Known for its innovative and highly emotive style, Momix returns to the stage in “Passion,” in which the dance company’s director, Moses Pendleton, joins forces with musician Peter Gabriel to create a powerful multi-media production.
The show, set for stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at Lebanon Opera House, “is an enchanted synthesis of theater, circus, athleticism and modern dance,” said Heather Chow, executive director of the opera house. With a vibrant score and exotic imagery, “the triumph of ‘Passion’ lies in the eerie and otherworldly mood it creates, transporting audiences into a world of form, movement and emotion.”
Gabriel’s score for the film “The Last Temptation of Christ” forms the background of the performance as, show officials said, “‘Passion aspires to spiritual significance with its elaborate choreography that is all the raw emotions that humans experience — exotic, loving and sad.” (Please note that this performance contains partial female nudity and suggestive situations and may not be suitable for all audiences.)
Momix, a company of dancer-illusionists, has created an international reputation for inventive works.
Throughout the past 25 years, the dance company has been celebrated for its ability to conjure up surreal images with the use of props, lighting, shadow, humor and the human body. Among career highlights are appearances in the “Homage a Picasso” in Paris, on PBS’s “Dance in America” series and as a representative of the United States at the European Cultural Center in Delphi.
Much of Momix’s success can be attributed to Pendleton, who combines powerful choreography with engaging music, setting the mood for performances that seem to blur the lines between the possible and impossible. Pendleton finishes the experience with outrageous costumes, imaginative props and creative lighting for a multi-sensory experience.
Born and raised on a dairy farm in northern Vermont, Pendleton received his early performing experience exhibiting the family’s dairy cows at the Caledonia County Fair.
In 1971, after attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, Pendleton and fellow classmate Alison Chase collaborated to form the modern dance company Pilobolus, which went on to win world-wide acclaim for its groundbreaking blend of acrobatics and imagination.
Pendleton left that company in 1980 to pursue a solo career and began working on other projects, such as choreographing the closing ceremonies for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. During the games Pendleton’s solo “Momix” was performed and created the base for the founding of the Momix dance company the following year.
Tickets to the Lebanon Opera House show range from $25 to $45, with additional discounted tickets for seniors and children. For more details, call 448-0400 or log onto www.lebanonoperahouse.org.
In addition, Momix will visit the Colonial Theatre in Keene for a performance of some of the company’s favorite repertory pieces, including “Lunar Sea,” “In Orbit,” “Opus Cactus” and “Baseball,” at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Tickets to the Monadnock Region program range from $30 to $44. For details, call the box office at 352-2033 or log onto www.thecolonial.org.
