News

By Marjorie Hernandez

Published
Sep. 20, 2023, 10:19 p.m. ET

A shocking video showed tourists being thrown off a vehicle while trying to stop brazen thieves from speeding off with their belongings during a violent robbery in a popular San Francisco area.

Dmitry Koval, a victim who posted the video to Instagram, told The Post that he and his friends were hoping to take in the scenery and get something to eat at the Fort Mason Center lot in the Marian District on September 13.

The group was already across the parking lot at about 4 p.m. when they saw a black SUV park pull up next to their two vans.

They watched in horror as two suspects got out of their vehicle and broke into their vehicles.

“We saw them taking bags from our vans and started putting it into the black SUV,” Koval, 30, said. “That’s when my friends started running and other people there were honking their horns. I heard someone yell, ‘Don’t run to them! They might have a gun!’

Shocking video shows San Francisco tourists thrown from a moving vehicle as they tried to stop car robbers in broad daylight at the Fort Mason Center.Dmitry Koval

“But my friends were already trying to stop them so I could not leave them.”

As Koval’s friends tried to surround the vehicle, the driver of the black SUV stepped on the gas.

One of Koval’s friends hung onto the driver-side window and ran alongside it in an attempt to take control of the wheel.

Another friend also grabbed onto the moving vehicle and tried to wrestle the other suspect who was sitting on the passenger’s side.

“We even broke the windshield with crutches in hopes it would stop them,” Koval wrote in his Instagram post. “Still, the burglar was able to turn the wheel and pushed the gas all the way in.”

The robbers got away with about $10,000 worth of cash, computers and other belongings from Koval and his friends.Dmitry Koval

Within a few seconds, the driver accelerated at a high speed, throwing the friend who was holding onto the driver onto the asphalt. He rolled on the ground several times, causing gash burns throughout his body.

The other victim held onto the passenger side of the robbers’ SUV for another 100 feet before he also was violently thrown off the vehicle, Koval told The Post.

The men suffered minor to serious injuries, with one of them staying a few days at a local hospital because he had broken his legs in the melee.

Koval said before the brazen daytime robbery, they had parked at another location to get a better view of the Golden Gate Bridge. They were alarmed, however, when they saw a vehicle had been broken into at that lot as well.

One of the men who tried to stop the robbers suffered deep gashes and skin burns.Dmitry Koval

The men suffered minor to serious injuries during the melee.Dmitry Koval

“We thought we would be safer if we went somewhere else so we went to Fort Mason lot,” Koval said. “I am just still in shock because it all happened so fast. In total, they probably took about $10,000 worth [of items], including laptops and other important things like documents and our passports.”

Car break-ins have been so common in the Bay Area that law enforcement officials and locals have a name for it.

“It’s called ‘bipping and boosting,’” San Francisco Lt. Tracy McCray told The Post, referring to the slang term used for the vehicle smash-and-grab incidents that have become commonplace in San Francisco, Oakland and other parts of Northern California.

A street sign says ”Safety Alert-Smash and Grab Hotspot” near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California on August 9, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Day-time vehicle break-ins have become so common in San Francisco neighborhoods such as the Alamo Square and Japantown that Supervisor Dean Preston called for a hearing to address the city’s bipping epidemic, according to the San Francisco Standard.

The City by the Bay has been hit not only with increases in thefts and robberies but is also suffering through another record high of drug overdoses with about 85 deaths last month.

A car with a broken window is seen in Alamo Square of San Francisco, California on August 9, 2023. Car break-ins have been at epidemic levels in the Bay Area.Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The increase of certain crimes, fatal overdoses and the exodus of businesses in the once bustling downtown San Francisco tourist corridor also have contributed to the city’s “doom loop.”

Koval, who lives in Massachusetts, said he has visited San Francisco a handful of times before, but he has never experienced a traumatic event like the one that unfolded in front of him last week.

He said the only solace he took from the incident was from the bystanders who saw the robbery and quickly rendered his friends aid and called the cops.

“It has been traumatic and it makes me think that we will just have to avoid San Francisco because it’s just not safe anymore,” he said.

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Dear parents across America: Keep your child away from San Francisco.

Dear parents, does your child seek protection from criticism about their drug use, does it suffer from an intellectual disability or does it simply want to live “off the grid”, free from the constraints of societal norms? You shouldn’t be coming to San Francisco.

Be warned: San Francisco officials have been donating taxpayers’ hard-earned money to unaccountable nonprofits in the homelessness and drug addiction sectors to administer programs on their behalf, which has ultimately been ineffective.

