Western-Eastern perspectives inspire choreographer's own "Myth"

Think of it as an elaborate fertility rite — colorful, gooey, animistic ... and more than a little mysterious.

The latest dream-vision to pop out of Seattle choreographer Maureen Whiting's head has a direct link with her 2008 show, "Myth of Us." But in "Myth of Me and You," the dance trio of the earlier work has become a quartet, with newcomer Belle Wolf joining Ezra Dickinson, Marissa Rae Niederhauser and Cassandra Wulff.

Their moves alternate animal stealth with elfin skittishness, tribal stomp with go-go gyration. Tattered, feral costumes by Helga Hizer and a pulsing electronic score by Eyvind Kang, Evan Schiller and Dave Abramson are key to the atmosphere.

Watching a rehearsal on Tuesday, I assumed much of the imagery — especially the giant umbilical cord — derived from Whiting's advanced pregnancy (she's due next week). But she says the monthlong visits she's made with her Indian husband to his native country are the greater influence. India, she says, submerged her in "a different frame of reference" and freed up her sense of color and movement.

"Things just happen, from the left, from the side, from up, from down," she says. That experience and the allure of India's prankish, foible-ridden gods led Whiting to investigate myth from a Western-Eastern perspective and inspired her "to make my own myth," she says.

Her dancers, she adds, are the perfect collaborators for bringing that myth to life. "They're not only technically skilled but interested in bringing a different world and consciousness to the stage — creating an experience, a sensation, that's larger than a dance, but what I think dance is all about."

The work in progress I saw had a few logistical kinks to be worked out, but it certainly pulled you into otherworldly realms. Whiting was trusting all would be ready by the weekend. "I have a dress that fits," she joked, "and I hope not to go into labor before Friday."

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com