FLACC 2022: yes water yes

Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers(FLACC) and Dance Mission Theater have come together for a day-long street closure on the 18th Street/Mission Creek Corridor (between Church and Dolores Streets) via art and cultural events. In partnership with Bay Area Indigenous leaders, local artists, Mission High School, the American Indian Cultural District and the American Indian Cultural Center, this ritual performance intervention will bring awareness to the blocked and soil-filled waterways in Yelamu (what is now known as San Francisco) and will memorialize the 5,700 Indigenous ancestors buried in the Mission Dolores cemetery during early colonization, drawing links between genocide, ecocide, and today's current water crisis.

As part of sii agua si, the pre-festival prayer walk, led by local Ohlone and California Native leaders will begin at 2pm in front of the Mission Dolores where a hidden and unmarked burial site is known to be. The prayers, songs, speeches and waterway procession leading down to 18th Street for the opening of the festival is meant to bring truth and healing to the present-day descendents of the tribes and ancestors who fell victim to the role of the California Mission system during early colonization. A large scale video projection of the 110 tribes represented in the babptismal records, will culminate in the evening.

sii agua si means "water water yes", "sii" being the Ohlone Ramaytush word for "water." With a temporary sidewalk art by Adrian Arias, Pancho Pescador and Cece Carpio guiding the audience and dancers in the daytime and Ben Wood's large scale video installation of water to light up the site at night, the October 1st festival will take place within a watery landscape. Water blessings, land acknowledgements, traditional and contemporary dances, ofrendas (ancestor altars) and a creek water sound installation will decolonize the area replacing the usual presence of buses and cars from 2pm-9pm.

Last October, sii agua si conjured a historic atmospheric river which brought the festival to a halt. Lead curators, artists and organizers worked to make yet another pivot and in under 3 days, while under strict COVID19 regulations, brought the festival indoors and into Dance Mission Theater. This year, FLACC chooses to honor what was the original outdoor event concept and has garnered collaborators old and new to stage the 2nd rendition of "sii agua si". Returning to the festival are: Gregg Castro (Ohlone Ramaytush) who is leading a prayer walk from Mission Dolores at 2pm, the Hummaya Singers and Dancers from the Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe visiting from Pomona, CA, accompanied by their 83 year-old Chief Tony Cerda whose ancestors are buried in the cemetery at Mission Dolores just a couple of blocks away from the festival site. Also returning to the festival that she helped curate in its early stages last year, is Kanyon Sayers-Roods/"Coyote Woman" (Ohlone Mutsun and Chumash) who will offer a culture-share as part of the evening program. In attendance will be: The Red Lighting Woman Power Singers, Inter Tribal Friendship House Youth Ensemble, students from Mission High School and Asociacion Mayab-Maya Yucateco Dance Class and Demonstration!

In addition to traditional dance and Indigenous representation, the day will include performance rituals and contemporary dances by FLACC choreographers: Liz Boubion(US/MX)- who also serves as the lead curator of "sii agua si" and FLACC's founding director, Jesús Cortes(MX/US) the director of Cuicali at Brava Theater, Hector Jaime Rodriguez (MX/US), Carmen Roman(Peru/US), Violeta Luna (MX/US), Juliana Mendonca(Venezuela/US) Arenas Dance Company(Cuba/US) presenting work encompassing themes of water protection, queer latinidad, and immigration. Pop–Up Site Activations with the FLACC Community Dancers will be at Dolores Park on Saturdays from 1-3pm leading up to the festival.

Throughout the day, Nizhone Ellenwood (Nii Mii Puu/Nez Perce and Apache) will offer a participatory tobacco prayer-ties culture-share near the water altar space. The American Indian Cultural Center will be hosting a children's tent for kids of all ages to create salmon puppets from 4-6pm and join in a celebratory children's salmon run parade down 18th Street where the Mission creek, also known as El Rio de Los Dolores, once existed. And lastly, local indigenous vendors and community organizations will be sharing their important work. .

The curatorial theme sii agua si was conceived and developed by FLACC's Artistic Director, Liz Duran Boubion through place-based research and collaboration with Kanyon Sayers-Roods, Snowflake Calvert, Gregg Castro, Andrew Galvan, Stephanie Sherman, Ben Wood, Stella Adelman, Ernesto Sopprani, Jesuit Clergy from the Pacific Northwest, Carla Muñoz, Zoe Klein, Emelia Gonzalez-Brumbaugh, Nizhoni Ellenwood, + other culture bearers, family members, Staff.

Supported in part by Kenneth Rainin Foundation's Open Spaces Grant

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Artists: Violeta Luna, Piñata Dance Collective, Kanyon Sayers-Roods, Cece Carpio, Susana Arenas, Ras K'Dee from AudioPharmacy, Pancho Pescador, Mission High School, American Indian Cultural District, American Indian Cultural Center, InterTribal Friendship House, Hector-Jaime Rodriguez, Carmen Roman, Gregg Castro, Adrian Arias, Juliana Mendonca, Idle No More- Alison Ehara-Brown, Joel Pamerantz, Jesus Cortes

Time: 3:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Venue Name: Decolonizing 18th Street (Between Dolores St. & Church St.)