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by MAYA FELTEN
With a little smoke and mirrors and a lot of illusion, Momix's most recent production touring Portland achieves a mesmerizing visual spectacle. The show is undeniably entertaining and even thrilling at times, but if you're expecting depth of meaning, don't hold your breath.
Choreographer Moses Pendleton's Momix is certainly not concert dance. It's a blend of gymnastics, theater and stagecraft that results in the highest caliber performance art.
Alchemy, the seemingly magical transformation of matter, is a theme perfectly suited to Momix's strengths. The show opened on fire, with a ritualistic dance involving 10-foot hollow tubes carried by dancers wearing red. The choreography was rudimentary (as in most of the show) and seemed to drag on, but it ended with an incredibly beautiful manipulation of a red silk sheet.
From fire to water, then earth to air, the show segued through an array of scenes and stunts without an intermission.
A scene of the dawn of civilization introduced the section on Earth, with fabric-draped figures dressed like African women doing a playful fertility dance. The women moved spheres under their dresses, creating caricatures of the female body with large hips becoming buttocks, then breasts, then pregnant bellies. It might have been cheeky (pardon the pun) to some, but this creative concept was a welcome change of pace amid the more gymnastic stunts in the rest of the show.
Pendleton's an obvious master of stagecraft. In a sequence where dancers appeared to be floating in outer space—running and suspended in unison—they wore body suits painted with neon veins, suggesting both a primitive human skeleton and an alien life form. Starry projections created the illusion of moving through the galaxy as the glowing dancers moved on stationary ellipticals. The effect was stunning.
One of the highlights of the show was a romantic duet "underwater." A male and a female dancer wearing shimmering white moved fluidly together, with the woman in an aerial harness. This is nothing new (it was even on So You Think You Can Dance), but the combination of movement and lighting on the Newmark stage still stood out. The dancers themselves stole the focus, rather than becoming slaves to their props.
Continuing underwater, the next section was all about the costumes. The women wore white hoop skirts and skittered around the stage to create a hover-craft effect (think Petit-mort). They used the skirts to create level changes and beautiful shell-shapes. Though the concept itself was successful, the choreography lacked development—like in the opening section, the movement patterns were basic and predictable.
The second section of the show, Led into Gold climaxed with gold hot pants and a mirage of mirrors that gave the mind bending illusion of multiplied bodies, appearing and disappearing. Four women began the dance by strutting sexily, but their movements changed to a more demure display when a male dancer came onstage. At first transfixed by the women and their reflections, he soon succumbed to a narcissistic obsession with his own reflection in the mirrors. This was a rare nugget of deeper thought and a welcome addition to visual spectacle.
Alchemia is dreamlike. The show's fantastical quality held the audience in rapt attention. But that's not to say it's very thought-provoking. It's a performance that's billed as fine art, but it's ultimately entertainment—a creative, skilled and high caliber visual display. Momix's artistry is in the precision of its dancers as they manipulate props and follow Pendleton's complex visual effects. Don't go to this show expecting contemporary dance or conceptual fine art, but do expect to be entertained and amazed.
See it: Alchemia is at the Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, portland5.com/newmark-theatre. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2 pm Saturday, Oct. 8-10. $26-$70.
Willamette Week