Mayor of London Breed speaks at the Women’s March rally on January 18, 2020 in San Francisco, California. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock)

Our Mayor, London Breed, and our Board of Directors (our City Council), which allocates spending, disregard accountability; The town hall refuses to recognize the unscrupulous waste of money. Your child will not receive meaningful care from the city, nor a safe environment in which to rehabilitate, get clean, find a job, or find an apartment. Recently released statistics paint a very bleak picture for those who come (or are lured) to San Francisco to escape a difficult home environment. This is my appeal to parents across America: keep your child from coming to San Francisco.

News reporters, concerned citizen journalists and civic organizations regularly conduct interviews to solicit comments directly from the homeless and drug addicts on the street. Those affected say that many of them have been forced from their homes by their families. Most tell us they understand that San Francisco is the place of choice because our city accepts homelessness, lax law enforcement, monthly financial support, and easy access to cheap medication. California also has a law (Prop. 47) that classifies theft of goods under $950 as a misdemeanor, essentially stating that stores can be looted and theft is not a criminal offense. So I ask you: How long before your child is living in a tent – maybe a camp – in filth, garbage and hazardous waste, being sexually abused or trafficked to take their drug of choice and stealing from our local businesses, with their life then being subsidized by local San Francisco taxpayers?

Unfortunately, people die every day on the streets of San Francisco and in shelters from fentanyl and other highly addictive, dangerous drugs. Overall, more people have died from a fentanyl overdose than from Covid. There is practically no meaningful treatment of street drugs here. none.

The greatest achievement in San Francisco is bringing your child home. Polls and data have consistently found that the best plan is to actually provide individuals with a ticket to get out of town and live with their loved ones through the Homeward Bound program. Statistically, this means that all other treatments and solutions for San Francisco’s distressed, addicted, and homeless people have been unsuccessful. Under a plan devised by former mayor (now governor) Gavin Newsom, Homeward Bound covers travel expenses to transport individuals home. From March 2023, current Mayor London Breed is expanding access to this scheme.

Who pays that? taxpayers do. I do. My hard-earned money goes to the city in the form of property taxes, business taxes, sales taxes, hotel occupancy taxes, parking meters, gas taxes, bridge tolls, and more. We residents are exhausted, we are overwhelmed, and the high costs of homelessness, addiction, drug overdose, and emergency care programs account for a very significant portion of our city’s budget while other agencies, departments, programs, and resident/business and student needs struggle for funding.

Fiscal 2023-2024 deficit forecast at $760 million; for 2024-2025 it will be significantly higher.

Last May 2023, an official meeting of the San Francisco Mayor and Board of Directors (City Council) was held outdoors, but ended early amid a rowdy crowd. Finally, a deranged person from the crowd threw a brick at the mayor. The brick thrower was a 26-year-old transgender woman whose mother had sent her to San Francisco from Texas just a few months earlier. The mother issued a statement to the media shortly afterwards about the violent incident, admitting she knew her daughter was suffering from bipolar disorder – and saying she hoped “San Francisco would take good care of her.” The daughter is currently in prison and faces charges of attempted murder. This is precisely why our roads have become dangerous. For this reason, San Francisco cannot continue to be a city where “difficult” children are sent; we are not a rehabilitation center; We don’t take care of your child.

Our city is in deep trouble on many fronts and moving your child here to depend on local taxpayer funding is unfair, reckless and truly irresponsible and can be deadly. Please talk to your child, your extended family, the health professionals and find an alternative to San Francisco. Please.

The post Pricey Mother and father Throughout America: Hold Your Youngsters Away From San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Jawbreaker is setting up shop at the Fillmore in San Francisco for three nights, March 24-26.

The New York City Post-punk act — featuring vocalist-guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach, bassist Chris Bauermeister and drummer Adam Pfahlerwhose — is making the rounds in celebration of the 25th anniversary of 1995’s acclaimed “Dear You” album.

“Dear You” marked the band’s major label debut on DGC Records, following a string of influential indie albums — 1990’s “Unfun,” 1992’s “Bivouac” and 1994’s “24 Hour Revenge Therapy.”

It also happens to be the last studio album that the band has recorded — at least to date. Jawbreaker ended up breaking up in 1996, although it reunited in 2017 to the delight of its many fans.

Many consider “Dear You” to be a masterpiece. Rolling Stone, for one example, ranked the offering at No. 4 on its list of “Top 40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time.”

