In Fort Collins, the OpenStage production is staged in a parkour gym

Staged in Outrun Parkour, an indoor parkour gym in Fort Collins, Dance Nation, written by Clare Barron, is an experience worthy of signing a waiver to attend. While I emerged unscathed, the floor the chairs rest on is bouncy and there are a few obstacles to watch out for in this unique setting. Director Heather Ostberg-Johnson and players take full advantage of it.

Dance Nation is an equally unique play about pre-teen competitive dancers, but here’s the twist—they’re all played by adults of various ages. This adds a sort of lightness to the otherwise heavy topics these girls (and one boy) struggle with throughout the play. These topics are the reason for the content warning and include the often-hilarious young adult issues of masturbation, menstruation and sex — but also more intense and serious subjects of self-harm and rape.

With the team all hopeful to make it to the next dance competition, rivalries heat up, friendships are tested and puberty strikes. Through a series of ridiculous dance routines, heated practices and scathing locker room gossip, audience members have front row seats as these girls learn what it means to grow up in the sometimes cutthroat and often messy world of dance.

Raw & intense

Standouts include Andrea Echeverria, as Ashlee, who gave an incredibly raw, intense, and at times uncomfortable monologue about what it’s like for her to be 13 and too beautiful. Tiana Song, as Zuzu, shows us what it’s like to always be second best and the pressures involved with competition. It leaves us wondering where our true motivations come from as she questions her desire to dance. Is it her dream or her mother’s?

But the play is not without its share of humor to balance out those difficult subjects of puberty. Dance Nation is laugh-out-loud funny, even if it’s the kind of uncomfortable, did-they-really-just-go-there? laughter that leaves the audience looking around to one another as if in confirmation that this is indeed something we can, and should laugh about. I mean there’s a song called “My *&@#$ is Perfect” which goes on for a seriously long time and gets more and more ridiculous as the girls become more and more animated.

With only 50 seats available for each show, there is not a bad seat in the house (or should I say, gym.) The actors are close enough to make intense eye contact and for audience members to feel the passion radiating in each of them. This unusual space OpenStage found for the production lends an intimacy not usually achieved on a traditional stage, making it the perfect venue for this original play.