Percussionist, Hand Drummer and Educator

Elizabeth Sayre, a percussionist, hand drummer and educator based in Oakland, CA, studied with master drummers in the US and Cuba, and has played, taught, and written about Afro-Cuban batá drumming and other folk and traditional arts since the mid-1990s. She has served as Musical Director for Arenas Dance Company, directed by Cuban master dancer-choreographer Susana Arenas Pedroso, since 2012, and accompanies weekly virtual orisha song classes with legendary Cuban vocalist Bobi Céspedes. Elizabeth has written on folk and traditional arts, and some of those essays appeared in the Philadelphia Folklore Project’s magazine, Works in Progress.  Elizabeth also plays Brazilian percussion and performed with Philadelphia-based dance band sensation Alô Brasil.

Drummer and Teacher

Mar Stevens has studied West African drumming for 19 years. She started her journey under the apprenticeship of Master Drummer Afia Walking Tree of Spirit Drumz and has studied in Guinea, Africa. She has led a number of drum circles for women and taught classes and workshops at Born to Drum and Drum Sundays in Berkeley. She currently teaches a children’s drum class at Meadows Livingstone School and leads the ensembles Sistahs of the Drum and Sistah Boom.

Percussionist and Drummer

Michaelle Goerlitz, a San Francisco Bay Area-based highly versatile percussionist and drummer, has played with a wide range of artists, including: VNote Ensemble, ‘Chelle & Friends, Mark Levine, Tammy Hall, Rhiannon, Yair Dalal, Barbara Higbie, Jami Sieber, Roger Glenn, Mimi Fox and Samba Rio. She also co-founded two long-lived Bay Area groups, the Blazing Redheads and Wild Mango, and she teaches extensively, both privately and at music camps and schools.