Review: Look into the trees for amazing performers in Mendocino’s ‘Dance the Redwoods’

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Walk through a redwood grove and stop to watch dancers perform on — and with — the trees. That’s what happens at the Mendocino Dance Project’s unique “Dance The Redwoods” show, along with live music at each of four “stages” over a half-mile walk.

The show, which opened Sept. 21 and continues through Sept. 29, features eight dances by a troupe of women who have serious climbing skills. They dance on young growth redwoods in a private grove five minutes from the town of Mendocino. Mendocino’s logging past is ever-present, as stumps of older trees are just off the path. In one dance, the performer emerges from a fairy ring of newer trees surrounding the charred stump, as if birthed from the old tree itself.

It’s hard not to be whimsical when trying to spot the dancers already positioned up in the trees before each segment. At times they seem to appear out of nowhere from behind a tree. In one performance, called “Passage,” three dancers came together in a precisely timed sculpture between the trees, all with an ease and grace that belies the strength and creative choreography required to put on this show.

In a dance called “Revolve,” soloist Mackenzie Rain seemed almost to seduce the tree. In “Breeze,” dancers Kara Starkweather and Emily Anthony performed a light-hearted duet on an iron structure set up between two giants.

Local musicians Gwyneth Moreland and Skyler Hinkle were among those accompanying the performances, ending their set with the appropriately named “Girl in the Gulch.” Mitchell Holman played an instrument of his own making, an electric bass violin that somehow seemed exactly right for a forest performance.

MDP describes its mission as “helping art thrive in rural communities” and “bringing the power of dance to theaters and outside spaces, on and off the ground.” The dancers in “Dance The Redwoods” were way off the ground, almost taking flight, and bringing the audience with them.

“Dance The Redwoods” continues at 1 and 4 p.m. Sept. 29. Tickets are $15 for youth and $30-$60 for artists, patrons and supporters. The location of the beginning of the performance is provided with ticket purchase, at mendocinodanceproject.com. A deck party fundraiser ($100) runs from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 28.
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