It’s never been easy being human. With no built-in weapons like other large predators, our brains became our best defense against the world, evolving to constantly scan our environment for danger and always have the proper distress signal prepared and ready to send to our limbs as soon as the next threat appears.
But in today’s world, most humans face far more danger from virtual foes than physical ones, finding ourselves being steadily eaten alive by a constant barrage of words, noise and images that keeps our body straining to escape from things that are impossible to outrun. So to cope with this onslaught, many of us have retreated to modern caves of isolation, with even the most compassionate of us needing to grow a numbing shell of callousness to combat the sheer exhaustion of being aware and engaged in today’s world.
“Surface Tension,” a new show by the Mendocino Dance Project premiering this weekend in Willits, explores these current realities in an effort to preserve our core of compassion, hoping to offer ways to stay receptive to all the beauty in the world without drowning in all the ugliness we may see as well.
“How we process our thoughts and feelings is through creativity,” said Kara Starkweather, a member and co-founder of the Mendocino Dance Project, explaining that the recent show came alive organically, taking shape as she and her fellow dancers shared their thoughts and feelings about the times we all find ourselves in.
“As dancers, we are a pretty tight group that feels like family, so there is a trust and connection there regarding what we are all dealing with on a personal level,” Starkweather said, noting that as with all shows, she did not have a goal or vision of what this latest production would become in the beginning, but rather let it be formed, and informed, by the interactions of the dancers as they tried to convey their inner struggles.
“Our art, it is how we hold onto our sanity, how we express what is going on and how we process it,” she said, adding that the dancers hope that by sharing their emotions with their audiences, “we can remind people how much we have in common, and that we have more in common as humans than our differences.
“There is a lot of division now, and this is not meant to be a political statement,” Starkweather said of the show’s message, describing it instead as “more of a universal one of connection and the core realities of being human, and what it feels like to live in these extreme times, on both sides of the spectrum. And how to stay connected to who you are while being bombarded with online information that exposes you the horrors of war one moment, then fashion reviews the next.”
As to how the show will be received, Starkweather said “we hope people will walk away feeling positive and uplifted, even supported. But you never know how a show will be received, especially when you’re sharing such deep, dark parts of yourself. Some people might not like it at all, but how can you not have things to say right now?”
“Surface Tension” begins its run on Saturday, March 15, with a show at 7 p.m. at the Willits Community Theatre. Then at the end of the month, two shows are scheduled at the Matheson Performing Arts Center in Mendocino on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29, both at 7 p.m.
For more information and tickets, go to: mendocinodanceproject.org/upcoming
On its website, the MDP states that: “It is a challenge to remain grounded and stay in touch with our own humanity as we are constantly confronted by so much turbulence in the world. Surface Tension explores how we find each other and stay resilient amongst the chaos.”
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