Presenting a regular parade of candidates, activists, authors and government officials, Manny’s is no stranger to fancy verbal footwork. But the Mission’s essential hub of civic engagement has never hosted anything with moves quite like “Water In the Kettle,” a pop-up performance by Evie Ladin’s MoToR/dance company.
With two shows on Saturday, the percussive all-female troupe has reconceived a production it originally designed for Rhythmix in Alameda, where “Water In the Kettle” premiered over three sold-out shows last February. Dissecting the promise and failures of equality that have alternately buoyed and dispirited women and the country at large in recent decades, the simmering “Water In the Kettle” features percussionist Amber Hines and Lisa Berman on banjo and dobro accompanying the 12 women of MoToR/dance, who interweave choreography, three-part vocal harmonies, and rhythmic patterns created with hands, feet and body.
Sardonic, earnest, world-weary, and robustly physical, the show is “an hour-long narrative performance piece with a lot of body music choreography and storytelling based on complex female realities,” Ladin said. She’s joined by Valerie Gutwirth, Keira Armstrong, Tammy Chang, Kristen DeAmicis, Heather Arnett, Sydney Lozier, JJ Hansen, Cynthia Mah and Linda Carr.
With deep roots in old-time Appalachian music, the Oakland-based Ladin has played a central role in producing the International Body Music Festival, which was created and spearheaded by her husband, body music maestro Keith Terry. They’ve performed in hundreds of schools, theaters and clubs with their rhythmically charged Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble, while she’s also toured and recorded with the Stairwell Sisters and the Evie Ladin Band. MoToR/dance became a vehicle for returning to her first sources of Appalachian inspiration while delving more deeply into the African-American roots of old-time music and dance.
“I’ve been working with Keith and the international body music world for years,” Ladin said. “But I started my career as a percussive dancer, and this group came about when I was looking at Appalachian songs throughout the pandemic, when the Appalachian community took a look at their traditions in light of Black Lives Matter.”
Ladin drew the title from a song by British composer Lara Weaver that she first used for choreography in 1999, “and it’s been bugging me ever since,” she said. When MoToR/dance evolved into an all-female group and decided to maintain and build on that status, “Water In the Kettle” took on multiple connotations, flowing from their experiences as women who are “continuing to face detrimental things butting up against the patriarchy,” Ladin said.
“I don’t feel like I’ve been discriminated against in my genre. I understand that I’m lucky. But I did start to feel as I got older that opportunities weren’t always there. One thing I say, is that I love the metaphor that comes from this song, that putting water on to boil is often the first thing we do in offering consolation. The idea of simmering, boiling, heating up runs through the piece.”
Other recommended events
Red Fast Luck duo at Medicine for Nightmares
Tenor saxophonist David Boyce’s ongoing series at Medicine For Nightmares continues Friday with Red Fast Luck, a duo featuring Boyce on reeds and electronics, with prolific producer PC Muñoz on percussion, boomstick, and assorted percussive implements.
‘Colombia On Film’ at the Roxie
What’s playing at the Roxie? I’ll tell you what’s playing at the Roxie.
Presented by CiNEOLA and RoxCine, the two-day documentary series “Colombia On Film” screens Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4-5. The program includes the West Coast premiere of Diana Bustamante’s 2022 film “Nuestra película,” a deep dive into the political violence that engulfed the nation in the 1980s via archival television broadcasts, and Yira Plaza O’Byrne’s 2023 account of the life of her Marxist activist father, “El rojo más puro.” A portion of ticket proceeds will go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
‘Forgetting Tree’ at Z Space
Over at the always buzzing Z Space, Jes Deville conducts “Forgetting Tree,” a co-production with Queer Cat Productions and OpenHaus Athletics. A cultural memory project described as “an immersive dance-theater experience,” the project unfolds as a series of vignettes and performances featuring artists such as Rawiyah Tariq, Edna Mira Raia, Jessica Maria Recinos, Janesta Edmonds, Kayla May Paz Suarez, Jhia Jackson, and the extraordinary Los Angeles aerial cellist Cellista. It’s an all-ages performance with some mature content. Presented in the Z Space lobby, it’s designed for self-directed wandering (with ADA seating prioritized). The performances include live ASL interpretation and projected on film by Vizual Voices.
Saw a trombonist hanging off of the parklet at Manny’s today while walking home from an early dinner at Puerto Alegre, farting out random notes of free jazz, stumbling into the street and bike lanes, farting out free jazz notes on time. So vibrant, so creative, so breaking down the walls.