Jack Anderson reviews MOMIX's "Lunar Sea"

[vagansmom]

Momix's new program is currently being performed at the Joyce Theater.

Black-light effects produce many of the illusions. Dancers glow in the dark and vanish back into it. They tilt at precarious angles and walk, swim, sit and float on the air in yogalike meditation postures. Projections on scrims resemble everything from amorphous ever-changing shapes to earthly landscapes, tree limbs and panoramic views of nocturnal skies.

Ordinary concepts of weight are constantly defied. Dancers bound about without touching the floor, or if they do, they instantly bounce heavenward again. Scurrying creatures appear to be nothing but legs. Body parts miraculously detach themselves and reassemble. Waving arms become bird wings. Shapes zip in and out as if on celestial skateboards. A duet in which Heather Magee and Anthony Heinl are recognizable as human beings, rather than odd critters, becomes a study in passionate entanglements.

Full article Here

[vagansmom]

Kathryn Shattuck also reviews "Lunar Sea" for the New York Times. Her review explains what goes into creating some of the effects. I have seen this ballet. The first time was in its beta form, after several Nutmeg Ballet School dancers (my daughter was one back then) had worked with Moses on it. They did a lot of improvisation work which then went to Arizona Ballet (who commissioned the piece). The dancers there continued the work. With Moses, they molded it into about a half hour work. They performed it as did the Nutmeg dancers that year for their spring performance.

Last summer, Momix dancers turned it into a full-length ballet. HARD work for the dancers but such a thrill for the audience! Go see this program if you're lucky enough to have it come to your area. I saw the finished work on New Year's Eve of this year - it's mesmerizing.

But the celestial effects, it turns out, are earthbound. "I like to call it by the subtitle, 'No Visible Means of Support,' " Mr. Pendleton said after its 83-minute performance on Wednesday evening. "I was basically trying to devise a ballet as if you were witnessing it on the Moon with one-sixth of the Earth's gravity by using various tricks and techniques to elevate the body. The reality is that much of it is very difficult physical pas de deux partnering work."

Review is here