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