Used with permission of KQED Arts.
KT Nelson’s Dead Reckoning is an amazing dance that deserves to be seen and discussed.
In the above six and a half minute video, ODC/Dance Co-Artistic
Director KT Nelson says “With this thing called climate change, we have
scientific evidence, we have statistical analysis. I think maybe the missing
ingredient is our emotional world. Dance, because it is human beings on stage
in a world, can help us can help us embody the meaning of climate change. [. . .
.] Where we are with climate change is that we are navigating blindly right
now. I think we’re in the middle of dead reckoning. [. . . .] The natural world to me is a friend, is a best
friend. I think if a dear friend is sick any one of us would turn around and
care for them. Yet, here is our planet. It’s in trouble, and I don’t think we
realize we need to care for it. [. . . .] One of the things I want to convey is
this feeling of being lost in this world of climate change. The panic. The
franticness. The futileness of it. [. . . .] [In the Dead Reckoning dance] they eventually step
on this other person, and smash her. So at the end I ask the question ‘Is what
we do to the environment also what we do to each other?’”
who noted September 10, 2019, “To bring this home, all you have to do is
see how climate scientists are seeking psychiatric help for the depression, anxiety and PTSD that happens when you see a train wreck coming but no one seems to want to do anything about it – and you’re on the train.”
and it was like, ‘Why are you bringing us this painful information?’” [. . . .] I gave a reading at Cascadia College (in Bothell, Washington), and after it
students asked me what they should do. My answer was that climate
change is such a serious issue, if you are a graphic artist or a
musician or an accountant, whatever you are, we need your help.”
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