Details: 7:30 pm March 24-26, Fillmore, San Francisco; $45, livenation.com

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Wenn Abigail Munn neuen Bekanntschaften erzählt, dass sie in einem Zirkus auftritt und einen Zirkus leitet, stößt sie normalerweise auf eines von drei Stereotypen: „Die Leute denken, dass Sie Tiere missbrauchen, Sie gehen zu Burning Man oder Sie sind Cirque du Soleil“, sagte sie lachend nach einer kürzlichen Probe zu Circus Bellas „Humorous“.

Aber ihr Unternehmen passt in keine dieser Kategorien. Auch die meisten Zirkusse in der Bay Area tun dies nicht – ein seit langem bestehender Zustand, der jedoch durch die Entwicklung der Zirkusindustrie und der Kunstform noch stärker hervorgetreten ist.

Vor Ort ist eines der sichtbarsten Symbole dieser Entwicklung die Weltpremiere von „Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story“, die am Mittwoch, den 22. September, in der Vorschau beginnt und am 12. Oktober im Club Fugazi, dem ehemaligen, offiziell eröffnet wird Heimat von „Stranddecke Babylon“. Die Show der Bay Area-Eingeborenen Shana Carroll und Gypsy Snider, Mitbegründer von Montreals The 7 Fingers, vermeidet “ta-da!” razzmatazz für die düstere, kantige Ästhetik des modernen Tanzes oder der Performance-Kunst, aber ohne die echte oder wahrgenommene Hochnäsigkeit und das esoterische Bewegungsvokabular dieser Formen.

Seit der Gründung der 7 Fingers im Jahr 2002, sagte Carroll gegenüber The Chronicle im Mai, versuchten die beiden, die distanzierende Wirkung des Spektakels zu vermeiden. „Unser Ziel, sagten wir immer wieder, war es, es auf einen menschlichen Maßstab zu bringen. Wir hatten das Gefühl, dass die Leute auf der Bühne Menschen waren, mit denen wir verwandt waren, Menschen, die wir kannten.“

Dieselbe Vision treibt „Dear San Francisco“ an.

Im Circus Center probt Jérémi Levesque Reifentauchen in Erwartung der Weltpremiere von „Dear San Francisco“ von Club Fugazi Experiences. Foto: Jon Bauer / Club Fugazi Experiences

Andere Zeichen für den Wandel des Zirkus sind Schließung und Kürzung. Im Jahr 2020 beantragte der kanadische Mischkonzern Cirque du Soleil Insolvenzschutz. Das Unternehmen steht jetzt dank einer Infusion von 375 Millionen US-Dollar von Investoren auf solider finanzieller Basis, sagte CEO Daniel Lamarre gegenüber The Chronicle.

„Gleichzeitig“, sagte er, „werden wir aus dieser Krise lernen und das Unternehmen konservativ führen. Das Unternehmen wird in Bezug auf Personal, Ausgaben und auch die Anzahl neuer Shows schlanker.“

Vor der Pandemie präsentierte Cirque du Soleil 44 Shows auf der ganzen Welt; derzeit laufen nur etwa ein Dutzend oder haben geplante Eröffnungstermine.

Emily Tucker tritt 2016 in Cirque du Soleils „Luzia“ in San Francisco auf. Der Cirque du Soleil erholt sich, nachdem er während der Pandemie Insolvenz angemeldet hatte. Foto: Beck Diefenbach / Special zur Chronik 2016

„EWir waren schon vor der Krise an einem Punkt, an dem wir unser Show-Portfolio wirklich optimieren und in einem anderen Rhythmus produzieren wollten“, fügte Lamarre hinzu. „Im Moment wurden wir von der Krise dazu gedrängt, dies umzusetzen, was bedeutet, dass wir unsere bestehenden Shows wiedereröffnen und neue Shows in einem Tempo produzieren, das es uns ermöglicht, den Inhalt nicht zu beeinträchtigen.“

Lamarre schätzt, dass Cirque du Soleil frühestens 2023 wieder in der Bay Area auftreten wird.

Das fusionierte Unternehmen Ringling Bros. und Barnum & Bailey war vielleicht der amerikanische Zirkus, der am ehesten mit dem Image eines reisenden Zirkuszeltes mit drei Ringen voller exotischer Tiere verbunden war. Im Jahr 2017 schloss das Unternehmen nach einem katastrophalen Versuch mit „Out of This World“, Erzählungen zu integrieren, sowie nach Jahren rückläufiger Besucherzahlen und Protesten von Tierschützern.

