Pilobolus Program B, Joyce Theater, New York, Monday August 4th 2014

Pilobolus Program B, Joyce Theater, New York, Monday August 4th 2014

Tonight we went to the Joyce Theater to see Pilobolus Program B.

I cannot get over why some people attend the theatre.  I again had to ask some one to turn off their cell phone as the light was distracting and dangerous for the dancers at such a close proximity.

It was very special to see Pilobolus in NYC, yet alone twice within three months, as we saw them in Melbourne in about late June performing their first full length work  "Shadowlands."  I have waited since 1977 to see this company and now to see them here in NYC for such a cheap price was incredible.  These prices balanced out what we paid in Melbourne.

The other incredible aspect was seeing The Joyce Theater, let alone attending an iconic dance company in this historic theatre.  I had studied all about its history at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA)  and have seen many dance companies that have visited Melbourne. For example, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Alwin Nikolais, Trisha Brown, Mark Morris, Pacific Northwest, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Spain, Cloud Gate, Ballet Nationale de Cuba, Les Ballet des Trockadero, Matt Ek, Mathew Bourne,  Christopher Wheeldon's work for The Australian Ballet and most Australian dance companies.

So to give weight to my wait since 1977, tonight was going to be a special night.  But I was to find out it was to be even more special  More of that later.

Review:

"Masters of Ceremony" is choreographed by Robby Barnett, Alison Chase and Jonathon Wolken.
What was scary in this first dance was the likeness of Jordan Kriston to my friend Michele Braban who was Rehearsal Director and Assistant to Christopher Bruce at Ballet Rambert for about 20 years.  Michele was the first person to Graduate from VCA as a Choreologist (Benesh Notation Method).  It was like was watching Michele come back to life as she sadly died, at the very young age of 51 in 2012.

The other incredible connection was that aspects of the first dance piece "Masters of Ceremony reminded me of my friend Ree Schweizer who was Circus Ring-mistress at The Shrine Temple in Chicago and at Circus Circus in Las Vegas etc.  So Jordan's performance was so spooky, sureal and special.

The female role is like a dominatrix with a gentlemen on a rope.  He is like her puppet, her toy boy, her servant.  Renee Jaworksi was arrogantly in control of her beast.  It is a reversal of the Beauty and the Beast roles.  There were controlled sections and then the  circus-like flourish to  "ta da" or punctuate each segment.  These were sinister, haunting and disturbing. 

I loved the use of the rope and the chair as it was like a pas de quatre.  The rope was an instant dancer from the moment Renee first used the rope.  She caught her prey in the guise of the man danced magnificently by Matt Kent.  Or should I say manipulate or obeyed by his controller and succumbed with servility.  A very fine performance.

The variations/divertissements paid homage to the circus world.  There were short sections where Renee as dominatrix used the rope in such creative ways to twist and turn and control his moves.  How do they come up with so many variations?  Love it.

A masterpiece of a work from a creativity and timing perspective.

A short film in between while the crew set up for the next piece.  The crew setting up was choreographed so well and in itself was another dance.  "Wind" was a clever short film with variations on the impact of wind. 

This is where we had to tolerate our very "windy" audience member.  He disturbed other fellow audience members with his "diarrhoea of the mouth and constipation of the brain"  He chose to talk all the way through this short film and then talk through every dance.  So rude. Why come to the theatre mate?

"All Is Not Lost" was created by a huge group from Pilobolus.  Check out their website for accurate credits.  This work has a screen on stage right and what appears to be a glass top table on the stage left.  But there is a camera underneath the glass top table and we get to see all the machinations, manoeuvres and gymnastic moves of this classy troupe which is relayed to the large screen. The way Pilobolus create and invent and do not repeat is so inspiring.

The crawling, climbing, clinging, rolling, supporting, suspending ..... So many fabulous variations that kept your interest and intrigued me at how they could invent yet another variation.  The flow seemed effortless and did not jar.

It was terrific as you could watch the screen, or, the dancers on and around the glass topped table, or shift between the two.  Or even try to watch both at the same time.  So a feast for the eyes and such a lift in my heart to see such fine athletic dancers relish in teasing us with this magically simple theatrical shift of perception.  It was also a tribute to the overhead shots of Busby Berkley movies.

