In a city both famous and notorious for its unusual art offerings, few performances have been as consistently surprising and delightful as San Francisco Trolley Dances (SFTD).
Epiphany Dance Theater will celebrate the end of its two decades producing the festival on Oct. 19 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with the premiere screening of a film titled Dancing With Muni, along with live performances and a dance party. The evening concludes with a giveaway of costumes and props.
The event will honor Epiphany founder and Artistic Director Kim Epifano, whose tenure at the helm of SFTD ends this year. In keeping with Trolley Dances’ history as an admission-free festival, the celebration is offered to the public free of charge (though reservations are required).
According to The New York Times, the idea for Trolley Dances goes back to 1998, when choreographer Jean Isaacs “could not afford a theater for her new dance company’s performances.” Isaacs struck “an unlikely partnership” with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and “turned the city’s streets into her stage.” Spin-offs were eventually born in San Francisco and Riverside.
Each year, SFTD matched Bay Area-based artists and ensembles with specific sites, inviting them to create short pieces in response to the physical environment, architecture, and history of the area. And through Kids on Track, its public school program, Epiphany augmented the festival, cultivating arts appreciation in creative movement workshops and tours of performances.
Dancing with Muni was made in collaboration with Loren Robertson Productions and features interviews with some of the more than 1,000 artists who have taken part in SFTD since its inception, as well as Epifano and Epiphany Managing Director Zoë Klein.
The celebration on Oct. 19 will begin at 6:30 p.m. with pop-up performances by past SFTD participants, including Klein, Maica Folch, Natalie Greene, YiTing Gama Hsu, Hien Huynh, Dave Paris, and Jennifer Perfilio. Live music will be provided by didgeridoo virtuoso Stephen Kent, CelloJoe, and the men’s vocal ensemble Conspiracy of Beards.
Over two decades, SFTD traveled from Bayview to the Haight, from the Mission to the City College of San Francisco Ocean Campus, from South of Market to Chinatown to Golden Gate Park and many points in between.
“If my shoes could talk,” says Epifano. “I have taken Muni and then walked all over this city. It has been a tremendous honor to have worked alongside so many generous artists, volunteers, community organizations, small and large businesses, and city officials in service of this event.
“I have learned a ton, I’ve met so many amazing people, and I’m proud of all that we have accomplished taking more than 40,000 audience members — the ones we could count — on journeys around the city.”
SFTD was not staged this year, in part because, as Epifano explains, “it’s harder to get permits and permissions to mount certain kinds of projects outdoors. Twenty years ago, one could get away with a few more things. But I feel that Muni only got more engaged year after year. They became a fuller collaborating partner, and that was a real joy.”
Among Epifano’s memories of the festival:
“COVID in 2020 was probably the most unusual and challenging year for SFTD. One group had to drop out. Six groups continued, and we were thrilled to be with each other, wearing masks, making site-specific work together at a time when it felt like all might be lost.
“Once we figured out that we were moving forward, even without the audience coming to us, we could dive into our work with gusto. We filmed the sites with [videographer] Andy Mogg and made a wonderful movie to share, with more historical footage embedded within the film. The sour lemons of 2020 turned into lemonade because so many people saw [SFTD] from all around the world. It created a wider reach with our audience than ever before.”
Epifano mentions other memorable years:
“In 2012, the World Series with the [San Francisco] Giants was happening. We were taking the T Third Line [of Muni] from SoMa to Bayview. The trains were so impacted and the crowds insane. I hired the Mexican buses out of the Mission to take the audience to Bayview via another route. People loved riding in those buses with wonderful drivers and history.”
Among the dozens of organizations that have collaborated with SFTD is Parangal, a Filipino folk-dance company directed by Eric Solano. Epifano recalls, “In 2021, I assigned his company to perform in the then-brand-new Salesforce Transit Center grand lobby. Eric had over 20 people with fans and incredible costumes. The company also included many musicians with gongs and other percussion, and it was very moving to linger inside this beautiful space that most people rush quickly through. For that weekend the artists showed us that the space could be a temple. The acoustics were great, and Parangal’s traditional dancing was phenomenal. It all came together in a magical way.”
One of Epifano’s favorite sites was the train yard below the Old San Francisco Mint, where Muni fixes up trains on the F Market & Wharves line. “It was 2005, and we danced and sang as [saxophonist] George Brooks played his horn. We became Train 789 and told its story. It was so fun because we found out so much history … [like] that Maya Angelou was one of the first female conductors in San Francisco.
“What happens to these incredible vehicles? Train 789 had been a jewelry store, a doctor’s office, and then it started to crumble away, and they brought it back to life. We danced on it, inside it, and all around it. The whole train would move back and forth when we sang and danced. It felt like we were really going somewhere.”
