Destruction Mythologies
Destruction Mythologies is an iterative choreographic interrogation into questions of survival, transformation, and renewal in the seemingly apocalyptic time in which we are living. Pursuing new knowledge for individual and collective survival under increasingly unsurvivable conditions, these dances draw on the ancient wisdom of existing mythology and imagine new mythologies for a time of immense destruction and chaos. These dances insist on the essential utility of dreamwork, of the practice of imagination as a uniquely positioned tool for guiding how we respond to circumstances that (feel as though they) are the end of the world.
All-Fours (2025)
All-Fours is a dance that is a preparation for its end. In it, I embody a character drawn from two mythological figures – Kali, the Hindu goddess of time, destruction, and transformation, and Echidna, the ancient Greek “mother of monsters.” I confront a monstrousness I find within myself and I ask what monstrousness offers for individual and collective survival. This piece featured original sound composed by Matt Robidoux. It was performed at Merde Project at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco in 2025.
dance in three prayers (2026)
With collaborators Tessa Nebrida, Phoenicia Pettyjohn, and Karla Quintero, dance in three prayers contemplates questions of collective survival strategies and prayer. We look closer at how a time of immense chaos and destruction is transforming each of us uniquely, what preparation we undergo to ready ourselves for this transformation, and how this serves our individual as well as our communal survival. We draw on existing mythology and create our own new mythology to guide us. The dancers walk in unison, reflect one another, and engage in a process of transformation/shapeshifting to meet this moment. It was performed at Sketchbook at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco in 2026.
turning to stone (2026)
turning to stone continues an exploration into new mythmaking that deals with themes of destruction, transformation, and renewal. In this duet we turn to stones, ancient and durable co-conspirators to life on earth, as sources of a subtle wisdom that can help us find our place in an ever-renewing cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction. Versions of this piece will be shared at the Berkeley Finnish Hall in 2026.
This project has received support from:
2026 Sense Object A&AIR Residency at the Finnish Hall for turning to stone
2025 Merde Project Commission for All-Fours
Reference material:
Bhattacharya, Tithi. Ghostly Past, Capitalist Present: A Social History of Fear in Colonial Bengal. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2024.
Bjornerud, Marcia. Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks. New York: Flatiron Books, 2024.
Iqbal Muhammad, N. (2025, October 28). An Optimistic Quest in Apocalyptic Times. The Bitter Southerner. https://bittersoutherner.com/issue-no-12/an-optimistic-quest-in-apocalyptic-times.
Kim, Jina B. Care at the End of the World: Dreaming of Infrastructure in Crip-of-Color Writing. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2025.
Mayor, Adrienne. Mythopedia: A Brief Compendium of Natural History Lore. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2025.
Sedgwick, Icy. Rebel Folklore: Empowering Tales of Spirits, Witches and Other Misfits, from Anansi to Baba Yaga. New York: DK Publishing, 2023.
Van der Loo, Marjolein, ed. A Tree, a Reader on Arboreal Kinship. Onomatopee 258, Eindhoven: Onomatopee Press, 2024.
Van der Loo, Marjolein, ed. With a Bird, a Reader on Avian Kinship. Onomatopee 262, Eindhoven: Onomatopee Press, 2025.