PHOTOS BY JAN TOSH GERLING

Far off in the Texas sky, a massive anvil of churning, dark clouds loomed on the horizon, hurling lightning bolts and spawning violent tornadoes.

“It was hypnotic and beautiful,” recalls slowdanger co-director Taylor Knight, who with co-director Anna Thompson watched the formation of the rotating thunderstorm — a supercell — from the Knight family’s front porch. Recording device in hand, Knight captured the sounds of intensifying wind and the frenzied clang of aggravated wind chimes.

“I had conflicted feelings,” says Knight, who realized that while they were safe, somewhere lives were in great danger and destruction could be massive.

However, neither immediately realized they had just witnessed the inspiration for their newest, “most terrifying and ambitious project to date,” say the choreographers, who are known for creating mesmerizing multimedia landscapes via post-modern dance, compelling vocals, new technology, recycled materials and original soundscapes.

The hour-long “SUPERCELL,” slated for its local premiere Dec. 8-9 at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater, spins a vortex of themes — ranging from climate change that bodes environmental collapse to media sensationalism of disastrous events.

While “SUPERCELL” underscores the escalating climate crisis, the work offers no preventatives, instead aiming to “reflect and process the environmental shift,” says Knight.

slowdanger obtained a $56,500 National Dance Project Production Grant awarded through the prestigious New England Foundation for the Arts to produce “SUPERCELL.” However, along with funding came the pressure to succeed. “We want to make our project supporters proud,” say Thompson and Knight, who launched the internationally traveled, multidisciplinary performance entity in 2013.

Pittsburgh’s grant and networking communities factored into the reasons the Texas and Maryland natives chose to make Pittsburgh their home base. “Pittsburgh offers amazing opportunities that our peers in other cities are not getting,” says Thompson, formerly of Baltimore.

The Fineview residents initially crossed paths at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts, but it was through working with choreographer Pearlann Porter at The Space Upstairs that they discovered a shared artistic aesthetic.

As directors, they recruit collaborators with established artistic identities who have the ability to commit to long-term projects. Instinct is also a factor — “What is this person bringing to the work? Will it flow or push us in a different way?” says Thompson.

For “SUPERCELL,” Knight and Thompson are joined onstage by several movement collaborators: New York City-based performer and director Nile Harris, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre-trained AJ Libert and Philadelphia-based freelance dancer kira shiina, who’s originally from Pittsburgh; offstage, they’re joined by Projectile Objects, Mad Recital, Harbour Edney and Jasmine Hearn, who contributed music to the opus’ final section.

slowdanger worked closely with ProjectileObjects’ Cornelius Henke III to create set pieces and devise a way to release them from the ceiling using repurposed bike locks and car lock remotes.

“Directing and shaping the large production while also performing in it has been a challenge,” says Knight.

“We can’t see what’s happening — our perspective is skewed,” adds Thompson.

In constructing “SUPERCELL,” they drew movement from emergency preparedness drills for tornados and shooters and “a lot of improvisation,” says Thompson.

Onstage, the five performers, clad in desert-apocalyptic garb and outfitted with wireless micro cameras, offer individualized accounts of the disaster as they move through a mythological deconstructed environment augmented by an interactive set, gritty audio output and live camera feed projected on billowing fabric screens.

Knight acknowledges some subject matter can make people feel uncomfortable, and they aimed to construct a way for audiences “to encounter discomfort and move into another space with it,” Knight adds.

Reportedly, at “SUPERCELL’s” September world premiere, the proceedings overwhelmed a climate scientist in attendance who noted an eerie similarity between the onstage events and the researcher’s own work — prompting a premature exit.

Knight recalls another reaction — following a preview of “SUPERCELL” a student asked the choreographers what feelings the work should inspire. Knight replied, “What do you feel?”

The student said, “A sense of urgency.”

“That’s a valid response,” says Knight. “We want the audience to find its own truth.”