provokes reprisals from Chinese officials. What she does know is that her father - her parents are elderly and in their eighties - has had a heart attack caused by the stress of everything. Also, because of her, her sisters' children are not allowed to leave China for travel or education.

Due to the language barrier here in America and her age, Min Shin is in her sixties, she has not worked again as a doctor. But is active, as she was on Saturday, in supporting campaigns to free her people from the terrible human rights abuses that they continue to endure in China, with particular urgency to do so before the Beijing Olympics.

***Since interviewing Min Shin, the catastrophic earthquake has occurred in China but I have not been able to contact her to ask if any of her family are affected. I'm sure when Min Shin or others known to her read this, a comment on this would be appreciated by other readers. Thank you, Liz.

Pics show Shu Min Shin in Union Square, and one of the paintings on exhibition there depicting torture in China

World Falun Dafa Day

Union Square on Saturday was once again the focus for exposing human rights abuses in China.

It was the World Falun Dafa Day celebration for practitioners of the meditation - also known as Falun Gong - that is banned in China. A day to explain the tenets of the meditation, whose key words are 'Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.' A day to appeal to the world to help stop China's persecutions, torture and murderous harvesting of organs for transplant from Falun Dafa followers. The horror of the organ removal is that 41,000 people have been killed in the last six years. Many of those had their organs extracted while they were still alive, people in Union Square heard.

Kip, a Chinese American living north of San Francisco, repeated a quote when he said, 'It's a new kind of evil on this planet. They (China) are good at dangling the economic carrot. We've forgotten about 1936.'

With a countdown to the Beijing Olympics in mind, petitions were in the square for people to register a protest. Around the square were pictures and posters of torture victims, and an exhibition of paintings that reflected both Falun Dafa practice and persecution from the Chinese government. There was also a programme of short speeches, dancing displays, music, singing and a demonstration of the Falun Dafa exercises.

China, explained one of the speakers, was against anything spiritual and Christians incurred some of the same problems as Falun Dafa followers. But the government stepped in to eradicate Falun Dafa because of it's rapid growth. Although it only started in public in 1992, by late 1998 it had attracted between 70 and 100 million practitioners. Opposition began in 1996, said the speaker, by government officials who specialise in propoganda: they create a problem in order to be seen solving it. But 10,000 petitioners took action in Beijing in 1999 and so the real crackdown started. Since then people have continued to stage peaceful protests in Tiananmen Square and so are arrested, imprisoned, tortured and have their organs harvested.

Another speaker was a medical doctor who spoke about the benefits of Falun Gong that he had experienced himself and seen in others, including stress reduction, health improvements and freedom from addictions. He went on to talk about the abuse of harvesting organs. Whilst he described organ donation as 'noble,' he expressed repugnance both at the practice of forcefully removing organs and the fact that it is being carried out by fellow doctors working for the Chinese government. Tests for tissue and blood types are carried out on thousands of prisoners in the labour camps, he said.

However, he also conveyed a small piece of more optimistic news that only last week the UN had confirmed that due to political action fewer people are travelling to China to purchase organs. 'So we ask for your help to stop the persecution and torture before the Olympics begin,' he said.

After the speeches and stage performances, watched by a small and ever-changing crowd of people winding across the square, the musicians, dancers and protesters formed a colourful parade and wound their way around Chinatown and back again.

An interview with a doctor persecuted in China as a Falun Dafa practitioner and who now lives in San Francisco will be posted later.

For further info on the campaign and news updates see www.faluninfo.net

Click for pics. Click to enlarge.

Conga 2008

There was the happy sight and sound of conga dancing around the streets of San Fran today. Over 100 people gathered in Union Square and then some wiggled and jiggled in traffic-stopping merriment to launch the Bay Area National Dance Week with the West Coast's Longest Conga Line.

They were led by Hot Pink Feathers, girls in red plumage and a guy in red and gold costume, accompanied by jazz brass band Blue Bone Express.

From the flat to fleet footed, they left Union Square at midday and circled nearby streets before returning to the square for an hour of entertainment. Some in the conga were in their own dance costumes, especially groups of Scottish and English country dancers.

This is the 10th Anniversary of the dance week, and the third year of the conga.

Afterwards, Everett of Hot Pink Feathers, said: 'It has gone very well. I think for us it's the day being beautiful and all those people out there. This is the day for people to express themselves.

How many days do you get to stop traffic because people are dancing around!'

En route, I met 70-year-old Christine, who nearly stopped traffic by herself as she paused half-way across a road and continued to dance while being filmed and interviewed by a camera-girl.

'My doctor said 'No dancing,' she told me when I caught up with her later in the square. 'But I love it!' she said, and assured me that her health was improving.

I also spoke to Lou and Victor. They had emerged from the Apple store, seen the conga and joined in.

'I love the spontaneity,' said Lou, who describes himself as someone who has lived in San Fran 'for ever!'While Victor enthused: 'I've just read a book called "Dancing in the Streets." This is what should be happening in the world,' he said.

Back in the square, where dancing displays had continued during the conga, we watched Alseny Soumah and Lahydi from Guinea, West Africa, who danced with vitality and acrobatic agility, Funkanometry, a Hip Hop group, a young modern dance troupe from Creative Arts Charter School, and another performance from Hot Pink Feathers who attracted some unexpected show-stealers.

The music, the gaiety, the colour proved too enticing for three-year-old Jules, four-year-old James and two-year-old Andre. With no hint of self-consciousness, they jumped onto the stage to pirouette, twirl and bow to the delighted bemusement of on-lookers.

Does Jules like dancing? I asked her nanny.

'She loves it. She dances all the time,' she said.

While Andre's mum said, 'He saw the girls go up and chased after them. He loves to dance and play with other kids his age.'

Around the square, tables were set up to advertise dance groups and for the handing out of leaflets. Aside from the conga and entertainment, the event is a ten-day showcase for all styles of dance around the Bay Area. Advertised as 'over 300 free events - all dance, all free, all week,' it ends on Sunday, May 4. The festival includes performances, classes, workshops, open rehearsals, festivals and lecture demonstrations. Details can be found on BAYAREANDW.ORG.

The Dancers Group have also published a summer guide to dance performances in the Bay Area up to the end of August, and this can be found on www.dancersgroup.org.

As compere Carla, of Carla Service's Dance-A-Vision Entertainment, said: 'No matter what's going on in the world...still try to find time to dance. Find that space of happiness!'

Click for pics. Click to enlarge.