This reminded me of a piece by NDT that came to Melbourne many years ago at The State Theatre.  (Date to be clarified here).  Though the NDT version used a camera from above if I remember correctly, this Pilobolus piece took this invention to a new level of creativity.

"Danielle" a short film that is slow meditation and shows the ageing process of a person in slow motion form child hood to old age.  Sadly it was difficult to enjoy the meditation with the verbose rude gentlemen two seats away telling his mate all the juicy NYC gossip!  It is not your lounge room mate!  RESPECT for all!

"Korokoro" devised by a huge group from Pilobolus has a group of six dancers in very skimpy g-strings and minimalist bras dance a very physically demanding work with lots of contact.  Visually stunning and textured with so many layers of dynamic interplay between the dancers.  I loved the pas de six where each couple would then be featured in a pas de deux of pure trust.

Act Two began with "The Inconsistent Pedaller" created by another large group from Pilobolus.  This piece had a bicycle on stage right, an old man in the centre, and a table with a cake and presents on 
stage left.  There was also a candle on the floor.  There was a pulley system that had a coat or a sheet hanging from it.   All would be revealed in due course.

The sheet was flourished and hung up as a sign announcing Happy 99th Birthday but had a replaceable section to change the number of birthday years accordingly.  It is as if the staff change the number for each resident's year of survival.  Punctuated with this was the survival of the staff working in a care facility and their opening pose was as if it is a dead end job.  But no, as this dance work reveals the job obtains huge satisfaction.

Jordan Kriston strode the bike and pedalled and brought the other characters to life.  It was a bit like a side show at a carnival and reminded me of "Carnivale" the tv show.  It was also like one of those music boxes or prize machines.  She wound the story up and it was going to repeat at nauseum.  It was like inside a nursing home (aged care facility).  We had our very athletic dancer, Nile Russell in what appeared like a nappy or an adult incontinence under garment. The juxtaposition of such athletic musculature and fragility of the nappy spoke volumes - as we will all age, and so enjoy your health while you can.

It was like the still life paintings of old, where they respected that death is a certainty.   And we hope that it does not come to this for ourselves!   (Refer to the philosopher, Alain de Bottan for more details about his analysis of still life paintings)

This riding of the bike sequence was repeated with variations like a daily grind for not only the nursing home staff but also for the residents.  Then a small children's tricycle appears ridden by Matt Del Rosario ( I think.  To be clarified) and it was as he were the Milky Bar Kid, or The Lone Ranger here to protect and guide not only the old man on his journey in life but their staff in understanding that their job is a vocation and not just a job.   He was like the engineer here to start the energy unit in the nursing home and revitalise their spirit.  He provided a fresh perspective.

There was mayhem and fun and games and presents were opened for the old man's birthday.  All presents contained ducks and ducklings.  There was the flying dance sequence where the dancers carried our old man into flight.  He soared physically and they energised his spirit.


Then present were opened and all the same present of  fluorescent yellow ducks and ducklings. The old man flew at one stage.  In fact he soared with sweeping moves suspended by the other dancers.


The end of the old man had died and his balloon floated off into the sky.  Is this to be our fate?  Yes we will all die and hopefully our spirit will rise too.

"Explosions" a very clever short film that showed many variations of explosions one should do not do at home.  The scariest rang true when they showed a bottle of red wine exploding in a microwave.  Or friends had a wheat bag do that and are still our of their house a year later!

"Megawatt" the final piece began with five dancers crawling on their backs onto the stage full of mats. The snake like entrance requires such skill, agility and strength.  Their entrance alone would exhaust your average theatre goer's attempt at the same movements.

This was was a high voltage and extremely gymnastic dance work with lots of rolls, falls and suspensions.  Trust is paramount for this company of dancers.  Trust also from us as an audience that they will deliver.

I loved some of the isolations and retrograde phrases of movement. It is as if you are rewinding the video or dvd. Then you get to pause it and they replay the moments.  This tricks our brain and allows us to relish the phrase again.

