Pilobolus Possible
The Joyce Theater was buzzing with anticipation on the evening of Monday, July 20, 2009, as the hour approached 7:30 and the audience took their seats awaiting the last of Pilobolus’ three programs. I was especially eager to experience my first Pilobolus show, as I had only heard a few stray criticisms and praises from the lips of fellow dancers in this crazy city! Would the dancers indeed be solely acrobatic, or would they surprise me with their blend of mystifying strength and cool artistry?
The unidentifiable world that Andrew Herro, Jun Kuribayashi, Annika Sheaff, and Matt del Rosario create is a very strange one. Herro plays a fisherman who is surrounded by black balloons. Annika Sheaff and Jun Kuribayashi are pushed independently and sporadically from a small red door in the middle of the stage. Sheaff emerges first and begins to pop Herro’s balloons until only one is left. He grasps the balloon protectively, but Sheaff manages to steal it away, retreating back into her red door… leaving us to only hear the loud, final last "pop." Del Rosario, dressed in blue as a reptile (complete with mask!), really does appear frog-like as he hops and leaps across the stage. Kuribayashi, stuck to that little red door, tries to emerge gingerly from it, poking one foot out of the door at a time. He suddenly throws himself completely through the door, only to retreat back a few seconds later.
The second piece of the evening, Pseudopodia, which was choreographed by Johnathan Wolken in 1973 and performed by Jun Kuribayashi is a highly physical and extremely energetic piece. The acrobatic Kuribayashi performs back somersaults across the stage quicker than quick! The piece remains extremely intense the entire time, without a lot of change in dynamics. At times, I admit that it feels more like a gymnastics routine and not a dance performance. I should have brought my perfect 10 sign to hold up! But, based on the other pieces he is in, Kuribayashi proves to be a dancer who has artistry, even if this piece did not exactly highlight that fact.
Razor:Mirror, another Jonathan Wolken work, is the second piece of the evening with its New York debut. As opposed to Pseudopodia, this piece delves deeply into the dark inner workings of the psyche. Each dancer possesses weird eccentricities, contorting their faces into eerie smiles and psychotic stares. As Jun Kuribayashi is constantly changing personalities, he turns his shirt inside out as a way to materialize this transformation.
Jenny Mendez is a magnetic force in this piece as she hypnotizes the audience with her turned in legs and arms, her wrists almost always touching as if magnetically glued together. Annika Sheaff looks possessed, constantly changing from smiling to disturbed, her doll-like lips either pursed or grinning psychotically. The dancers introduce the piece in front of the curtains and then slowly open them to reveal the rest of the stage. Razor: Mirror is eerily disturbing and leaves you questioning your own sanity!
The final piece of the night, Day Two, which is directed by Moses Pendleton and choreographed by Matt Del Rosario, Andrew Herro, Jun Kuribayashi and Annika Sheaff features a blend of very different movements. At first distracting, the women are topless for the duration of the piece, wearing only thongs! The men are also scantily clad wearing only dance belts. Faster than people can post their Twitter status, the dancers hop low to the ground and then switch into very fluttery movement vocabulary with hands over their head. The range of dance moves is astonishing! The work is not only unusual from a choreographic standpoint, but also in the unpredictable ability in which the seven dancers are able to transition so effortlessly from very different movements to the next.
One of the most memorable images I have of the piece is of the dancers standing on each other’s shoulders appearing as if they are totem poles with their arms placed in different structures. What balance! The spectacular finale ended the performance with a bang or more accurately, a splash! Just when I thought they couldn’t throw anymore glitter in my eyes, the floor of the stage miraculously uplifted to make way for the slip-and-slide, (yes, kids, a slip-and-slide) in the middle of the dance floor. The dancers splash around, slipping, skidding, sliding across the stage which, if it weren’t for my new shoes, made me want to jump right in!
iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Amanda Keller
Editorial Contributions by Sheena DiMatteo
Performance: Pilobolus
Venue: The Joyce Theater
Performance Date: Monday, June 20, 2009, 7:30pm
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