In 2007, the American dance company Pilobolus fascinated the whole world. Television images of their spectacular performances at the Academy Awards ceremony travelled around the globe. Nobody had ever seen anything like it: behind an illuminated screen, groups of human bodies elegantly transformed into objects, bodies merged into impressive fantasy shapes, dissolved again and became new figures. The audience was captivated.
The images are created both directly and indirectly, and the viewer immerses themselves in the created worlds of shadows as if in a film scene. Although the company uses elements of ballet, what the artists present on stage has little to do with dance in the classical sense.
“From its earliest days, metamorphosis has been at the heart of the purest Pilobolus experience. We see both physicality and illusion. Bodies become images, and one image flows into the next – poetic and inexplicable,” wrote journalist Alistair MacCaulay in The New York Times about Pilobolus.
For several years, Pilobolus Dance Theatre experimented with the traditional form of shadow theatre before developing it into a new form of performance. The result was a combination of Pilobolus’ unmistakable style and innovative explorations into completely new areas. With Shadowland, audiences experience another new dimension of shadow dance through poetically flowing images.
Shadow theatre, modern dance, lighting effects and music: In their first full-length production Shadowland, Pilobolus tells a complete story – a touching and imaginative tale about a young girl in “Shadowland”, who is trapped in a world made of shadow play. In search of a way out, she encounters a wide variety of creatures and images. The shadow scenes reveal the emotional world of a young girl on the threshold of adulthood. The dream worlds created on stage draw the viewer deeply into their spell and confront them with their own surreal dream experiences.
