The 18th annual presentation of the Trolley Dances takes to the rails the weekends of Sept. 24-25, and Oct. 1-2 along the MTA’s Blue Line.
This year the taking off point will be the Continuing Education/César E. Chávez Campus at 1901 Main St. in Barrio Logan. The Trolley Dance guides will meet you there to guide you to the sites along the route of each new dance composition. Jean Isaacs, artistic director of the San Diego Dance Theater based in Liberty Station and founder of the Trolley Dances, has created two new dances for this season.
Solo dancer Bill Shannon has a bilateral hip deformity and does contemporary performance art on crutches, sometimes adding skateboarding and breakdancing. He creates his own dance language.
Monica Bill Barnes studied dance at UCSD and now is a fixture in the NYC dance scene. She returns often to choreograph for the Trolley Dances, and will work this year with the core dancers of The San Diego Dance Theater. Dance Magazine has noted her “playful slapstick charm” and she has also been called “the Tina Fey of Dance.”
Jess Humphrey, who teaches dance at San Diego State University, is creating a multigenerational piece using young children, professional dancers, and seniors from the Aging Creatively program. Zaquia Mahler Salinas is a SDDT company dancer with a unique, youthful perspective who will create a new work, this time focusing on the culture of the Barrio and its importance to local Latino history. Ticketed guests may board the trolley at 10 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1 p.m., or 1:45 p.m. Ticket prices are $40 general, $27.50 seniors and military, and $15 for students with ID.
The project has been underwritten this year by the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America program, the City and County of San Diego, and by the California Arts Council.
Your Trolley Dance ticket is an all-day MTA transit pass.
For further information, go to www.sandiegodancetheater.