Pure teamwork.  It reminded me of the free falling antics of "Streb" a company that I was fortunate to see at the Melbourne Festival of the Arts.  The difference with this work and the work that I saw Streb  perform, was that here I admired their skill, technique and was entertained.  While still being entertained with "Streb" I feared for their safety and had an emotional response of dread and  still I respected their skill and technique. 

A great night at the theatre.   A very special event.

Special connections:

I met most of  the dancers and was moved when three of the dancers were also taught by Trish Casey-Strong.  She taught me at VCA and was so supportive and encouraging.  

This is an edited email that I sent to thank the company of Pilobolus:

Thank you again for a very special performance and completing a circle of study of both The Joyce Theatre and the Pilobolus Company.

I am sharing the following as I am so passionate about Dance and Theatre History:

What excited me was to reading in the programme connections of study at North Carolina University and the hope that one of you may know either Trish Casey-Strong or Diane McPherson or Francene (surname?)

I studied at the Victorian College of the Arts from 1979 - 1982 and had some incredible teachers.    Our Dean was Anne Woolliams who was John Cranko's assistant at Stuttgart Ballet.  Elsie Tjok Lim was my favourite classical teacher and an angel with someone who was classically challenged.

We also had a guest teacher from Spain for three months in about 1981 and his name escapes me.  But he was our Flamenco Master.  Other guest teachers included Marcel Marceau, Mirka Moira the artist etc.

We also had a guest residency from Martha Hill the first director in 1951 at Julliard's dance department.  She offered us jobs to teach dance in the regional USA and we all laughed as we were young and stupid and USA Work Visas then were ridiculously hard to obtain.  She was serious and we only realised later that we missed a great opportunity.

What was scary in the first dance tonight was the likeness of Jordan Kriston to my friend Michele Braban who was Rehearsal Director and Assistant to Christopher Bruce at Ballet Rambert for about 20 years.  Michele was the first person to Graduate from VCA as a Choreologist (Benesh Notation Method).  It was like was watching Michele come back to life as she sadly died, at the very young age of 51 in 2012.

The other incredible connection was that aspects of the first dance piece "Masters of Ceremony reminded me of my friend Ree Schweizer who was Circus Ring-mistress at The Shrine Temple in Chicago and at Circus Circus in Las Vegas etc.  So Jordan's performance was so spooky, surreal and special.

I apologise if I am waffling on but it was so special to see your performance at The Joyce Theatre and to evoke so many memories.

Such an incredible event.

This production gets an 8.5/10

Pilobolus - Shadow Land

Pilobolus - Shadow Land

I saw "Shadow Land" by Pilobolus Dance Theater at The State Theatre on Saturday May 31st 2014 and loved it. For those who have not booked in other Australian cities I recommend it.

It was great to see such a diverse audience last night and they loved it.

What used to be Melbourne Festival fare has now educated audiences to have this as a mainstream dance event. Well done to the producers as I have waited since 1977 to see them live in Melbourne, and I was not disappointed.

This is the first full length work by Pilobolus.  They are an athletic group of dancers who combine so many elements of gymnastics, dance, theatre, shadow-play, and shadow puppetry to create a visual feast.  It is like a dance version of the "The Black Theatre of Prague" that I have seen three times. 

Forget the story as it is so basic and familiar to you already.  It is more like a dreamscape. Let the story wash over you like a hallucinogenic.  A teenage girl longs for her independence and prepares for bed.   She wakes to see her shadow and travels on a journey of discovery.  She turns into a Dog Girl.

If "Shadow Land" was produced in the late 1960s or early 1970s  it would have audiences synthetically marvelling as they did with the film "2001 A Space Odyssey."

I agree with Chloe Smethurst from The Age newspaper (May 31st 2014, page 39) who called the narrative "clunky."  Yes - so what?  Don't worry about the story - enjoy their skill and artistry to create a piece of physical theatre. It is like a bad nightmare. Nothing new here.  So what!

