Shadowland 2 by Pilobolus - a dance of shade and light

Shadowland 2 by Pilobolus is a drama; it is a spectacular show of light, shadows, video, music and dance.

Shadowland 2 is an outcry about animals that are hunted down by scary robots and caged. They are taken from their habitat to a foreign land, where they are held in boxes (a motive that appears during the entire show). An imaginary animal that looks like an ostrich is one of those animals that were captured and caged in a box. This is where the story intersects with another story, the love story of a young couple who find the ‘creature’ and decide to save it. During the show, other issues are touched on; one that is very current is sexual harassment.

Pilobolus - dance of boxes 

Pilobolus - imaginary creatures

Shadowland 2 is a celebration of light, shades, effects, music, dance, and emotion. The story is speechless using projection of light and shades created by the bodies of the dancer (with only a little use of other objects) with music. The game of lights, shades and distance (that affects the size of the visions projected) is very appealing and often uses humor. We sat on a side row during the show; this gave us a unique view of how some of the shades were created using the bodies of the dancers, which was quite amazing. The images projected using the technology and the bodies of the dancers are often imaginary and grandiose. This adds to the experience of watching it. At some points the lights are turned to the audience and brings us, the audience, into the story.

Pilobolus - projection light and shadows

At the end of the show the couple and the magical birds dance together in a sexy and sensual dance, an enchanting one.  The audience is left wanting more, I for one felt that I would have liked to see more of this dancing. The dancers are very talented and professional since they are athletic and specialize in almost all styles of dancing from classic to modern.

Pilobolus is a dance theatre company that was established in Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1971 as part of a class experiment where they created their first dance that they named “Polobolus” after a phototropic (light loving) fungus that its spores accelerate from 0-45mph when they start their “flight” to land. Since then, the band became famous and performs worldwide while exploring new visual and musical paths.

If you are curious, the current executive director of the troupe is Itamar Kubovy, who was born in Jerusalem.

Pilobolus performs Shadowland 2 in Herzliya from November 13 to 18, 2017.

Disclosure: I was a guest of the show.