Pilobolus works magic with shadowplay
InReview
US dance-theatre troupe Pilobolus’s latest work is shadow play – but not as you know it.
A giant hand turns a little girl into a scruffy dog that rolls over for a tummy rub before being transformed once more into a girl-dog hybrid. Other bodies magically metamorphose into camels, elephants and the Statue of Liberty. Crazy chefs wielding knives and rolling pins try to cook the girl in a soup. And then there’s the centaur that wins her heart.
“I love the show – I feel like it’s so magical,” says dancer Victoria Derenzo, who has been performing in Shadowland almost since its inception three-and-a-half years ago.
“It’s all about the main character and you really relate to her and sympathise with her. We’ve all been there; we’ve all felt uncomfortable in our own skin … but then you take the journey with her and she goes through many tragedies and triumphs.”
Described as part-shadow act, part dance, part circus and part concert – and set to an original score by American musician and composer David Poe – Shadowland will be playing at Adelaide’s Her Majesty’s Theatre from July 9-13 as part of a national tour.
It was created in collaboration with Steven Banks, lead writer for the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, and follows the strange, dream-like journey of a teenage girl who yearns for independence. With a cast of 12 dancers, the production incorporates multiple moving screens, merging projected images with front-of-stage choreography.
Pilobolus is renowned for its innovation, improvisation and collaborative creative process, and Derenzo says every dancer has contributed something new and different to the always-evolving show.
“We are constantly playing and the people who are the most passionate about the job are the biggest kids … it’s shadow play, and shadow puppets are the most basic kids’ play.”
The cast rehearses between two and three hours each day as part of the process of perfecting and improving the performance. Timing and precision is everything: if one person is having an off night, the other dancers must make adjustments to ensure, for example, that the elephant’s head fits with its body.
“Most of the magic is about the delicacy of it – how to create a feeling that you are actually touching something that may be 10 or 20 feet away from you,” Derenzo says.
“The transformation with the godlike hand coming in and touching the girl … if you’re a millimetre off, it’s not believable.
“It’s finding perfection in the scale – that’s where all the illusion lies.”
Proving that audiences everywhere love to be enchanted by a little magic, Pilobolus has already presented more than 200 performances of Shadowland and has a touring schedule that continues into next year, including places such as Taiwan and Abu Dhabi.
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Derenzo says the show’s appeal extends across all ages and cultures, with the scene involving the dog getting its tummy scratched proving universally popular.
“That’s my favourite part, where you hear the whole audience collectively respond. When the dog’s ears go up and down, the whole audience chuckles.”
Pilobolus will be presenting Shadowland at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide from July 9-13.
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