8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Dancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nem-catacoa Teatro!

My first Carpetbag Brigade experience at Trolley Dances 10/12/12 in Bayview, SF; Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro at the 24th

Street BART station on performed 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photos: Matty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

We are lucky to have not one but TWO fantastic dance companies performing on stilts in San Francisco this

month: Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro & SF-based Carpetbag Brigade! The two groups are also friends and

collaborators, and just performed together at a summer arts program at Coconino Center for the Arts in

Flagstaff, Arizona. I just saw Nemcatacoa Teatro’s amazing free outdoor performance of Landscape Reinvention

Society last night at 24th and Mission Streets. I highly recommend it! I’m going back there tonight to the Dance

Mission Theater to see Carpetbag Brigade’s indoor ticketed performance ($20) of Callings. (A related multimedia

performance, Sonoran Strange, follows both dance shows: see below.)

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Carpetbag Brigade performed at Trolley Dances 10/12/12 in Bayview, SF. (photo: Matty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

I first encountered Carpetbag Brigade when they stole the show at the annual Trolley Dances last October. (Trol-

ley Dances is a free outdoor dance program held in several locations in San Francisco, easily accessed by MUNI

trains or bikes.) I was mesmerized by their performance: the dancers were like playful, mythical creatures from

another world! They seemed to drop out of the trees lining 3rd Street in Bayview, and they silently summoned

us to follow them to another location nearby, dancing and performing acrobatic stunts along the way. It was to-

tally surreal, and exceedingly entertaining! (Note: I also discovered the fabulous Cello Joe at Trolley Dances later

that same day!)

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Carpetbag Brigade performed at Trolley Dances 10/12/12 in Bayview, SF. (photo: Matty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

Founded in Prescott, Arizona in 1997 by Jay Ruby, Carpetbag Brigade has since moved its home base to San

Francisco (2003). Jay and company produce original dance pieces (and music) and perform them around the

world. Carpetbag’s work draws from acrobatic stilts, physical theater, modern dance, Butoh and Contact Impro-

visation. Their spectacles are experimental yet accessible, due to the wordless, physical, fantastical interactions

between the dancers. It was during a US Embassy-sponsored tour of Callings in Colombia when the Carpetbag

crew first met Nemcatacoa Teatro in 2011. They have since collaborated in performances, lectures and work-

shops, highlighting the art of stilt-walking, which is apparently a cultural tradition in Colombia. Members of each

troupe will present a slideshow lecture on that topic at the Mission Cultural Center on Monday, 8/12/13 at

7:30pm, as part of their joint Bi-Cultural Road Show Tour (note: the date on that site is currently incorrect, says

Tuesday 8/13; I’ve alerted them, confirmed the correct date).

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro performed outside Dance Mission Theater at 24th Street on 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photo:

Matty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

Last night, Nemcatacoa Teatro started their equally otherworldly performance in the alley next to Dance Mission

Theater (3316 24th Street at Mission), and then led the audience into each of the four corners of Mission Street

and 24th. According to the program, the dancers use their own bodies to explore architectural details on the

street, and then reinvent and extract meaning from them. As with last year’s Carpetbag Brigade piece, the

Teatro dancers performed silently, beckoning us with hand gestures and facial expressions. Their thrilling per-

formance was enhanced by Hojarasca Música Andina, a Colombian trio also dressed in white costumes and

makeup, playing simple traditional pan flutes. Hojarasca is playing their own show at Mission Cultural Center on

Friday, 8/16/13.

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Crossing the street with Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro at the 24th Street BART station on 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photo: Mat-

ty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

The dancers and musicians created a surreal, somewhat haunting spectacle, at times similar to a sacred reli-

gious procession. Yet there were also comical moments, especially when the dancers engaged with their street

environment. At one point, the dancers descended on a #49 MUNI bus which had just arrived and opened its

doors!

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Hojarasca Música Andina played haunting pan flutes; Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro performed at the 24th Street BART station

on 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photos: Matty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

For better or worse, the “normal” nightly SF street scene interacted back at the dancers: on more than one occa-

sion, inebriated/high folks wandered into the show, and/or were frightened/startled/amused/perplexed, and

loudly voiced their opinions accordingly (but harmlessly).

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro performed at the 24th Street BART station on 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photo: Matty Gilreath

aka MattySF.com)

Nemcatacoa Teatro’s dancers displayed outstanding acrobatic skills, moving quickly and effortlessly on their

stilts, as if they were actual limbs. Their expressive faces and contorted bodies conveyed strong emotions, like

when they pretended to suffer “death” from eating at the McDonald’s on the corner.

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro said “hello” to MUNI bus #49 at the 24th Street BART station on 8/2/13 in the Mis-

sion, SF. (photo: Matty Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

Their diminutive female leader was one of the most visually striking, her face in white makeup, expressionless,

like a porcelain mask. During one highlight of the show, she was lifted up in the middle of a circle, as if she were

a goddess.

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro at the 24th Street BART station on 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photo: Matty Gilreath

aka MattySF.com)

Later, clinging to the 24th Street BART station fence, the dancers’ movements ran the gamut from Christ-like im-

paling to punk rock fashion poseurs. They seemed to be struggling to fit into this modern world, but ultimately

their childlike fascination catapulted them on to continue exploring and interpreting their urban surroundings.

We were led back to Dance Mission Theater for the finale of this excellent dance adventure.

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Colombia’s Nemcatacoa Teatro struck poses at the 24th Street BART station on 8/2/13 in the Mission, SF. (photo: Matty Gilreath

aka MattySF.com)

Sonoran Strange. Following the Teatro performance, were all then invited to come upstairs for a performance of

Arizona-based experimental multimedia artists Verbo•bala‘s spoken word piece, Sonoran Strange, which cele-

brates and critiques the varied cultural histories of Arizona. The petite female lead from Nemcatacoa Teatro

again led us up to a large, very tall dance studio with a glowing orb (covered by scrolling video projections) in the

middle of the floor. A masked figure (Borderlands poet Logan Philips, aka Logan Dirtyverbs) appeared in an an-

drogynous blend of Mexican-themed outfits, like a skirted, ominous bandito. Over the course of the next hour,

he delivered a monologue which was at times hard to follow, but, when combined with the intensely beautiful

video imagery and sounds/music, was quite moving.

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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Verbo•bala’s spoken word multimedia performance Sonora Strange at Dance Mission Theater, Mission, SF. (photos: Matty

Gilreath aka MattySF.com)

I highly recommend you get out to the Mission tonight or tomorrow for any/all of the above. However, if you

miss these performances, please note that Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro will be performing

again later this month for free at Yerba Buena Gardens and Union Square as part of the San Francisco Interna-

tional Arts Festival. I encourage you to see them!

Cheers,

-Matty

This entry was posted in Dance, Performance Art, Street Performers, Streets of San Francisco, The Mission and

tagged Carpetbag Brigade, Dance, Dance Mission Theater, Hojarasca Música Andina, Nemcatacoa Teatro, Street

Performers, Streets of SF, The Mission, Trolley Dances on August 3, 2013.

8/4/13 1:04 PMDancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro! | MattySF

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One thought on “Dancers on stilts in SF: Carpetbag Brigade & Nemcatacoa Teatro!”

TALLER THAN L GAGA

john barryAugust 3, 2013 at 3:18 pm