„Out of this World“ von Ringling Bros. und Barnum & Bailey Circus in der Oracle Arena in Oakland im Jahr 2016. Das Unternehmen wurde 2017 geschlossen. Foto: Scott Strazzante / Die Chronik 2016

Der amerikanische Zirkus sei einzigartig für seine Wandershows und seinen Ursprung im Spektakel, sagte der Zirkushistoriker Dominique Jando, der im Beirat des Circus Center in San Francisco sitzt und die zirkusgeschichtliche Site Circopedia betreibt. Aber diese ersten amerikanischen Zirkusse waren vom Profit getrieben, nicht von Kunst oder Schönheit, erklärte er.

“Die drei Ringe kamen aus rein wirtschaftlichen Gründen. Um mehr Leute in das Zelt zu stopfen, musste man nur das Zelt vergrößern“, sagte Jando und bemerkte, dass der „Ring“ selbst weiter zurückreicht, auf die Ursprünge des Zirkus in Reitshows; der Ring war für Pferde, um darin herumzulaufen. „Damit jeder etwas sehen kann, haben sich PT Barnum und WC Coup dazu entschieden, die Ringe zu vervielfachen, sodass man überall im Zelt etwas zu sehen hatte.“

Aber all dieses Getümmel hätte es dem Publikum möglicherweise unmöglich gemacht, Zirkus als nuancierte bildende Kunst zu schätzen. In Europa unterstützen einzelne Städte das ganze Jahr über einen oder mehrere Zirkusse, wobei das Programm jeden Monat wechselt. Zirkusartisten gelten dort nicht als Spinner, sondern als angesehene Künstler.

In den USA, stellt Munn reumütig fest, gibt es nicht einmal eine „Zirkus“-Box, um die Anträge auf Stipendien der National Endowment for the Arts zu überprüfen.

Wade Burck und weiße Tiger mit den Ringling Bros. Barnum und Bailey Circus im Oakland Coliseum am 23. August 1984. Foto: Michael Maloney / Die Chronik 1984

Jetzt jedoch, mit so vielen Veränderungen in der Branche, hatte der Zirkus die Chance, sich neu zu definieren und zu erheben, Zirkus-Stereotypen zu verbannen, indem er das tat, was er schon immer getan hat. Und oft haben kleinere Zirkusse wie der von Munn die Nase vorn.

Es gibt den Flynn Creek Circus an der Küste von Mendocino, der mit einem Zelt in ländliche Gebiete reist, das die gesamte Firma vor jedem Auftritt aufstellt. „Fairy Tale“, dessen letzte Aufführung vom 30. September bis 3. Oktober in Boonville stattfindet, richtet sich an Erwachsene, ist aber nicht unbedingt für Kinder ungeeignet.

„Wir haben die Seltsamkeit und Nostalgie eines Zirkus der alten Welt, aber das Material ist sehr neu“, sagte der künstlerische Leiter Blaze Birge.

Vivianne Keene (links) und Eka Malbeouf in Flynn Creek Circus „Märchen“. Foto: Leori Gill / Flynn Creek Circus

„Märchen“ handelt von einem Weber, der ein Märchenland baut, aber ein Loch darin hinterlässt, durch das ein Jüngling fällt. Ein Einhorn, gewebt mit dem letzten Faden des Webers, muss den Tag retten – aber nur mit seinem hinteren Ende. (Es wird von zwei Darstellern gespielt.) Unter der Komödie befindet sich jedoch eine Erkundung des Verlusts der Unschuld.

Auch die geplante Winterproduktion im Circus Center nutze das Märchenformat, um eine erwachsene Geschichte zu erzählen, sagte Felicity Hesed, die neue künstlerische Leiterin des Centers.

“Es wird ‘Alice in Winterland’ sein”, sagte sie. „Alice ist jetzt eine erwachsene Frau mit Kindern und sie fällt zurück ins Wunderland“, wo die anderen beliebten Charaktere der Geschichte ebenfalls ein mittleres Alter erreicht haben.

Im Circus Center proben die Darsteller Isabella Diaz (seitlich an der Stange), Jérémi Levesque (hält Isabellas unteren Fuß) und Kalani June (hält Isabellas oberen Fuß) chinesische Stangen in Erwartung der Weltpremiere von Club Fugazi Experiences’ „Dear San Francisco .“ Foto: Jon Bauer / Club Fugazi Experiences

Als Zeichen dafür, wie eng der Bay Area Circus vernetzt ist, schreiben Carroll und Snider dem Circus Center und seinem emeritierten künstlerischen Leiter, Meistertrainer Lu Yi, der die chinesische Akrobatik in den Vereinigten Staaten eingeführt hat, die Beeinflussung der 7 Finger zu. Der Pickle Family Circus wiederum trug wesentlich dazu bei, Lu Yi in die Staaten zu bringen. Währenddessen debütierten sowohl Carroll als auch Snider als Performer bei den Pickles, und die beiden leiteten die Proben für „Dear San Francisco“ im Circus Center.

