Dara Capley – Strange Attractors (The Lovers) CANCELLED

Due to injury, this piece is unfortunately cancelled at this year’s ArtBeat. Keep on the look out for other opportunities to see it by following Dara via her socials listed below.

Dara is a dancemaker whose work stems from the belief that art is both as vital as air and, simultaneously, profoundly unserious. Strange Attractors (The Lovers) is a bold, campy duet exploring the chaos of desire, cultural shame, and romantic obsession. Blending cheeky theatricality with thought-provoking movement, this work questions why we normalize pain in love, and how attraction—both emotional and physical—is shaped by history, culture, and hidden longing.

duet will continue my work “Strange Attractors.” This work looks at a mathematical concept that can be used to plot chaos – specifically, culture shifts. I’m exploring what attracts us and why; can we pinpoint how much of attraction is intrinsic or learned? Past sections explored commercialized sexuality and expectations placed on “fiancés.”

This duet, “The Lovers,” pokes at the origins of our obsession with the drama of romance, the fetishization of toxic relationships, and wonders why harmful emotional practices are seen as “true love” while other outlets for the negative end of the emotional spectrum are seen as taboo. It asks why crying over a sad book or being startled by a scary movie are culturally normalized, but within love and sexuality, seeking the negative end of our emotions is viewed as “shameful.” The rise of “deviant” desires is attributed to the rise of pornography and the practice of shame found in most organized religions, yet the desire to have pleasure accompanied by pain predates the two.

This section focuses on sexuality, but the world of this work is cheeky and campy. There may be nods to sexual content, but this will be done in a tongue-in-cheek way.

Photo: Aliza Razell (@alizarazell)

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