Our Bodies Warm in the Sun, Unsettled (Unsettled) is a modular performance based on the personal, racial, and environmental histories of the land in which it takes place. A dance theater duet and social practice experience, Unsettled combines research, satire, and improvisation to create a critical reflection on the American Wilderness.  Each iteration of the piece attempts to create a self-reflective framework to confront the complex histories and present day practices of settler colonialism embedded in experiences of nature.

 

The script, choreography, and participatory action that make up Unsettled result in a collage of strange contrasts and collision. For instance, the legacy of Manifest Destiny overlaps with the voices of the performers’ mothers recalling beloved natural places. The outdoor gear industry is flooded with pioneers’ tea sets and grandfather clocks. Audience members square dance with John Muir and the National Park System. And the genocide of California’s Native peoples is understood in the context of contemporary battles for tribal recognition. 

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Unsettled invites and challenges our audiences to join in asking: For white people who are deeply nourished by the natural world, what does it mean for us to play, hike, and heal on stolen land? 

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• CHOREOGRAPHED AND PERFORMED BY: Sarah Ashkin and Paolo Speirn

• PRESENTED BY: Mountain House

• RESEARCH, DRAMATURGY, AND PRODUCTION by: Kristy Lovich

• SOUND BY: Daniel Objezta 

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REPARATION FUNDS AND PARTNERS: 

 

MEZTLI PROJECTS 

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PROTECT LONG BEACH EL CERRITOS WETLANDS

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THE MARIN COAST MIWOK MONUMENT PROJECT 

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