And now for something completely different

I went to see the Pilobolus dance company last night at the Joyce. I always find their work interesting and last night was no exception - I enjoyed B'zrk, Symbiotic and Day Two which are all very different from each other but a lot of fun. Their pieces are all really physical and body conscious and some of the moves are just amazing - how anyone can spin around with someone draped over their head without holding on I will never know. Nocturne I found to be too depressing - a female dancer, topless in a tutu with a veil mask, mimes the movements of an old woman until she strangles herself. Um, OK.

The star of the evening for me had to be Darkness and Light, a piece the company put together with the puppeteer Basil Twist. You are shown that there are a number of dancers on stage, in leotards, with a variety of lights and equipment. Then a screen is lowered in front of the dancers and the entire performance is a series of cast shadows on the screen. A few of the sequences were very abstract - there was an underwater scene with amoeba-like forms floating across the screen followed by a starlit backdrop with abstract feather-creatures flying around. I am not sure how either of those was actually performed behind the screen but the effect was absolutely beautiful. There was also a wonderful sequence where the light was pulled in and out while the dancers danced to make their forms shift from large and abstract to small and clear. The way the shadows moved across the screen and folded into one another was amazing. There were also quite a lot of giant, scary heads with flickering tongues - those I could have done without but all in all the piece was very different and very interesting and beautiful.

I believe the piece is being performed again this weekend but if you miss it, hopefully they will revive it again soon!