Rhythmix Cultural Works in Partnership with the City of Alameda presents

Rising Seas

A free climate art event featuring live music, dance, visual art and theater.

May 31, June 21, and July 12

Saturdays, 1:00–4:00pm

For all ages. Please rsvp.

Join us for Rhythmix Rising Seas, where Art meets Community to shape a resilient and sustainable future.  

Rising Seas is a series of three free public art performances presented in May through July, that will transform Alameda’s waterfront into a compelling stage for global music, immersive dance, and site-responsive theater. 

Experience KT Nelson & dancers’ audience-immersive choreography acknowledging the fragility of living on an island amidst a climate crisis. The dance is set to a soundscape of the voices of local residents and climate leaders exploring the question “Where do you draw the line?”. 

Enjoy the theatrics of the “Climate Detective from the Future”, directed by Jeff Raz, as he looks for climate clues to find out where things went wrong and where things are headed in a positive direction. Each location tells a unique site-specific story. 

Acknowledging our ancestral lands and listening to music and stories of different island cultures gives a global perspective about living in balance and respect for our natural surroundings. Each event will feature a new world musical ensemble to highlight the traditions of Puerto Rico, Bali and Hawai’i. 

During each event, artists and local climate organizations will offer fun hands-on activities for the community to participate in and learn about actions they can take to help mitigate climate change. 

Rising Seas Live Performance Event Dates:

Saturdays, 1:00-4:00pm:

• May 31, 2025 at Seaplane Lagoon Promenade

• June 21, 2025 (TBD)

• July 12, 2025 at Shoreline Park, Bay Farm 

Featured Performers:

• KT Nelson and Dancers

• Climate Detectives from the Future, directed by Jeff Raz

• Kanyon CoyoteWoman Sayers-Roods (5/31 & 6/21)  

• Batey Tambó (May 31st)

• Gamelan Sekar Jaya and Guest Taiko Artists (June 21st)

• Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine (July 12th)

Artist Bios 

KT Nelson is a choreographer and dedicated advocate for emerging artists and the environment. She was a dancer, choreographer, and co-artistic director of ODC/Dance from 1976 to 2020. Nelson has been awarded the Isadora Duncan Award four times: in 1987 for Outstanding Performance, in 1996 and 2012 for Outstanding Choreography, and in 2001 for Sustained Achievement. Her collaborators have included Berkeley Symphony, Bobby McFerrin, Geoff Hoyle, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Zap Mana, and Joan Jeanrenaud. Nelson’s Dead Reckoning was presented at Jacob’s Pillow and the Joyce Theater to explore the ways our species ignores or forgets how we contribute to the climate crisis.    

Ed Holmes is a veteran actor and director heralded as “a local treasure” by the San Francisco Chronicle.  Ed scripted and performed as the narrator of 3 Island City Waterways productions from 2016-2022. In the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Ed wrote, directed and performed free outdoor public theater in Bay Area parks for 28 years. He is the founder of the annual Saint Stupid’s Day Parade in San Francisco and performs a solo show Subhuman: tales beneath the sea about his seven years in the navy. Ed has performed with Antenna Theater, and Fratelli Bologna, and has taught workshops in physical theater for ACT, Mills, SFMOMA, Sony, and DreamWorks.  

Jeff Raz has starred in many plays and circuses, from Corteo with Cirque du Soleil to Comedy of Errors on Broadway. He is a graduate of Dell’Arte International, has written 15 plays and directed dozens of circus and theater productions. His first book, The Secret Life of Clowns, was launched nationally at the Smithsonian in 2017; The Snow Clown dropped in September 2018. Both books are fiction taken from adventures Jeff has had in his career -- teaching in Eskimo villages in the middle of winter, starring in a Cirque du Soleil show for 500 performances, etc. 

Kanyon CoyoteWoman Sayers-Roods is Costanoan Ohlone-Mutsun and Chumash. She is proud of her heritage and is very active in the Native Community. She is an Artist, Poet, Published Author, Activist, Student and Teacher. The daughter of Ann-Marie Sayers, she was raised in Indian Canyon, trust land of her family, which currently is one of the few spaces in Central California available for the Indigenous community for ceremony. Kanyon’s art has been featured at the De Young Museum, The Somarts Gallery, Gathering Tribes, Snag Magazine, and numerous Powwows and Indigenous Gatherings. She is motivated to learn, teach, start conversations around decolonization and reinidgenization, permaculture and to continue doing what she loves, Art. 

Batey Tambó is an Oakland and San Francisco-based, women of color-led, cultural group grounded in the centuries-old musical tradition of Afro-Indigenous Puerto Rican Bomba. Batey Tambó’s mission is to facilitate a conversation, through teaching and sharing spaces for Bomba music and dance traditions developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants. 

Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a Bay Area based ensemble specializing in the performing arts of Bali since 1979. GSJ has been called “the finest Balinese gamelan outside of Indonesia” by Indonesia’s Tempo Magazine and has performed in venues ranging from New York’s Symphony Space to LA’s Hollywood Bowl to remote village squares in Bali.  

Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine is an organization dedicated to the study, protection and perpetuation of the performing arts of Hawai'i for the past 25 years. They have appeared in venues ranging from the Hollywood Bowl and Kū Mai Ka Hula of Kahului, Maui, to the Heiva celebrations of Tahiti, French Polynesia and Te Papa Tongareva, the National Museum of New Zealand. 

The Arts in California Parks Local Parks Grant Program revitalizes local parks with diverse experiences that foster creativity, community connection, and transform them into vibrant hubs of art, culture, and nature. These innovative programs will bring art and cultural programming to local parks, transforming them into dynamic spaces that celebrate California’s cultural heritage and provide memorable experiences for visitors and residents alike. 

Past Events

June 8, 2024: Rising Seas Exhibit (Opening Reception) 

August 24, 2024: Rising Seas Premiere

Press

Standing Room Only at Rhythmix’s ‘Rising Seas’ Event Alameda Post - Karin K. Jensen - August 30, 2024

Alameda briefs: Yearlong art series to start Aug. 24 with ‘Rising Seas’ East Bay Times - Liam Passmore - August 14, 2024

“Alameda + Art = Activism" Alameda Post - C.J. Hirschfield - August 6, 2024

“K Gallery ~ Rising Seas: Where do we draw the line?" The Styrous® Viewfinder – June 8, 2024

Rising Seas Exhibition at Rhythmix Opens June 8 Alameda Post - Post Staff Reporting - May 28, 2024

Photos

Photos by Maurice Ramirez Photography

 With Thanks to Our Generous Supporters:

Rhythmix Cultural Works is a proud recipient of the inaugural 2024 Arts in California Parks - Local Parks Grant in support of Rising Seas, awarded to only 31 organizations across the state of California. 

Rising Seas is an anchor arts project of the Rising Tides Climate Arts Initiative supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the City of Alameda.

Thank you for your support! 

Thank you to the artists who hand indigo dyed fabric for “Making Waves”: Ginny Parsons, Julie Baron, Liz London, Jodi Lee, Jennifer McNerney and Joan Davis 

Thank you to the community organizations for sharing their knowledge and expertise on environmental sustainability and resilience: The City of Alameda Department of Sustainability and Resilience, CASA - Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda, Zero Waste Alameda, REAP Climate Center, East Bay Regional Parks Mobile Education Unit, Greenbelt Alliance, 100K Trees 4 Humanity, Hood Planning Group, Ninth Root on behalf of the OACC Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee.

Please consider a donation to help support this project and bring more free programming to the community.