Review-Bothanica-Hong Kong Arts Fest
13-3-13
For those of you who haven’t seen a production by the ‘dance-illusionist’ company, MOMIX, make sure you find some time to see them, but buy the cheap seats. There are a few reasons you should buy the cheaper seats:
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As their self-proclaimed title ‘dance-illusionists’ defines, a great portion of their performance rests on creating grand, imaginative and, on occasion, mind-bending illusions. When you sit too close to the stage, in the more expensive seats, it is too easy to see through these illusions. The illusion is broken.
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This is a dance company that integrates elements of contemporary and modern dance with puppetry, lavish drapings of fabric, a varied sound track with sophisticated uses of lighting and shadow, elaborate props and multi-media projections. Again, if you are sitting too close, you are going to miss a lot. The large picture is far more exciting to watch from afar.
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Unfortunately, the other reason to buy the cheap seats is that MOMIX’s production of “Bothanica” is brilliantly conceived and performed but it is also inconsistent and somewhat forced.
The concept behind “Bothanica” is the life cycle of the four seasons – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The concept is beautiful. There are moments in the production that are breathtaking, awe-inspiring and all of those other uplifting adjectives. Some of the audience's and my own favorite moments were the emerging flowers, the dancing hands, the prancing centaurs, the fiery tornados with the flitting lighting flashes, the sunflowers that followed the whole of summer to be closed at end and the truly majestic winter wind that brought on the cool of Fall.
Most of the audience was lost, however, after the opening. Once Momix delved into the cold isolation of winter, they focused too much on the hibernation and frozen seeds in the earth instead of focusing on the life that defies the arctic months. During this period, they also had some great inventive pieces that the audiences enjoyed, but we remained in the dark for so long that a great many in the audience were yawning and a few fell asleep. There is one piece performed on a giant mirror. The concept is great, but the execution is poorly used. The most striking moments on the mirror were when the performer truly used her extensions and arches, but she hardly used this or flew through the extensions so quickly that the beauty of it was lost. Then there is a wonderfully theatrical moment where a giant puppet dinosaur comes on stage. The piece standing by itself is fun and creative, but I personally have no idea how it fits into the scheme of the overall piece. It belongs in a different performance piece.
Once they left Winter, the show really began to pick up, grow and develop; maybe this is what the Conceiver and Director Moses Pendleton wanted but I don’t think he wanted his audience to hibernate with the seeds and animals.
If you appreciate visual art/dance and want to see creativity and artistry performed by a troupe of truly proficient dancers, don’t miss “Bothanica”. If you are looking for an exhilarating evening of entertainment that will leave you breathless, you may want to wait until they come again.
Bothanica is playing at the Hong Kong Cultural Center through March 16th. For more information, click here.
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