Shapeshifters
When it returns to the UAE on Thursday, acrobatic show ‘Shadowland’ will blend light, dark and heartthumping music to tell a coming-of-age tale like you’ve never seen before
When you see a giant hand emerge, don’t worry. It plays into the storytelling. Manipulating shadows, changing shapes. You are about to dive headfirst onto the stage of someone else’s subconscious.
You are about to fall into Shadowland.
The show returns to the UAE for a second time with a staging at the Dubai World Trade Centre from Thursday to Saturday. It played in Abu Dhabi in 2014. “The UAE audience [has] embrace[d] this production and we have been honoured to be asked back to tell you this tale,” says Mark Fucik, creative director of modern dance company Pilobolus, in an interview with tabloid!.
It all begins at naptime. When a teen who yearns for independence falls asleep, she finds herself at the start of a surreal adventure. Those creepy forms at the edge of the bed, they aren’t 2D figments of the mind anymore, they are creatures that must be dealt with.
Drama and comedy intertwine in this coming-of-age tale where monsters slip and glide out of the wings, and desires take flight. Slowly, our protagonist must learn what it means to be an adult.
Dreams are like rubber bands that stretch the coil of imagination and allow for things deemed impossible in the real world. So perhaps it’s fitting that instead of colour and sparkle to brew fancy, the world-class Pilobolus troupe uses the interplay of light and dark to create the illusions of malleable silhouettes, unreal beasts, entire cities that rock with music and lanes that appear and vanish seemingly at will.
The Pilobolus company was formed in 1971 by two students in Dartmouth College. Since then, the group has performed on Broadway, at the Oscars and the Olympic games. They’ve twirled through routines on television, in movies and commercials, and even in schools.
In 2009, they came up with a new idea: Shadowland, which melds shadow theatre with acrobatics and ballet.
“Shadowland grew from the collective imaginations of the artistic team and the dancers. We had a menagerie or incredible shadow images that were crying out for a story to be created with them,” says Fucik.
The California dancer joined Pilobolus in 2001 and went on to work with the company in different capacities, including teacher and choreographer. “And we work to create a wonderful world for them to inhabit,” he explains.
The story of Shadowland was conceived in collaboration with Steven Banks, who was the lead writer for the animated series SpongeBob
SquarePants. It has a rhythmic original score by American musician, producer and film composer David Poe, who has toured with artists such as Bob Dylan,
Joan Baez, The Jayhawks and Tori Amos.
And to keep that magical element going there’s that introduction to the giant hand; it’s a leitmotif, signifying the teen’s changing thoughts, dreams and aspirations. Plus it pulls double time to help set the stage.
“Shadowland is a timeless story of growing up. It carries themes that will always be associated with our journeys from youth to adulthood,” Fucik says. Choppy waters, indecision, a crisis of confidence, acceptance — the subject, he assures, will resonate. “Shadowland is for the whole family.”
And as in life, by the end of the ride, the adult is made.
Without the distractions of the kaleidoscope expected from a dream sequence, the group is free to indulge in what they do best, storytelling.
“The constraints of the shadows forced us to become more inventive and thus more creative,” says the creative director. The screen and projector have long been companions of this group, but the real talent lies in the nimble dancers who must contort in perfect sync to create the story.
It’s a game of precision — sharp glares can destroy a silhouette; a dusting of il-
“Shadowland grew from the collective imaginations of the artistic team and the dancers.” MARK FUCIK | Pilobolus creative director
lumination can blur the picture.
“Learning how to manipulate and move into and out of the lights was challenging. Getting the correct angles to create to shapes we wanted,” he says.
Fortunately the body-bending acrobats of the troupe have had enough practice to create an array of convincing animals (dogs, elephants) and skylines (New York, London) just by the clever manipulation of limbs and light.
Fucik calls the show “mesmerising, elegant and magical.”
“Everyone’s experience will be different. We hope that everyone leaves inspired and with a sense of awe and amazement,” he says.
Can the giant hand pull off the magic trick? The answer lies in the shadows.
“[The show] carries themes that will always be associated with our journeys from youth to adulthood.” MARK FUCIK | Pilobolus creative director