The skill and timing of the dancers is sublime.  Blink and you may miss a visual treat.  Sometimes I had to look twice to recognise some of the images, like those "perception tests" that can be used by Human Resources Departments.

I loved the variety of the segues between scenes.  They used fade- ins, framing techniques, rolling in and out, lighting techniques, screens revolving, and dance to seamlessly direct our attention where it should be.

The circus/freak-show sequence reminded me of a poor cousin to "Pippin" which is currently playing on Broadway (and should play here.)  What Pilobolus performed in this sequence was not the strongest choreographic aspect of the show.  It seemed like a string of tricks to showcase the individual performers that was in keeping with the story.

One of my favourite scenes was the Dog Girl riding in the car with the scenery passing before our eyes. Then they turned around they showed a different perspective of the same scene.  Always moving forward and not being static in their choreographic ideas.  I will not highlight each moment as that would spoil the fun of watching the hitchhiking Dog Girl's journey.

Watch the Dog Girl and how she uses her hands to create ears, tongues and other body parts.  It requires good balance and skill to also hold onto her swag and create two ears.  If she dropped that swag it would spoil the illusion.  Thankfully she does not spoil this illusion.

I loved the simple story and the transitions particularly in the opening sequences whereby we are educated as to how the effects and the shadow play will be produced.  They used two main screens with the larger screen being raised and lowered like a traditional theatre curtain while the smaller screen was wheeled forward and backwards and also used like a revolving stage set.  They also incorporate into the story a lesson in how the shadows are formed, and, how the dancers' location to the light source can determine the size and dynamics of the shadow.

They also used three mobile screens to create the illusion of the full moon passing and then the rising sun. The fluidity of the dancers carrying the  lights and the screens created another illusion of pure joy and simplicity.

The simple and effective use of two large cards to create V shape transitions was majestic.  I loved how you could see how the dancers created these illusions - if you knew where to look.  That is the secret - do not take your eyes off their every move.  Watch everything to see how the ensemble cast change roles from dancer to either puppeteer, lighting or props technician.

There were so many clever uses of lighting, props, staging and choreography.  The dancers were not only responsible to recreate the choreography of movement, but also of the entire set, costumes, props and lights.

The "steps over the backs of other dancers" sequence is such a cliche that was so often used by Sydney Dance Company and also very effectively with stools to climb mountains in "The Three Lives of Lucy Cabrol" (Theater de Complicite). But here we are witnessing one of the 20th Century originators/re-definers of the physical theatre.  Pilobolus are masters of the physical and pay homage to Balinese Shadow Puppets and also to Alwin Nikolais and his use of lights and costumes. ( I was so lucky to have witnessed Alwin Nikolais twice in 1986, and to now see his influence of dance and theatre on Pilobolus.)

I loved the sections broken up between the shadow theatre and the pure physical theatre.  This gave us a respite from just watching the shadow theatre so that we would appreciate their skill in bite size chunks.  They use the five second rule to their advantage.

The finale to the encore is obviously choreographed for each city that Pilobolus visits to the new anthem for New York City: "Empire State of Mind" by Alicia Keys.  It is a clever and memorable finish to personalise and to thank their host city.  It was great to see the cast spell out "Melbourne" with their bodies and hear a resounding cheer of recognition and appreciation from the audience.

I would love Pilobolus to create a short video of these "finale encores" of all of the cities they have visited.

It was  so refreshing to see a non-traditional-dance audience as the majority.  It seemed such a General Public audience and they loved it.  This goes to show that what was once avante-garde dance presented by the Melbourne Festival or Fringe Festival has paved the way to become standard programming fare. Television shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" have also educated audiences to what is possible in physical theatre. It also shows historically that Pilobolus have paved the way for other physical theatre companies like Cirque de Solei etc.

This show is now so accepted as mainstream fare and will hopefully pave the way for audiences to experiment and be tempted to see other contemporary dance companies and assist in the programming decisions at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

Bravo I say to Pilobolus for their dedication since 1971.

I hope you come back soon.

Check out Pilobolus website as they have an extensive touring programme and will be appearing at The Joyce Theater in NYC in July to August 10th 2014.

June 7 2014