Trolley Dances - Part 1

One of the most memorable and enjoyable things I did in San Francisco happened by chance. Right after Becky arrived, we headed over to the San Francisco Information Center to get her one of those all-you-can-ride transit passes.  While she was paying for her pass, I was lured outside by the sounds of an energetic street performance.  I was totally loving the group from afar and then they shifted to the area I was standing in.  I got an up close view of the last part of their performance.

I noticed that the audience seemed to be made up of mostly school-aged kids.  Then, I caught sight of signs that said "Trolley Dances".  At this point, Becky had rejoined me and I told her how curious I was about the performance and those signs.  Gratefully, she conjured up the common sense I seemed to be lacking at the moment and suggested I go ask them.  So, I did!

The kind volunteers holding the signs informed us they were part of the San Francisco Trolley Dances and gave us a postcard with more information.  They were doing a run of the shows for kids that day, but the main event was to be happening over the next 2 days. Becky and I decided we needed to make it a priority.

We got there for the first round of the Sunday shows and were given the explanation of how things would work.  The event was free (except for the cost of the train fare) and our group would be going to multiple sites throughout the city to watch various dance performances.  A guide would lead us from place to place, so all we had to do was stick with our group.  The first performance happened in the gallery where the tour started.

We then moved en masse out of the gallery and to the next site.

We watched a performance that was staged on the steps of the old mint building.

And then, we were back at the information center where we got to watch the whole performance this time around.  This group has such great energy! I loved it just as much the second time around.

Then, we all moved into the public transit system where we filled up a few train cars with our group. The long ride out to the next site was broken up by a large scale puppet performance staged outside the train window.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the second half of Trolley Dances!