More than 40 years ago choreographer and director Moses Pendleton founded Momix, a company of dancer-illusionists that has grown to perform internationally as well as work in film and television.
“Viva Momix Forever” on Jan. 29 at Governors State University’s Center for Performing Arts in University Park features company favorites of sections from “Alice,” “Botanica,” “Alchemia,” “Remix,” “Opus Cactus” and “Lunar Sea.”
“It’s about 12 pieces. They’re like fast-moving cuts, almost like a vaudeville-like presentation,” said Pendleton, artistic director of Momix.
“I think people come out with a little less gravity in their step. It’s unique. It uses props and implements things like 10-foot poles and kinetic sculptures to create a surreal world.
“This particular show called ‘Viva Momix Forever’ is different from our full-length productions. We have 10 actually. It’s a compilation album with highlights from various shows throughout Momix’s history so it’s a nice collection of the aesthetic of Momix and it’s a very popular show.”
“Snow Geese” from the full-length Momix production “Lunar Sea” is among the pieces featured in “Viva Momix Forever.”
“It’s all done in black light. We shade away most of the body so just arms are illuminated to create a metamorphosis of a flock of geese becoming one giant goose. There is that feeling of changing shapes and forms in a very compressed way,” said Pendleton, who lives in northwestern Connecticut.
“That’s a wonderful and exciting piece made possible by specific lighting involved with sound. Lighting and staging are also integral to create the effects that we are looking for.
“For me, I find that it’s a total theater experience in that much of the illusion in the imagery needs to be sometimes as attributable to what sound you are playing.”
“Viva Momix Forever” features five men and five women.
“They’re all highly trained dancers and very capable physically. They have to be able to handle various props to create images so they have to be almost puppeteers. They’re very multitalented and disciplined and an incredible group,” Pendleton said.
“The sheer physicality is an attractive point to Momix. It is really the sense of how highly trained human bodies can make connections. They have to be in great shape to be a human cartoon so there’s an appropriate level there for audiences in terms of the physicality and the virtuosity of the show.”
Pendleton, who cofounded the dance company Pilobolus in 1971, went on to form Momix in 1980.
“I see this as a kind of visual physical theater. They’re not just dancers. They’re actors and acrobats,” said Pendleton, who was a choreographer for the closing ceremony of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
“I use a very physical approach to visual theater. I’ve created something that I think is very inventive and fast-moving and fun and sensual. It’s a mix of a lot of different elements. It’s a great escape from reality.
“For Momix, I would say an integral part is really the fantastic kind of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world that we invite everyone to take a little ride on and escape from the throes of daily living.”
Connecticut-based Momix has performed in more than 22 countries on five continents.
Pendleton’s lengthy resume includes choreographing “Doves of Peace” featuring Diana Vishneva for the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
“She’s a top Russian ballerina. The piece itself was quite angelic and mystical,” he said.
“It was quite an event. How many people were actually watching it was a thrill in itself.”
It has been quite a career for Pendleton who previously aspired to be an Olympic skier.
“I was born and raised on a dairy farm. I wasn’t interested in dance. Each summer my parents would send me out to Mount Hood, Oregon, skiing on glaciers at Mount Hood so I had a very athletic background,” he said.
“Momix, in a way, is trying to put an aesthetic to the athletic. You’ve got to train the brain as much as the body.”
Pendleton said he hopes to continue exploring creativity via Momix.
“I’d like to see it continue on. I’d like to see it surprise me,” he said.
“You’re only as good as your next creation. I enjoy the process of being around energetic and curious people.”
‘Viva Momix Forever’
When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29
Where: Governors State University’s Center for Performing Arts, 1 University Parkway, University Park
Tickets: $45, $50, $55 or $60 for adults; $20 for ages 14 and younger
Information: 708-235-2222; centertickets.net
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
