SFist Jessie braves the aftereffects of sun and booze to check out local performance art!

We knew very little about the art space & resource center, CounterPULSE, before attending their Second Anniversary Show on Sunday night (yes, we mistakenly kept calling it "Compulse"). This is their second year in a new location at Mission between 9th and 10th. We might’ve missed the modest front, except for the large artsy crowd milling out front (trying to squeeze in off the long wait list).

Since we were nursing the remnants of both a hangover and a sunburn, we were a little weary about attending anything on a Sunday night. As a result, we showed up at CounterPULSE with our cynical-cranky pants decidedly on.

But oh how those cranky pants came off! Just one amazing performance into the Anniversary Show, we forgot our Sunday evening complaints – and were left wondering why we hadn't gone to anything at CounterPULSE sooner. Three words: anti-war trapeze artists.

After the jump, you can check out SFist Jessie's take on: belly dancers, political circus, a Bjork artist with an inflatable orca, and a guitarist flying on a maxipad with wings!

Highlights included, ok, well there are many- but here are a few:

Circus Zero!: An incredible political circus/acrobatic troupe. They made flying trapeze work and anti-war politics go seamlessly together. An excerpt from a larger show, everything worked well -- from the choreography, to the costumes, to the accordion accompaniment. This was a great performance to kick off the night!

Belly dancing! We’ve been to enough beginner bellydance classes to know it ain’t easy to get your hips and bellies moving independently. (Oh how we’ve tried!) But the hot women of Zooz Dance Company looked like they came out of the womb shimmying – and in perfect synchronization.

Bjork Impersonator! Ok, we really didn’t know what to think about this when we read it on the program. We guessed it would either be amazing or kind of painful to watch. Well, Tina Takemoto’s impersonation of Bjork was definitely on the amazing side. Set to Big Time Sensuality, she lip-synced all the words while balancing on a small platform. (Check out the picture (.jpg) of her at the Cremaster show at SFMOMA.) Our favorite part of her act was the chopstick hara-kiri. Or was it the inflatable orca? So much to choose from!

Other highlights of the packed show included performances from ODC dancers, a brief burlesque performance (so brief, but well – there wasn’t anything left to bare). The very funny Scott Wells performance. A solo piece using elements of Korean opera (ok, we didn’t exactly get this piece, but we were kind of mesmerized watching Dohee Lee.) And a final fabulous performance by the punk-pop female duo, Dreamboat, Where are You? (Check out their video where guitarist, Glock, learns to fly using Maxipads- with wings!)

CounterPULSE is doing some really exciting stuff at their new Mission and 9th outpost. Their Anniversary Show was a terrific sampling. So much emerging work and creativity is happening in our little city!