MOMIX
I have long wanted to see the dance company MOMIX as I heard about their visually arresting shows. Artistic Director Moses Pendleton presented VIVA MOMIX as part of their three week holiday run in NYC. The experience was indeed dazzling.
This program is a celebration of the company’s 40th anniversary season. The selections included works from all six of their shows plus a world premiere. They accurately bill their style as “illusion, beauty, magic, fun and inventiveness”. The wonders are ceaseless.
VIVA MOMIX consists of sixteen dances spread over two acts. “Solar Flares” opens the show complete with something akin to pool noodles. Props are a major element in many of the dances and they are impressively incorporated. “Table Talk” was a acrobatic routine which featured, as you might expect, a table.
“Marigolds” began as flowers which converted into red dresses. “Aqua Flow” can be described as a chandelier turned whirling necklace. Literal dummies were used in the group dance and final number “If You Need Some Body”. The creativity is worth savoring.
Especially welcome are the splendid backdrops and bewitching lighting which sometimes showcases the dancers and other times plays tricks on the eyes. Shapes are revealed. Animals emerge. A fantastic example of this artistic melding occurred in the black-lit illusions of the amusing “Snow Geese”.
I (finally) recently saw the superlative Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert film. Swifties should be delighted by “Man Fan”. They will recall similar enormous undulating capes with long spines and fabric allowing for spectacular evolving imagery.
The new work premiered for this performance was “Floating”. Three couples are intertwined on a slanted mirrored platform. As they change positions and shapes they appear to be floating in their ecstatic combinations.
MOMIX can be easily enjoyed by casual dance fans, children and those who might want to sample a professional dance performance. The eye candy is unending and the smiles these staged dances illicit are deservedly earned. “Daddy Long Legs” is a cowboy number which naturally includes lengthy limbs. You’ll have to see for yourself how this effortlessly performed number ropes the audience into applause.
MOMIX tours the United States throughout the year. For 2024 they are featuring their Alice in Wonderland themed show. They also have a few dates booked for Italy in late spring.