Dann gibt es die Vau de Vire Society, die Zirkus, Tanz, Kabarett und Nightlife-Party in Events wie dem begehbaren Edwardian Ball in San Francisco oder der Dinnershow „The Soiled Dove“ in Oakland vereint.

Rebecca Feller (links), Sandia DeLavibora, Stephanie Bailey in „The Soiled Dove“ der Vau de Vire Society. Foto: Daisy Rose Coby / Memento Moda 2018

„Wir machen keine Sit-Down-and-Watch-Shows“, sagte Mike Gaines, Produzent der Vau de Vire Society. “Es ist kein ruhiges, gefangenes Publikum.”

Einige seiner Darsteller könnten einen immersiven Kampf zwischen den Tischen der Gäste inszenieren, zum Beispiel zwischen traditionelleren Luftakten.

Dann gibt es Circus Bella, der dem Zirkus der kollektiven Vorstellungskraft am ehesten ähnelt. In „Humorous“ tragen Clowns übergroße Schuhe. Rutschenpfeifen und Geräuschmacher unter den Instrumenten einer sechsköpfigen Live-Band akzentuieren Stunts. Ein Darsteller, Toni Cannon, wird sogar als „starker Mann“ bezeichnet.

Toni Cannon hebt Calvin Kai Ku während Circus Bellas „Humorous“ im DeFremery Park in Oakland hoch. Foto: Santiago Mejia / Die Chronik

Doch selbst inmitten all dieser erkennbaren Signifikanten hat Circus Bellas neueste kostenlose, kinderfreundliche Outdoor-Show ihre eigenen künstlerischen Akzente, die in den Zirkussen vor einem Jahrhundert unbekannt waren. Musik, komponiert von Rob Reich für die Circus Bella All-Star Band, wird oft jazzig und stimmungsvoll. „Humorous“ enthält auch eine Lesung eines Gedichts des Circus Bella Poet Laureate Elliot Simon.

“Zirkus hat etwas so Unprätentiöses, leicht zugängliches”, sagte Munn und merkte an, dass es keine gemeinsame Sprache oder gemeinsame Kultur erfordert. „Ich liebe verrückte Kostüme und die Magie. Für mich ist das ein Teil dessen, worum es im Zirkus geht – Eskapismus und die Vorstellung, jemand anderes zu sein.“

Sie weist darauf hin, dass bei der „Humorous“-Probe, als der Performer Garrett Allen ein paar Stühle in einen prekären Turm stapelte und auf die Spitze kletterte, „wir alle mit ihm da oben waren“.

Garret Allen stapelt Stühle und klettert auf sie während Circus Bellas „Humorous“. Foto: Santiago Mejia / Die Chronik

Dennoch hat der traditionelle Zirkus eine dunkle Seite – die Ausbeutung von Tieren, die Exotisierung sogenannter Freaks. Bill Irwin, ein gefeierter Performer im Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco, erinnert sich daran, wie die Veteranen der Branche ihre Kunstform beschrieben haben, als er in den 1970er Jahren das Ringling Bros. und das Barnum & Bailey Clown College besuchte. „Zirkus ist zweierlei: Es sind Tiere für die Kinder und eine sexy Show für die Erwachsenen.“

Katherine Hutchinson, der neue künstlerische Leiter des Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland, beschreibt die historisch begrenzten Ansichten der Zirkusproduzenten darüber, was ihre Shows sein müssen: „Das Publikum will hübsche, dünne, weiße Damen sehen, die Spagat in der Luft machen.“

Katherine Hutchinson in „Corps de Ballet“. Foto: Leah Marie / Elle Aime Photography

Im Kinetic Arts Center, das in erster Linie eine Schule ist, aber auch Künstlerresidenz-Shows präsentiert, hofft Hutchinson, einen Zirkus zu schaffen, bei dem es nicht darum geht, Fremdheit oder Schönheit zu objektivieren.

„Seltsamkeit um der Fremdheit willen ist etwas anderes, als menschliche Eigenschaften zu betrachten und sich von dem inspirieren zu lassen, was ein Mensch tun kann“, sagte sie.

