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Artists Strike Back

Clarion Alley Dance protest rallies S.F. artists

by Yafonne

An eager street crowd packed Clarion Alley in the San Francisco Mission District on Friday, Aug. 18, at 9 p.m., anticipating an impromptu dance protest performance directed by local choreographer Keith Hennessey. In the brisk night wind, some 20 local artists dressed in black emerged mysteriously from one end of the barely lit alley.

The disheveled ragamuffin band on bikes slowly edged their way toward the waiting crowd, some looking half dead, limping, or carrying bikes, others standing on their heads. An ordinary woman dunked her head repeatedly in a tub of water as if forced by invisible perpetrators. Two walked around aimlessly lugging red toy wagons.

The mass of artists gathered into a mountain pile of stuttering ESL chorus, muttering words as if disabled, before finally pronouncing “rent” correctly before the mob director. Suddenly they shouted, “The rent is way too high! The rent is way too high!” as a circle of fire burst around them, creating an intense energy of horror.

Apparently, the dance sit-in protest that began on Aug. 15 at Dancers’ Group, a local performance space, has moved to the streets. After being cordially arrested for trespassing Friday morning by the S.F. Police and holding a press conference at 9 a.m., the story of some 20 independent dance artists involved in the resistance movement—AARGG! (All Against Ruthless Greedy Gentrification!)—hit the major Bay Area news stations that night.

Korean American Marlina Sonn, one of the main organizers of the Aug. 15 dance protest at Dancers’ Group, is a member of the Devil-ettes, a synchronized rock dance troupe.

“I want to create a situation where dancers did not go out quietly,” Sonn, 28, said.

Sonn, however, did not participate in sit-in at Dancers’ Group. “For me it was much more important to work cooperatively with the police,” she said. “I think that on a certain level this reflects Asian values. One can work with the system to instill change. Try to be in cooperation with those who have a different view than you.”

The new owners of the building, Evans Sagerman and his wife of Pomegranate Designs & Development, offered Dancers’ Group a below-market rent rate of $2.50/ sq. ft.

But Sonn felt the amount was unaffordable. “Pomengrate Designs was not willing to negotiate the sum, only payment. Fifteen thousand dollars a month is unaffordable for any dance organization in the city. It’s extremely insulting.”

In the past when artists were displaced by high rent rates, they simply threw up their hands in passive defeat, thinking the invasion by developers unstoppable. But now with a resistance contingent springing up, these artists feel empowered to demand the preservation of 3221 22nd Street, where Dancers’ Group sits, as a permanent place for live art. The activists also want landlords and developers to acknowledge that low-income people cannot pay market rate rents, and they want the city to implement socially responsible solutions.

Sonn urged Asian Americans to remember their local San Francisco artists the next time they go to a museum or a performance. “These institutions are fed by the independent artists community,” she said. “Without that community of smaller artists, those genius, masters who rise to prominence, would not exist.”

The fire melted, the artists slowly dispersed, with the image of an Asian pregnant woman slowly tumbling backward into the dark, dragging a long red cord pulled from her chest. The crowd burst into wild applause, whistling and shouting, “Thank you” to the performers.

“Keith asked me to improvise a general image of something terrible happening,” recalled 31-year-old dancer and choreographer Priscilla Park, the Korean American soloist who closed the piece. “In my mind it’s like blood spilling from my guts. It’s about our pouring out of blood, how painful it is to see artists displaced. My gut is being wrench and forced out of me.”

Park, who took part in the protest sit-ins since Tuesday night, Aug. 15, has thrown herself whole heartedly into this resistance. “It’s been so empowering. I’ve always watched others do the Democratic Convention. But for the first time, this is something I can do ... I feel really honored to be a part of this process.”

The Clarion Alley protest demonstrated in vivid metaphors the eviction crisis facing low-income residents that has skyrocketed to an all time high this year, becoming for many a 911 cultural emergency. Besides Dancers’ Group, other dance spaces facing the similar evictions include San Francisco Dance Center, Dance Mission Theater, and 848 Community Space.

Park compared the crisis facing dancers to that of endangered species, especially for Asian American artists, who form an even smaller community. “Since I’ve moved here to San Francisco I’ve always had a dream of forming a performance collective. I haven’t been able to make that dream a reality because of the space issue.”

According to Sonn, the recent protests are just a snapshot for many more upcoming resistance projects all over San Francisco. “San Francisco is entering into a real cultural crisis,” explained Sonn. “It is really up to each individual citizen in San Francisco to help artists remain here. This is a battle call. This is only the beginning.”