[ WEEKEND ]

---

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOMIX From butterflies to flowers to dragons -- Momix members bend and contort themselves into nature's beauty.

Desert inspiration

Momix dancers' fanciful
productions are rooted in nature

---

By Shawn "Speedy" Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.com

Atop a hill in a 22-room Victorian-era home where he's resided for the past 25 years, Moses Pendleton, founder and artistic director of the dance troupe Momix, spends his free days chasing visions. "It's like an old, run-down hotel. It's quite haunted," he reveals in his description of his northwestern Connecticut estate, which doubles as a sort of creative resort for Pendleton and the Momix cast. "The wallpaper's peeling off the wall. It hasn't been changed in a hundred years. But I do find inspiration here."

Nature is the primary source from which ideas for such fanciful, evocative Momix productions are created. In Momix's current touring production, "Opus Cactus," which premieres in Honolulu this weekend, Pendleton took inspiration from a visit to Arizona in which he spent time observing the landscape, flora, fauna and wildlife. "You see in 'Opus Cactus' ideas that require a certain kind of acting, but you're not acting the role of a human," he explains. "You might be acting more of a role of a Gila monster or a rattlesnake or some kind of surreal, mystical beastie that has a dynamic and a character through movement."

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOMIX From butterflies to flowers to dragons -- Momix members bend and contort themselves into nature's beauty.

An imaginative amalgamation of performance art, body sculpture and illusion, "Opus Cactus" also employs inventive props and mood-inducing music to create a most unusual spectacle. Over a soundtrack of American Indian, African and Middle Eastern sounds flavored with several engaging Bach and Brian Eno numbers, performers propel themselves across the stage through the use of 10-foot metal poles, rollerblades, skateboards and a large, gyroscopic metal sculpture. Oversize Oriental fans help to create a sun dance, while a man and woman, aided by lighting effects, work in unison to become a 7-foot-tall, ostrichlike creature. "It does travel outside the Sonoran desert into the Gobi desert and the Sahara," he notes. "It's not really about the desert, but a kind of desert in your own mind."

MOMIX premiered in Milan, Italy, in 1980, after Pendleton ended his tenure with Pilobolus, the innovative dance company he co-founded in 1971 while enrolled in a Dartmouth College dance class. These days, as Momix's artistic director, Pendleton believes the sharing of ideas is key to the development of the company's fantastic productions. "We collaborate on a lot of the work, that's for sure. I might bring in a piece of music and a theme, and we kind of improvise, videotape and shape the production.

"I don't necessarily think about doing steps," he explains. "I try and develop a series of visual impressions and see how that can adjust itself and how the body can be connected to that visual landscape."

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOMIX From butterflies to flowers to dragons -- Momix members bend and contort themselves into nature's beauty.

For Pendleton the benefits of working from home are obvious. Upon waking he insists on a morning swim in his pool to jump-start the creative process. On unusually snowy days, as he's seen this past week, he may build fires in his kitchen and living room and begin recording thoughts and impressions on paper or microcassette. "I never go anywhere without several means of recording because you never know when you're going to be attacked by an idea," he said. "I record several hours a day. There's a lot of listening to music or past conversations."

The Momix office, situated in the basement of his home, is only a few steps away, while a converted horse barn across the road serves as a dance studio, where rehearsals are held. "An hour from now, I'll probably be working out with weights and then spa myself into a relaxed state so I can come back and perhaps enjoy the sunset with a nice pinot grigio on the porch."

'Opus Cactus' Presented by Momix Where: Hawaii Theatre, 1130 Bethel St. When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and 2 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $15 to $35 Call: 528-0506

Click for online
calendars and events.