Sie ist besonders daran interessiert, Zirkus zu nutzen, um Charakter, Emotionen und Geschichten zu entwickeln. In einem ihrer eigenen Stücke, „Corps de Ballet“, ging es um „Wie Ballett mein Körperbild beeinflusst hat und Zirkus mir geholfen hat, mich zu erholen.“

Ein weiteres verräterisches Zeichen für den Wandel der Zirkusbranche war die Gründung der American Circus Alliance im März 2020. Mitbegründer Serenity Smith Forchion aus Vermont glaubt, dass diese neue Gruppe der erste landesweite Zirkusverband ist (obwohl es frühere Versuche gegeben hat). Zu seinen Prioritäten zählen Munns und Hutchinsons Knackpunkte, wie das Befürworten des Zirkus als Kunstform und die Einführung von Diversität, Gerechtigkeit und Inklusion.

„Die Leute schreiben auch heute noch Sinfonien. Die Leute schreiben auch heute noch Opern“, bemerkte Munn. „Wir stehen immer noch in dieser Zirkustradition. Können wir diese Nostalgie für die Vergangenheit einbringen und sie heute relevant machen? Können wir die Essenz und die guten Teile nehmen?“

Abigail Munn moderiert Circus Bellas „Humorous“ im DeFremery Park. Foto: Santiago Mejia / Die Chronik

„Liebes San Francisco: Eine hochfliegende Liebesgeschichte“: Erstellt von Shana Carroll und Gypsy Snider. Vorschauen bis 10. Oktober. $25-$39; $35-$89 ab 13. Oktober. Club Fugazi, 678 Green St., SF 415-273-0600. www.clubfugazisf.com

“Märchen”: Erstellt und inszeniert von Blaze Birge. Donnerstag-Sonntag, 30. September-Okt. 3. Pakete beginnen bei $76 für zwei Personen. Anderson Valley Brewing Company, 17700 Boonville Road, Boonville. 707-684-9389. www.flynncreekcircus.com

“Humorvoll”: Regie: Abigail Munn. 14.00 Uhr Sonntag, 3. Okt. Kostenlos. Heron’s Head Park, Jennings Street am Cargo Way, SF 415-480-4239. www.circusbella.org

• Lily Janiak
  Lily Janiak ist die Theaterkritikerin des San Francisco Chronicle. E-Mail: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

The post New present ‘Pricey San Francisco’ opens at a turning level for circus as artwork type appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Club Fugazi has grown into a jazz and poetry cabaret, with performers reading rousing lines from the beats before diving through a dangling hoop, each acrobat doing the twists and turns of the jump with his or her unique showmanship and aura zhushing leaves.

In another moment, the newly renovated North Beach venue has turned into a playground for someone with insect skills when a performer hops around the inner perimeter of the gleaming white proscenium – up the wall, then upside down, supported by fellow cast members.

“Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story” has taken the place of the longstanding “Beach Blanket Babylon”. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

In yet another scene, the former home of “Beach Blanket Babylon” became a place of performance art. Audio from a “Maltese Falcon” scene is played while the actors Devin Henderson and Natasha Patterson dance out the sexual tension with full-body affairs and convulsions that Mary Astor and Humphrey Bogart limit in the film to glances and trembling voices – all while juggling up to five sparkling pearls the size of a crystal ball.

This is the next chapter in the Bay Area circus heralded by Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story, the new show from Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, co-founders of Montreal’s famous The 7 Fingers.

San Francisco Mayoress, London Breed, greeted the audience on Tuesday October 12th, which was only exposed to hold the introduction of what she quipped that she had received permission from the Department of Health – and hailed the opening night as a turning point in the city’s fight against COVID-19.

“That will be a long time coming,” she said. “We have been in the house for almost two years.”

The Mayor of San Francisco London Breed speaks to the audience ahead of the premiere of Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story at Club Fugazi in San Francisco. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

Dear San Francisco is a suitable flagship for the reopening of the arts. Presented as Valentine’s to the city, the show includes readings of actual love letters to the city, some anonymous, some from celebrities, others from the viewers each evening. Often these charming missives skilfully turn into action. A letter that says, “Thank you for being the place I felt safe to come out of,” doesn’t inspire a hand-to-trap (short for hand-to-trapezoids, a shape Carroll invented) with not -heterosexual pairings and groups.

But sometimes the potted homages to the city feel better for the tourist crowd, who may be trying to validate their pre-existing stereotypes of San Francisco, than for the fine art that the rest of the show aspires to. There are filler lines about how expensive the city is, how hard it is to find a parking space; it’s about psychedelic drugs, how many types of milk there are, and the fearful people trying to choose between them.

“Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story” premiered. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

In any case, the athleticism, precision and inventiveness of the actors quickly overshadow any brick.

Enmeng Song on the diabolo, which is derived from the Chinese yo-yo, can create the illusions of floating and locomotion; he can tear the axis of his device off the cord and then lasso it again in midair.

