MARA LEA BROWN

Since 2014, FLACC has provided a platform of visibility and inclusivity for over 60 resistant, queer, indigenous, and hybrid choreographers of the Latinx diaspora who cross cultural, physical, and aesthetic borders of tradition to abstraction. To adapt to the obstacles of Covid 19, our 9th annual Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers will host several artists from different disciplines to support our curatorial theme "sii agua sí" in our first outdoor festival along the Mission Creek/18th Street Corridor in Yelamu.

FLACC 2022: sii agua sí (water water yes) - "sii" is the Ohlone word for "water."  In memory of the blocked and soil-filled waterways that once flowed in this region and in honor of the 5700 local Indigenous ancestors buried in the cemetery at the Mission Dolores,  FLACC is centralizing the voices and themes of the land-based site in collaboration and solidarity with local Ohlone leaders, SF Parks, Dance Mission Theater, American Indian Cultural District and other community partners. Through community rituals, live performance installations and historical talks, sii agua si is symbolically re-filling the site with water (sii) to bring awareness and healing to a painful history of cultural genocide and ecocide that seeps beneath the streets of the Mission District.

With a temporary mural by local artists to guide the audience in the daytime and installing multiple video projections of water to visually define performance and ritual spaces at night, the festival will take place within a watery landscape.  Water blessings, land acknowledgements, traditional and contemporary dances, water altars in honor of the current water crisis, a prayer-walk, live musical collaborations, and  will take place in various sites along the path to honor our human and non-human ancestors.

By re-imagining the natural creeks, lagoons and waterways in sii agua sí, FLACC honors the former natural landscape and the native Ramaytush Yelamu ancestors who fell victim to ecocide and cultural genocide due to industrialism and colonization. FLACC acknowledges the attempted extermination of Ohlone Ramaytush, as well as Miwok, Pomo, Mutsun, Chochenyo, Lisjan, Rumsen, Muwekma and the surrounding indigenous people who were brought to this Ramaytush Yelamu area, and buried in the Mission Dolores 2 blocks away from the former village, Chutchui, of the Ramaytush Ohlone people of Yelamu.  This festival is an opportunity for their descendants to share practices that promise to restore waterways and honor their ancestors. Through a long-term relationship building process, FLACC hopes to bring allies of religious, cultural and educational institutions within the neighborhood into a space of action and solidarity among Indigenous landback and water rights movements.  The festival aims to grow capacity within contemporary Latinx arts communities to support Indigenous led healing.

The Laguna Dolores was near the Misión Dolores (formally known as Mission San Francisco de Asis), and Mission creek flowed on the 18th street side of Dolores Park in front of Mission High School. The 18th Street closure is the the area where the Chutchui Village once thrived.

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SII AGUA SÍ PROGRAM ORDER

Indigenous-Led Prayer Walk: 2pm-3pm
(In honor of the lost Waterways of Yelamu + the 5,700 native ancestors buried at the Mission Dolores.)

sii agua sí street closure (decolonizing 18th St. between Church St. and Dolores St.)

Opening Ceremony at the Water Altar: 3pm

Gregg Castro (Ramaytush Ohlone)
Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Ohlone Mutsun Culture Bearer)
Hummaya Singers and Dancers (The Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe)

Youth Performances 4:30pm
Intertribal Friendship House- Youth Ensemble 
Mission High School Youth 
Red Lightning Woman Power 

Altar Artists:
Mara Lea Brown
Bea Laurel
FLACC/ sii agua sí Team
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Interactive Chalk Mural Project: 1pm-5pm
Adrian Arias (Peru/US)
Pancho Pescador (Chile/US)
Cece Caprio (Pilipina)

The Sound of Water: 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm 
5 minutes of embodied land acknowledgement every hour on the hour
Concept by Liz Duran Boubion, Violeta Luna and Jesús Cortes

Taco Truck! Tonayense + Al Pastor Papi!: 3-7pm

Childrens Tent: 4-6pm
Arts and Crafts hosted by the American Indian Cultural Center

Tobacco Prayer Ties: 5-7pm
Nizhoni Ellenwood(Nii Mii Puu/Nez Perce & Apache)

****DJ Dance Set! Ras K’dee (Dry Creek Pomo): 5pm + 6pm****
Come and dance to some amazing beats!

Mayan Yucatan Dance Class + Demonstration! 5:30pm 
Asociación Mayab-Maya Yucateco

****Kids Parade for the Waterways! 6pm****
Children of all ages leading Salmon Run (Fishies and instruments provided)
Hosted by the American Indian Cultural Center and Piñata Dance Collective

Evening Program FLACC Performances/Ohlone Culture Shares/Film 6:30-9:30: 
Carmen Roman(Peru/US)
Juliana Mendonca (Venezuela/US)
Violeta Luna(MX/US)
Jesus Cortés (MX/US)
Joel Pomerantz (Waterways Historian)
Piñata Dance Collective/Liz Duran Boubion(US/MX): 
Carmina Marquez, Laila Shabazz, Valerie Mendez, Bae Laurel
FILM: Jonathan Trudeau-Standing Rock/Dance Mission Theater
Kanyon Sayers Roods (Ohlone-Mutsun and Chumash)
Arenas Dance Company (Cuba/US)
Xochipilli Dance Company/Hector-Jaime Rodriguez(MX/US)
Gregg Castro (t'rowt'raahl Salinan / rumsien & ramaytush Ohlone)
Large Scale Video Projection / Memorial: 5,700 Ancestors (Ben Wood)

​AFTER PARTY Ras K’Dee Dance Set! 9:15pm-10pm

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ALTAR BY MARA LEA BROWN:

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