This Pulitzer-nominated play at Coal Mine Theatre explores the high-stakes world of pre-teen girls

Great art will do that, especially when it’s about a group of complex, contradictory and highly competitive pre-teen girls (plus one boy) who pretty much live and breathe the world of dance.

Prodded and pushed by their serious, exacting instructor Dance Teacher Pat (Salvatore Antonio), the lively bunch of hoofers based in Liverpool, Ohio has a clear goal: to win their upcoming regional dance competition and eventually make it to the national championships in Tampa, Fl.

The piece that will hopefully win them the title and trophy? An “acro-lyrical” dance routine called “World on Fire” about the legacy of one Mahatma Gandhi.

First comes the audition process, during which one tween says, “I hope I get it,” an obvious nod to another show about competing dancers. Then come the rehearsals, the locker room confessions, the drives home with parents, the nervous jitters and pep talks … all leading up to the show itself.

Along the way, we get brief snapshots of the characters’ lives, both inner and outer. Zuzu (Annie Luján)’s mother is dealing with cancer. Sofia (Jean Yoon) has just begun to menstruate and claims that if she had a son she wouldn’t want him circumcised, which gets the girls wondering if Luke (Oliver Dennis), the sole boy, is or isn’t himself. Connie (Zorana Sadiq) collects toy horses. Amina (Beck Lloyd) has never masturbated.

And so on.

As with any group, a hierarchy exists. The lithe and graceful Amina is generally considered the star of the troupe, but Zuzu is thought of as a close second, though she has confidence issues. Ashlee (Amy Keating) has an extraordinary monologue about how much she loves her body and how she is smarter than pretty much everyone around her, but she knows enough to keep those thoughts to herself.

What makes Barron’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play so special is that the characters are played by actors in their 20s to (I would guess) late 60s. This gives the show — a co-production between Coal Mine, Outside the March in association with Rock Bottom Movement — a delightful, poignant theatricality.

Adulthood may bring maturity and context, but the flushes of anxiety and the dangerous, high-stakes impulses of youth remain within us all.

Director Diana Bentley gives the play and its mostly female performers the grandeur and splashiness they deserve. For the first time ever, the company uses both the upstairs and downstairs spaces.

The former is set up as a long and narrow dance rehearsal area, while the latter — after an intermission — becomes the site of the dance competition itself, shaped (if I’m not reading too much into Nick Blais’ set design) like a female gender symbol.

Miquelon Rodriguez’s infectiously fun sound design draws on bops from several decades, while Alyssa Martin’s choreography allows the dancers to express themselves in ways that their words aren’t always able to.

The actors, including Amy Matysio, who plays several of the characters’ mothers, collectively deserve to take home the “Miss Dance of Tomorrow” award that’s given out in the show. Special mention goes to Luján, whose tragicomic Zuzu goes through the most changes and manages to land on her feet, only a little wobbly, by the end.

Does the production need to be two hours and 20 minutes, including an intermission? No. Are some of the scenes fussily staged when something quieter and subtler might suffice? Yes.

A word about the production’s tone. The play could have descended into high camp, a sort of mini-me feminist version of “Waiting for Guffman.” Bentley, Martin and the actors ensure we take these young people seriously.

As women’s reproductive rights are being stripped south of the border and the rise of the manosphere spreads its toxicity, it’s more frightening and confusing than ever to be a young woman.

To paraphrase the title of the dance-within-the-show, the world is on fire. But at least there’s dance.