True pioneers of the art of acrobatic stilt dancing and former hosts of the Tsunami on the Square festival, the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater is coming to Prescott.

The acro-stilt show titled, “Flotsam and Jetsam,” will be performing on the courthouse plaza in downtown Prescott at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 6. The event is free to the public and suitable for all ages.

The performance is a synthesis of acrobatic stilt dancing, butoh dance, contact improvisation, musical composition, contemporary dance and physical theater.

“It’s using acrobatics and dance to be able to portray a storyline, a narrative,” said Helen Goodrum, one of the performers. “When an audience member watches it, there is like a loose idea of a storyline for every individual depending on their life and their life experiences can actually take away something different from the story. So, therefore, it means that everyone can relate to it in a different way.”

The Carpetbag Brigade masters a unique theatrical language on stilts, a delicate overlap of theater, dance and circus. Audiences are often surprised by the feats of athleticism that may seem impossible to the average person, Goodrum explained.

“The audiences really like seeing members of our company, I want to say, almost close to death or trying to like really push the limits of the human body, which is the spectacle,” Goodrum said. “We like to call it spectacle-based drama, meaning that we have a dramatic theme. There’s a narrative there, but we’re using spectacle to be able to portray that to the audiences.”

This public event stars international performers from the UK, USA, Colombia and Canada.

“We’ve all come from acrobatic or dance backgrounds,” she said. “I myself was an acrobat and a dancer, and I actually met the director of the company in Canada back in 2008 and saw him doing a workshop and said, ‘Hell, why don’t I go and join this workshop?’ He was doing a workshop on stilts and that’s when I got hooked, just seeing the work, seeing how we can just do so much more.”

Leading up to the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater performance, the performers will be in Prescott, hosting and teaching a Stiltasana stilt workshop. Stilters from across the United States will be traveling to Prescott to learn from the Carpetbag Brigade and their unique performance modality.

“We have a big following of people who are always wanting to learn from us,” Goodrum said. “They are coming from nationwide, as far as New York, I think we have some people coming from Canada too, and they’re coming in and we’ll be teaching an intensive.”

The workshops will be held from July 28-30 at Northpoint Expeditionary Learning Academy in Prescott. Attendees must already be able to stand on stilts comfortably prior to taking the workshop.

Some of the performers will be roaming on stilts during the 4th Friday Art Walk on July 28, to let people know they are in town.

More information about the company, workshops, and how to make donations can be found at carpetbagbrigade.com.

Editor’s Note — Tsunami on the Square was a popular annual entertainment fest in downtown Prescott that included pyrotechnics and acrobatic performances. It ceased a 15-year run in 2013, according to Courier archives.