Choreography: a blast from the past – no doubt about it. Pilobolus was showing me moves I distinctly remember doing twenty years ago in Limbs er.. Maybe twenty five? Did Douglas (Wright) copy them or did they copy Douglas??

It was fun in those days and the dancers in Pilobolus, once they got used to us/ the theatre/ themselves performing last night – also seemed to be having a lot of fun.  I am going to have to go backwards though because in terms of programming, Pilobolus might have given us a better evening by starting at the end and dancing forwards to the beginning. I am including the splashy slippy curtain calls – imagine the dancers crawling back up out of the dance floor and then getting on with their dance!

What is most basic about this evening’s programme is the approach the dancers take to the choreography – it’s certainly not improvised but crafted and molded then nestled into the dancers’ imaginations.

The last piece of the programme, Day Two (1980), is not really just a dance to stage but staged to produce expanded movements into dances. The music, Brian Eno, David Byrne and Talking Heads, suited the different funky nearly naked company bodies. Both the women, Sheaff and Mendez revealed movements at their very best unclothed. Both women: feline, dynamic and strong. I wanted to see them by themselves.

Instead we saw a very beautiful male quartet: ‘Gnomen’, dancers Herro, Kuribayashi, Minniefee and Olvera with riveting simplicity etched into their dancing. They were dancing, Pilobolus. That was dancing.

The two works prior to this, ‘Solo from the empty suitor’ and ‘Aquatica’ were more literal.

Herro as the soppy hero, denied the red apple of temptation, made a mild attempt at comedy. This work was situated strangely in this particular dance fest. It was a relief to see Herro’s strong calm body work in ‘Gnomen’ – both he and Kuribayashi featured as capable, emotive and matured.

‘Aquatica’ as anthropomorphic seemed at odds with the coyness of the catch gazes between the dancers. I was wondering how our recently captured giant squid would sit in on that dance; probably as soporifically as me. Big distant gaze made sightless by trying to project a deeper choreographic intention.

This was the bit where I thought they could have brought in the water and dredged us up from the deep! Not too late Pilobolus – New Zealand dance has been swimming alongside you, establishing a history nearly as profound as yours.

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