Nov 15, 16, 22 and 23 at 7pm and 9pm; Nov 17 and 24 at 4pm and 6pm
Nina Haft & Company presents the World Premiere of "Precarious Pod," an immersive and interactive dance performance about animal instinct and planetary change, asking: what do animals teach us about cooperation and survival? Exploring the lives of species that have adapted with varied success to human impact, Choreographer Nina Haft and her collaborators create a unique 'ecosystem' where audiences move about freely and observe how their choices impact movement and the environment around them, creating a place to explore how human and animal instincts collide.
"Precarious Pod" offers audiences an experience of what Haft refers to as "radical empathy toward animals, using dancers and their embodiment of animal behavior to bridge the human and animal worlds." Haft explains, "By getting back in touch with our animal nature, I believe we will re/learn how to survive as a pack. We will make decisions that are better for the planet. We will not feel so disconnected in the middle of our technologically mediated existence. We will find a new, radical empathy with animals. We will learn to bear witness to the mass extinction -- also known as the Sixth Extinction -- that is already in progress."
"Precarious Pod" is performed in three sections: Part One, Wind in the Bones, reveals the world of crows at dusk; Part Two, Lupercalia, introduces a pack of four wolves at night; and Part Three, Leaving, is a rich solo at daybreak for a solitary vaquita - a harbor porpoise.
Haft's extensive research has included the study of various texts on animal behavior, survival and the environment. Earlier this year she attended the annual conference of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) where she led workshops with scientists as an artist working on water and climate change.