FOUNDERS STORY

MOVING BEYOND PRODUCTIONS (MBP) was founded in June 1998 by Colombian Dancer and Choreographer, Beatriz Helena Restrepo, and Swiss theater artist, Beat Rettenmund. They had recently arrived from South America on a trans-continental street theatre tour through Central America and Mexico. The organization's purpose was to fund, nurture, and use the performing and media arts to cultivate a profound cross-cultural understanding within the society. At the time, there was a serious need to rework the cultural identity in the Latino community of the San Francisco Bay Area. As such, MBP became the home of the Colombian Ethnic Dance Ensemble and the annual Colombian Cultural Festival (1998 - 2003) at Fort Mason’s Cowell Theatre. 

Recognizing that the arts were vital for a healthy cultural identity and the development of young people as productive and responsible members of socity, MBP shifted its focus to schools in 2001, providing dance and theater education for youth of all ages. Later in 2009, after 14 years of serving the arts community in the Bay Area, Beat and Beatriz raised their anchor from the shifting sands of San Francisco’s Mission District and took to the seas in their self-built Polynesian catamaran SV Aluna to look for new adventures beyond the horizon of normality. They have since crossed the Pacific Ocean and are continuing their quest to provide meaning to the madness of humanity through unleashed curiosity and corrosive creativity. Check up on their present wanderings and whereabouts at alunaboat.wordpress.com and clanb.be.