Junru Wang, who balances upside down on very tall stools, each as wide as the palm of a hand, appears to have radial symmetry, like a starfish; You’re looking directly at them, of course, but it’s like seeing them swimming in the ocean from a bird’s eye view.

The lavishly structured sound design by Jake Rodriguez only amplifies this effect; You can practically imagine how individual waves comb.

Melvin Diggs (below), Devin Henderson, and Natasha Patterson in Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

When you see circus in an intimate setting, you can see again how much power, discipline and grace there is in every effect – the way acrobats do with seemingly little more than a breathless breath, a look up and a wish then climb a trapeze; the way pectoral and even facial muscles twitch when one performer lifts two others onto their shoulders; how diaphragms pump in search of more oxygen.

You can feel the effects too. When artists land, with a boom or a pop, the reverberation sometimes ripples all the way to your seat.

Performers show their strength and agility in “Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story”. Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

Ultimately, “Dear San Francisco” is a love letter not only to the city, but also to the human body, reminding even the less supple among us that our arms and legs are tools and shapes that we may forget to use creatively .

As sleek and smart as Alexander V. Nichols’ production design is with its frequent use of projections, “Dear San Francisco” is refreshingly low-tech, with performers often contributing their own singing voices and instruments – accordion, banjo, drum. They express art and life in everything they touch: a pole, a teeterboard, a straw hat set, a unicycle, a telephone booth become small miracles.

n“Dear San Francisco: A Soaring Love Story”: Created and directed by Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider. Constantly. One hour 45 minutes. $ 35- $ 89. Club Fugazi, 678 Green St., SF 415-273-0600. www.clubfugazisf.com

• Lily Janiak
  Lily Janiak is the theater critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

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Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story, opens Tuesday night at Club Fugazi (678 Green Street) and marks a new life for the venue that was home to Beach Blanket Babylon for 45 years. The new show was announced last year and in June we learned that there would be some sort of revue with acrobatics, choreography, spoken word, video projections, shadow plays and original music.

The show is designed as a love letter to the city and offers many moments, tableaus and spoken pieces that celebrate the history of the city or represent its peculiarities and charm. But by and large, this is a show that uses the loose framework of the city’s identity – with its historical earthquakes, fires, free love, poetry, drugs, tolerance, and technology – as the backdrop for some sometimes stunning stumps and kinetic dance sequences that Combine aerial work, juggling, pole work and acrobatics of various kinds. Think Cirque du Soleil, but with more words and less makeup, in an intimate setting with some hefty splashes of San Francisco’s pizzazz.

The opening number, which revolves around the earthquake and fire of 1906 and features an original song by composer Colin Gagne, is surprisingly moving – the entire ensemble moves both in tandem and in all directions, symbolizing a collective that survived the disaster and comes out of the other side.

The show is the creation of two women with San Francisco in their blood who have spent the last two decades building a circus troupe and style of performance with Montreal’s acclaimed group The 7 Fingers. Gypsy Snider, who was born in SF’s iconic Pickle Family Circus, is the co-artistic director of The 7 Fingers and co-creator of Dear San Francisco, while Shana Carroll is the daughter of longtime Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll and is also co- Artistic director and co-designer. Both are considered directors of the show.

The troupe who run the show includes two San Franciscans – acrobats Devin Henderson and Natasha Patterson, who are both Bay Area veterans and veterans of the local Cricus scene. But the rest of the cast is an international mix of talent from China, Australia, Canada and elsewhere in the US

Ruben Ingwersen (left) and Jérémi Levesque. | Photo credit: Kevin Bern

Impressive talents include Melvin Diggs, who came to the 7 Fingers through Circus Flora in St. Louis and Cirque du Soleil. As an amazing acrobat and graceful performer, Diggs does some incredible aerial stunts and also gives some formidable muscle support to his stage mates. The Australian Ruben Ingwersen and the Canadian Jeremi Levesque play a death-defying teaterboard number in the middle of the show, which vaguely addresses an earthquake. And Junru Wang’s talent at hand balancing is being saved for the penultimate act on the show – and the directors also created a poignant vignette that matches her talents.

Junru Wang | Photo: Kevin Bern

The kinetic pace and general thrust of Dear San Francisco is contagious, and after a brisk 90 minutes it’s hard not to want to stop. But the show is mind-blowing and is likely to appeal to a wide audience in the style of Stomp and the Cirque du Soleil franchise, while also playing the role of cultural cheerleaders and odists for the City by the Bay. Over time, the team intends to evolve and modify the show, much like Beach Blanket Babylon has done, to allow for repeated viewings over the years.

