[NEohioPAL]Berko review: MOMIX DANCE THEATER

[Roy Berko]

MOMIX DANCE THEATRE MESMERIZES IN SPITE OF BOX OFFICE
SNAFU

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	


It was an exciting night for dance in downtown
Cleveland.  Dance Cleveland and the Cuyahoga County
Community College Center for Arts and Culture combined
to bring Momix Dance Theatre to the State Theatre. 
This, combined with pre and post program parties
sponsored by the coolcleveland.com website, produced
an announced audience of 2500. 

Under the creative direction of Moses Pendleton, Momix
is noted for displaying its dancer/illusionists via a
unique mix of breathtaking images, creative humor and
eclectic music.   “OPUS CACTUS,’ the program presented
in their Cleveland appearance, a botanically-inspired
creation, is a series of hallucinatory visions of the
great American desert landscape.

What style of dance is MOMIX?  Don’t think ballet or
modern dance or gymnastics.  Think all of those
combined.  This is anything other than the usual.
Artistic Director/Choreographer Moses Pendleton, who
calls his performers “dancer illusionists,” requires
them to blend dance, gymnastics and circus acrobatics
into mesmerizing performances. 

The program contained dancers in silhouette against
varied color-lit backdrops, a performer who did her
entire number without leaving a hammock,  a gila
monster made up of four intertwined bodies,
skateboards used for body surfing, and a metal
geometric sculpture employed as a rolling jungle gym,
huge fans acting as skirts for the female dancers, a
giant puppet, performers balanced on swings suspended
from the fly gallery, florescent human balls which
roll and bounce, a human totem pole, a dance conceived
totally around the use of vaulting poles.  Flowers
bloom, bugs crawl, storms are created, stars twinkle,
tumbleweeds tumble, lizards leap and rattlesnakes
slither.   

As one reviewer stated, “Pendleton has conjured 19
desert scenes, and devised such stunning  imagery (set
to New Age and traditional music) that you may never
think of the desert in the same way again.”

The exciting evening was not without its problems. 
The performance started over thirty minutes late due
to a snafu at the box office.  Long lines snaked out
onto Euclid Avenue as people attempted to buy tickets
and pick up prepaid orders.  The situation resolved
itself when a wise decision by the house manager
allowed everyone in to the theatre to find an
available seat.    The Playhouse Square box office
needs to investigate what went wrong so that this
situation does not happen again.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:   One of the problems with a single
performance presentation is that now that the word is
out on how terrific the MOMIX company is, there is no
present chance for others to attend a performance. 
The moral:  If you ever have a chance to see the Momix
Dance Theatre, DO!!!!!!


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Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
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