Hyper-Ventilate

I’ve been struggling with panic disorder for 16 years. I still work every day to tame my incessant worry and paralyzing fears. I created Hyper-Ventilate, an immersive performance, to encourage people to air out their experiences with anxiety and hopefully transform the audience’s understanding of mental health. 

When I was younger, I thought I was “going crazy” for a long time. I didn’t know that anxiety is common and can be such a difficult mental health issue. I constantly felt trapped in a heavy darkness and irrational worry that would drop from seemingly nowhere, combined with a very real fear that the world was ending. Despite the fact that things would eventually get better, the very next time these feelings returned, I believed them all over again, worried that this time it was true. I went to the ER countless times, convinced I was having a heart attack. 

When I reached the point of feeling suicidal I was lucky enough to find the courage to reach out and find the support I needed to get help. Through this journey I realized that not everyone feels capable of reaching out when they need the help that I so desperately needed at the time.

Eventually, the online community began talking about mental health and anxiety a lot more and I felt a little less alone. Despite this, I still see anxiety misrepresented a lot online and in conversation, “Just pop a Xanax,” etc. – and I still meet people who feel alone or have no idea that their very intense experiences are panic attacks. 

I created this show after two of my close family members started dealing with anxiety and I realized that this wasn’t something people talk about enough. More importantly, I constantly hear people talk about mental health flippantly or treat anxiety like stress vs. a debilitating disorder that can lead to suicidal thoughts. I believe that if people have a better understanding of what anxiety is, the sooner we can work through it together. 

I felt the need to create a space where someone could step inside our brains, because sometimes reading something doesn’t help you feel understood. I wanted to gather enough different voices so people felt even for one moment that they aren’t alone because they would see someone else telling their story. My goal is to comfort those who feel “other” and alone in their struggles and educate people who don’t realize how paralyzing anxiety and depression is. And so Hyper-Ventilate was born. 
 
Hyper-Ventilate is an immersive dance performance that incorporates on-camera interviews, movement, and interactive theater to raise awareness and understanding of mental health issues, specifically anxiety and panic disorder. The performance takes the audience through the phases of anxiety – from Panic, to Anxiety, to Depression, to Coping and finally Acceptance. 

We’re performing June 15th in Los Angeles with the hope of taking the performance to more communities. We are partnering with ADAA and handing out their materials with the hope that those who are afraid to reach out for support will now have a community and the courage to get the help they need.

Consider donating to the show to help pay the artists involved to spread the word for mental health here. All of your kind donations are tax-deductible thanks to our fiscal sponsor Dance Resource Center.

Dance Company: @muda.mvmt  www.mudamvmt.com
Tickets for the LA Show

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