Island City Waterways
/Back for a second year, the popular, roving art event brings a new chapter of Alameda history to life through music, dance, theater, and storytelling.
Saturday and Sunday, May 19 & 20, 2018
Four performances each day at 10am, 11:45am, 1:30pm, and 3:15pm
at Crab Cove, Crown Memorial State Beach
FREE FOR ALL AGES
Rhythmix Cultural Works presents Island City Waterways, a site-specific public art event that animates Alameda’s past and present through music, dance, theater, storytelling, and more. Following up on its popular debut in 2016, this year’s production, presented in association with East Bay Regional Parks District, tells a fresh story in a stunning, new location as a cast of forty actors, dancers, and musicians leads audiences on an easy stroll around Crab Cove, Crown Memorial State Beach for a 75-minute performance that brings to vibrant life the Cove’s rich history and celebrates the sea.
Carnies and bathing beauties start the show off with a walk down Memory Lane, back to the Roaring Twenties when the area was the home of Neptune Beach, an amusement park with extravagant public baths. Then, following a drum corps, you’ll visit “Glory of the Seas,” a WWII-era maritime officer training station, where you can join the trainees for drills. Ryujin the Dragon Queen spins a tale of ecological warning on the shores of the first estuary marine reserve in California, established in 1980. And finally, Japanese taiko drummers, Balinese gamelan performers, musicians, and contemporary dancers take to the beach for a dazzling ‘Island to Island’ finale that pays tribute to our shared waters and the global community’s efforts to protect them.
There are fun activities along the way too and some great pre-show activities including the opportunity to make a sun print with artist Ginny Parsons, check out EBRPD’s museum of coastal cleanup oddities, learn about collecting “nurdles,” and have a chance to join the fish friend club.
This event is free and open to the public. A limited number of advanced reservations are available online. Remaining slots will be held for walk-ups on the day of the event. Tours will be filled on a first-come first-served basis.
