Pilobolus vows to blow minds in audience
Pilobolus promises to blow the minds of city’s dance audiences, Salena Kitteringham writes.
A girl is transported through the shadows on her bedroom walls to a land of adventure.
At first blush, the premise for Shadowland sounds like a riff on Peter Pan. But it’s set on the bodies of Pilobolus Dance Theater, a one-of-a-kind American company made up ballet and modern dancers alongside martial artists and acrobats. And there’s little doubt these universal Alice in Wonderland coming-of-age themes will be pushed, pulled and twisted to cast the most extraordinary shadows imaginable.
Last seen in Alberta in 2010, and recently paired with Britney Spears for her Make Me performance at the 2016 MTV Video Awards, Pilobolus prides itself on innovative, genre-busting performances that stack human bodies on top of each other to create stunning sculptural images.
For the creation of Shadowland, a popular multimedia production that’s been touring Europe and Asia for four years, the question became how could they take those human sculptures and have them read in shadow?
“Shadow play and puppetry have been around forever, so we really questioned how we were going to ‘Pilobolize’ it,” explains Mark Fucik, former Pilobolus company performer, now Shadowland creative director.
“We started coming up with this idea of a composite shadow … where you take four or five to six or seven bodies and actually stack them in front of a light.
“Whether the bodies are up and down from each other or in front of each or next to each other, we started to find some really beautiful images with that.”
Unlike a traditional circus presentation that progresses from one trick into another with little regard for character or narrative, Fucik says every movement impulse in a Pilobolus production needs to come from somewhere deeper than the basic aim to wow and impress. The trick with Shadowland was to figure out how to get into those striking, shadow contortions without it looking as if they were just walking into formation, then standing there static.
“We had to start working with how to create movement that makes these shadows look dynamic: creepy sometimes or really light and lively. We are looking to tell a story and make sure all the nuances of how we move around the stage and how we move from one thing to the next thing tells that story.”
Created in collaboration with Steven Banks, lead writer with Sponge Bob Square Pants (if that gives any insight into the playful frenetic pacing of the work), Shadowland incorporates multiple moving screens and projections with in-front and behind-the-screen choreography to an original rock-inspired musical score by American film composer David Poe.
“If you watch Sponge Bob, you know it’s crazy,” laughs Fucik. “We loved working with Steven because you’re mixing all these ideas that would never normally go together. That’s exactly what Pilobolus is about. We are this crazy company that mixes things up and somehow makes it cohesive. Steve fell right into our creative process and helped us tell this story.”
When the popular Pilobolus production touches down in Canada for the first time, presented by Alberta Ballet to kick off its 50th anniversary season, Fucik says audiences should expect the unexpected.
“It is refreshing for an established ballet company to present something that might extend beyond a loyal ballet audience’s comfort zone,” says Fucik.
“That tells me the people of Alberta Ballet are willing to take a chance on something, something a little bit weird that isn’t mainstream. It says to me that Alberta Ballet is adventurous. And it also says to me that they believe their audience is adventurous too. That they are looking to have their minds blown.”