A quick foray satirizing SF’s recent tech boom falls a little flat – though it’s not without a laugh – and a sequence celebrating the poetry of the beat generation in North Beach, with short lines from Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane Di. Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and among others the recently deceased Jack Hirschman is serious, but could perhaps do without the Beatnik berets.

Whatever you’re looking for from this show, you’re likely to be surprised, amazed, and a little out of breath like the seemingly tireless performers themselves.

Keep in mind that the food and beverage service hasn’t started yet – and it will likely only be available before and after each performance – cups and plates don’t really work in a room where the performers are often everywhere at the same time, riding a unicycle across the bar in front of you.

Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story runs at Club Fugazi for an indefinite period. Tickets are available for as little as 39 US dollars.

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In North Beach, there is currently a lot of activity at Club Fugazi, the long-standing former home of “Beach Blanket Babylon” – and there are no huge hats in sight.

“It’s a work in progress at every level,” said David Dower in the still-renovated theater that will premiere “Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Adventure” with contemporary circus troupe The 7 Fingers next month.

Dower, a veteran local theater producer, founding director of Z Space and executive director of Dear San Francisco presenters Club Fugazi Experiences, recently gave a taste of the show and the venue as the cast rehearsed under Artistic Director Gypsy Snider slid down bars and balanced on his hands.

Club Fugazi Experiences Executive Director David Dower and Artistic Director Gypsy Snider gave a foretaste of their new show at Club Fugazi. (Leslie Katz / The Examiner)

Visitors who are familiar with “Beach Blanket Babylon”, the wacky musical revue that occupied the room for decades, noticed a change in the house: the missing balcony, which was removed to improve visibility.

“You can’t do a circus if you can’t see the air, so we took out the balcony. We also left the floor flat, “Dower said as he unveiled new swivel chairs at varying heights that allow viewers to easily see the show as it” moves around the room. “

There will be nearly 340 removable seats and 40 standing room for Dear San Francisco, just a slight decrease in the capacity of Beach Blanket. However, due to COVID security concerns, the audience will initially be limited to 175.

Ticket prices start at $ 35 ($ 29 for previews) per seat and go up to $ 2,500 or $ 3,500 for the 35-person tiara area on the mezzanine that was created for Queen Elizabeth of England was to see “BBB”. (The Queen never sat there as the show was at Davies Symphony Hall during her 1983 visit to The City; but Prince Charles and Camilla did in 2005.)

Dower and the show’s producers say the cost of seating and standing on the lower level will always remain affordable.

“We want to hold the price so people can see the show,” he said.

This notion correlates with Club Fugazi Experience’s mission to be a neighborhood and Bay Area booster.

And that’s one of the main reasons the building’s owner, Italian Community Services, a nonprofit that has been helping Italians and Italian Americans since the 19th century, is renting the theater to the group.

“Their approach was all about community,” said Steve Leveroni, vice president of the ICS board of directors, who negotiated what all parties would recognize as good business and whose father signed a similar original lease with the father of BBB inventor Steve Silver arranged Lou Silber.

“The theater became iconic for what Beach Blanket Babylon did for the community,” said Leveroni, noting that Dower and Snider, whose family started the Pickle Family Circus, have strong ties to San Francisco; and, equally important, that their show would be dedicated to North Beach and the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

After Leveroni only considered a few potential tenants, the ICS board thought, “This one seems to be the best fit for the venue. We all have the same end goal. “

To this end, the creators of Dear San Francisco ask people to write them letters with comments, impressions, and memories of The City that will be woven into an evolving 90-minute production.

And with its constant cast and content changes, and various excellent vantage points from every seat in the house, the show’s producers hope that audiences will want to watch “Dear San Francisco” repeatedly and drink, eat, and hang out for a while they do.

Rehearsals for “Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Adventure” will take place in Club Fugazi, which is being converted for production. (Leslie Katz / The Examiner)

This community spirit is also reflected in the menu that is offered before each performance (to protect the flying and jumping acrobats, there is no food and drink service during the show), with many items from local suppliers.

In the historic common room of the ICS above the theater, guests of the latest preview enjoyed tastings of the delicious snacks, including: Fried Fava Beans “Popcorn”, Liguria Bakery Focaccia, Mee Mee Bakery Cow Ear Snackers, Rustic Bakery Crackers, Bohemian Creamery Cheese, Smoked Sardines and Mackerel from Jose Gourmet and the signature Sacripantina cake from Stella Pastry & Café, a creamy, almond-like treat to die for.

Preview performances of Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Adventure are September 22nd through October. 10 at Club Fugazi, 678 Green St., SF The premiere is on October 12th. For tickets, visit clubfugazisf.com.

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