THIS PERFORMANCE TOOK PLACE AUGUST 19, 2022 THROUGH AUGUST 21, 2022

Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) presents Zaccho Dance Theatre’s biennial San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival on the FMCAC campus for FORT MASON ART’s Summer 2022 program. The San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival takes place Friday, August 19, 2022 through Sunday, August 21, 2022.

The city’s premiere aerial arts event, the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival (SFAAF) features internationally recognized artists and exciting newcomers breaking into the field. This biennial festival brings together spectacle, daring athleticism, aerial dance, and circus. 

The city’s premiere aerial arts event, the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival (SFAAF) features internationally recognized artists and exciting newcomers breaking into the field, bringing together spectacle, daring athleticism, aerial dance, and circus.

The 2022 festival is a dynamic event featuring an evening group performance at the Cowell Theater, a youth matinee performance, and the premiere of a new site-specific aerial performance by world renowned choreographer Robert Moses’ KIN at the Festival Pavilion.

Friday, August 19, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. — Zaccho Dance Theatre’s Love, a state of grace — Pre-show screening of new film by Bryan Gibel and Joanna Haigood at the Cowell Theater.

Filmmaker Bryan Gibel’s breathtaking cinematography captures Zaccho Dance Theatre’s remarkable 2022 performance at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The performance explores love and our common humanity using the vastness and beauty of the cathedral as backdrop. For more information, visit: www.LoveAStateOfGrace.org.

Friday, August 19, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. — Group Performance at Cowell Theater.

The August 19, 2022 performance is followed by an Artist Talk Back, “The Rainbow Is Enuf.” Join Zaccho and the other aerialists at the edge of the stage for an artist Q&A immediately following the premiere showing of The Rainbow is Enuf with choreographer Veronica Blair and her dynamic ensemble cast – Susan Alston-Voyticky, Toni Cannon, Chloé Farah, Summer Lacy, Copper Santiago, and Darielle Williams.

Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. — Zaccho Dance Theatre’s Love, a state of grace — Pre-show screening of new film by Bryan Gibel and Joanna Haigood at the Cowell Theater.

Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. — Group Performance at Cowell Theater

The August 20, 2022, 8:00 p.m. performance is followed by an Artist Talk Back, “RESURGE Artists.” Join Zaccho and the other aerialists at the edge of the stage for an artist Q&A immediately following the RESURGE group show with choreographers and performers from each of the six pieces – San Francisco (SF) Bay Area trapeze artist Shannon Gray, international aerialist Pamela Donohoo, Cassandra Cornell and Rachel Karabenick from Las Vegas, Terry Crane with Acrobatic Conundrum from Seattle, and SF Bay Area choreographer and aerialist Veronica Blair.

Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. — Youth Matinee Performance at Cowell Theater

Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. — Robert Moses’ KIN at Festival Pavilion

The August 20, 2022, 3:00 p.m. performance is followed by an Artist Talk Back, “Body Sovereignty For BIPOC In Circus And Aerial Artists.” Black and brown bodies in aerial and circus movement spaces continue to represent the nuances of race, class, and access in our society. Join Zaccho and the other aerialists for a conversation with legendary Ringling Brothers artists PaMela Hernandez and Denise Aubrey, acrobatic designer Chloé Farah, choreographer Robert Moses, and facilitated by choreographer Veronica Blair about what it means to take up space and thrive in these unique forms of performance.

Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. — Robert Moses’ KIN at Festival Pavilion

The final SFIAAF 2022 performance takes place at CounterPulse, 80 Turk Street, San Francisco, CA:

Sunday, August 21, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. — New Experiments at CounterPulse. Tickets: $15 to $30. New Experiments is a unique opportunity for aerial artists to come together to build community, share ideas, and present short new works in a mixed program presented with CounterPulse. Featured artists for 2022 include Ciarra D’Onofrio, Faith Elder, Meléa Emunah, Kelsey Keitges, Meche Perez, and Nina Sawant.

The evening group performance on Friday and Saturday night includes the world premiere of choreographer Veronica Blair’s Rainbow is Enuf at the Cowell Theater, a re-imaging of legendary playwright Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, expressed through the lens of modern circus. Also performing on the group program are Montreal-born and Bay Area trapeze artist Shannon Gray, international aerialist Pamela Donohoo, and Melissa Knowles, and Terry Crane of Acrobatic Conundrum from Seattle.

The SFAAF Youth Matinee Performance on Saturday, August 20, 2022 showcases young aerialists from Circus Center’s San Francisco Youth Circus, Kinetic Arts Center’s Circus Spire, Mendocino Center for Circus Arts’ Circus Mecca, BANDALOOP & Destiny Arts Youth Company, and Zaccho Youth Company.

FORT MASON ART is pleased to continue supporting the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival.

The San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival is also generously supported by San Francisco’s Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the Gerbode Foundation’s New Choreographer Award, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Terry Sendgraff Trust, and Zaccho’s community of individual donors.

About The Artists

Choreographer, Writer, and Composer Robert Moses joins SFAAF during Robert Moses’ KIN’s 27th anniversary season. Moses has created more than 100 works of varying styles and genres for his highly praised dance company, as well as composing many of the sound and narrative scores since 2008. Moses has choreographed for dance, opera, and theater companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Opera, and Lorraine Hansberry Theater. He has taught at festivals and on college campuses throughout the US and internationally, including UC Berkeley, and Stanford University, where he served as Dance Lecturer and Choreographer-in-Residence from 1995 to 2016.

Veronica Blair is one of the top Black aerialists in the country. A Bay Area native, she began her career at the age of 14. She has performed in Afrika! Afrika!, Germany’s largest circus event, and worked for Universal Studios Japan. Blair’s The Uncle Junior Project seeks to bring attention to the legacy and talent of Black circus entertainers.

Shannon Gray is a Montréal-born aerialist, dancer, and performing artist specializing in dance trapeze. She has performed and taught all over the world. Shannon brings a unique rawness and emotional honesty to all of her work. She is currently based north of San Francisco and developing The Sentience Project.

Mia Pixley, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and artist who uses her cello, voice, and music performance to study and represent aspects of self and other, community, and the natural world. Pixley’s music gravitates toward the beauty hidden in sorrow, pain, and loss, and this beauty’s potential to inspire curiosity, wonder, rebirth (and a good time!).

Acrobatic Conundrum, Seattle’s premier contemporary circus arts company, creates performances that amaze and inspire audiences. Founded in 2012 by Artistic Director Terry Crane, the company blends virtuosic circus skill, dance and physical theater to create work that is poetic, a little absurd, and deeply relatable. Crane delights in sharing his love of aerial technique, circus creation, and collaboration via workshops and performances. He is an alumnus of the National Circus School of Montreal, Oberlin College, and a dozen circus companies.

Pamela Donohoo, Artistic Director of Awaken Circus and Dance Theater in New England, is an international performing artist: aerialist, acrobat, dancer, and choreographer. Specializing in creating socially relevant and globally engaged acrobatic performances, she has performed throughout the U.S. and internationally and done commercials, award shows, large-scale events, and spectacular acrobatic show

 All Fort Mason Art Programs are generously supported by San Francisco Grants for The Arts and the FMCAC Board of Directors.

Image Credits: Photo two Kamelo Shibata in a piece by Karl Gillick, photo by Andy Mogg; Photos one, three,  four, and five by Austin Forbord