DANCE CONCERT!
Theater seating on a first-come-first-served basis.
Plenty of room to DANCE!
Celebrate Valentines Day with Nevada County’s own Latin/Salsa band, Sabroso. This ten-piece band has been performing their high-energy mix of rhythms for Nevada County concerts and dances for over five years. They are the favorite of dancers and listeners alike. Before the band starts at 8:00 pm, Salsa Sierra will lead a beginning dance lesson at 7:30 and during intermission, the Salsa Sierra dancers and their Rueda group will perform. Rueda is Cuban social dance that combines Salsa moves with something like square dancing and great fun to watch.
The Sabroso musicians have a passion for the rich Latin music history that has foundation in the Cuban music known as Son. The music is built on interwoven rhythmic complexities and conventions but the effect for the listener is highly infectious grooves. Rather than a drum set, the band is driven by four percussionists. They are augmented by strong vocalists and a horn section composed of trombones and flute.
The members of the band have extensive music histories. Like the other percussionists, Dave Meyler is accomplished on multiple instruments and is featured on both congas and timbales. He can also be heard with Ivan Najera and the Santana-inspired band Chameleon. Percussionist Rob Holland has been active as a musician on the Latin music scene for the past few decades in Nevada County, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City before returning to the area a few years ago. Rob plays percussion and sings with the band. He also plays bass, percussion and vocals with the Brazilian band, The Brazilianaires. Percussionist Kit Bailey is well known to local music lovers as active in a variety of musical settings, from jazz ensembles with bassist Bill Douglass, harpist Motoshi Kosako, the Moonlight Swing Big Band, Chicken Bonz, and the Ken Hardin Trio, to percussion with the funk band Power of Twelve, to classical percussion with InConcert Sierra and Sierra Stages theater productions. Joey McCutchan anchors the band with hand-held percussion. Her background is in African and Afro Cuban traditions. Having lived in Latin America, her fluency in Spanish was a natural fit for Sabroso.
Rob Holland - Percussion, Vocal
Dave Meyler - Percussion
Kit Bailey - Percussion
Joey McCutchan - Percussion
Scott Rogers, Bass - Vocal
Pat Havard, Piano - Vibes
Robin Phillips Nichols, Flute - Vocal
Guests:
Al Bent - Trombone
Ron Cunha - Trombone
Florencia Dunayevich - Vocal
Founding member Scott Rogers plays a key role in support of the percussionists as the bassist. When not interweaving bass parts in the Sabroso sound, Scott can be heard as a vocalist, bassist, and guitar player for blues and R&B bands including Blue Shadows. Vibist Pat Havard is featured on mallets but his key role is as the band’s piano player. Flutist and vocalist Robin Phillips Nichols is classically trained in both flute and voice. She enjoys exploring world music and rhythms including the Afro-Cuban traditions as another founding member of Sabroso.
The band will be joined by special guest musicians for the Center for the Arts performance. Al Bent, trombone, is a faculty member for the annual Sierra Jazz Camp and can be heard on many of the recordings made by Bay Area jazz and Latin players over the past few decades. Featured vocalist Florencia Dunayevich joins Sabroso for the first time and is known locally for her vocal work with The Brazilianaires.
