At the beginning of Perseverance Theater’s “Coyote Builds North America,” storyteller Gary Waid brings a storytelling pole on stage. The pole is the Great Spirit. It is also the axis mundi, that place where heaven and earth meet and where there is a small hole through which you can fly if you are courageous enough. Last night, at the Maine Center for the Arts, the cast of “Coyote” invited us to fly through that hole, and brought us on a gentle and thunderous journey into human nature.

The company hails from Juneau, Alaska, and is touring New England with a performance based on a collection of stories by Barry Lopez. The show tells of the character Coyote, a wise, powerful, and foolish trickster whom the Great Spirit sends to earth to make things right. In return, Coyote receives the power to transform himself, to perform miraculous (as well as mischievous) acts, and to defy death.

Mostly, however, Coyote reminds us of the contradictions of human nature. He validates the curious coupling of weakness and strength, good and evil in us all. And he invites us to be among the living, and to look forward rather than backward.

As narrator and storyteller, Waid is captivating, both inspired and inspiring. His expressive voice tells the stories, but so does his body, and so does his whole spirit.

It isn’t just Waid, however, that makes the production so penetrating. John Luther Adams’ percussion and string accompaniment is threatening and horrific like a gale wind, and nurturing and comforting like a heart beat. The musicians boldly participate in the show, and are an integral part of the storytelling.

Dancers David Neumann and Jane Weiner seem to step completely out of the restrictions of their anatomy to recreate animals, elements, and body parts on stage. Their interpretive performance pulls on many movement traditions, and invites us to consider the oral stories in new ways.

The biggest round of applause goes to director Molly Smith because she has a careful eye for detail, a sensitive approach to cultural practices, and a sense of humor that welcomes us all into her collage of dance, theater, and music. Her messages are important, and she knows it. There’s nothing more encouraging.

By the end of the show, we, like Waid and the cast, have become Coyote, relieved of the burden of our weighty worries, and reminded of our communion with the Great Spirit, and with each other. Waid leaves the storytelling pole behind as he and his companions walk off stage. He leaves us in a state of hope that we, too, are courageous enough to fly through that small, life-giving hoop.