ARTS Page 8 Friday, July 13, 1984 The Michigan Daily Piobolus: a festival on feet By Jeff Frooman F UNNY. Weird. These two words best describe Pilobolus' perfor- mance last Monday night at Power Center. Pilobolus is a modern dance troupe that is in a class all its own. The troupe has four men and two women, and these six dancers are as much gymnasts, contortionists, and clowns as they are dancers. Throughout much of their perfor- mance the performers are paired or tripled, and by intertwining arms and legs they dance as multi-peopled units. For those who have never seen Pilobolus, an analogy - though not a very good one - might be the six- armed Buddha statues seen in Indian art. The figures in Pilobolus, however are full of life as they zanily cavort across the stage. But was the performance more than just pure entertainment? At the end of the show I found myself asking "What does it all mean?" and "What's the message?" I don't believe Pilobolus has a message. At least not one intended to be expressed in words. Pilobolus is not meant to be analyzed on a rational/in- tellectual level. Rather, it's meant to be felt - to be experienced - on an emotional level. Pilobolus reaches down into you and touches chords inside of you. It generates emotions - emotions without thought. When they look funny, the audience is turned on. When they look grotesque, SUMMER COPY SALE! a copy loose sheets, overnight Accu-Copy 402 MAYNARD the audience is turned off. There are not reasons - it's just a feeling. Pilobolus returns its audience to childhood - to a time when emotions came naturally, without being inhibited by conscious rationalization and thought. And that's why it's hard - indeed a mistake - to try to categorize their style of dance. Labelling their dance style would take more away from un- derstanding them than it would con- tribute to that cause. If you managed to identify and label one facet of their per- formance style it would come at the ex- pense of ignoring or down-playing all the other facets. You would be peering in through only one face of a multi- faced crystal. Fortunately, Pilobolus was so suc- cessful in involving the audience in the dancing that few in the audience were searching for meaning during the performance. It wasn't the type of per- formance where you could just sit back in your seat and loftily look down onto the dancers. Rather, the dancers drew you into them and made you a part of their performance. There are several reasons why Pilobolus was successful in involving the audience in the dancing. Foremost was the originality and humor in the dancers' movements. Pilobolus showed the human body moving in new ways . . . with new life and with new humor. Secondly, the performance was like a three-ringed circus at times. Pairs of dancers, each moving differently but simultaneously, didn't permit the show to drag for even a moment. The lack of scenery and the simple costumes also helped the audience focus its energies on the dancers and become part of their dancing. In the first act the troupe wore plain jumpsuits that looked like a second layer of skins. The unadorned costumes didn't distract attention from the dancers, and instead focused it on them. In the third act the costumes were even more simple - the entire cast came out wearing nothing but athletic supporters. Whether these outfits were- less distracting than the jumpsuits is a matter of opinion. Some people in the audience seemed offended by the lack of modesty. So for these members the athletic supporters may have lessened S S 0 CAROL L. FRANCAVILLA/Daily The Piilobolus dance troupe out on a show filled with acrobatic and comic flair Monday and Tuesday nights at the Power Center. the effectiveness of the performance. and joined the rest of the audience as The costumes were more elaborate they leapt to their feet to wildly ap- in the middle act. In this act the dan- plaude Pilobolus. cers wore robes and wide-brimmed Next year the Summer Festival hats. But the costumes weren't just for organizers had better schedule looks - they were an integral part of Pilobolus for Crisler arena, because all the dance. They focused attention on of us who saw them this year will want the dancers as much as the jumpsuits to see them again so there probably had in the first act. won't be much room left for anyone At the end of the performance I stuf- else. fed my pen and notes between my teeth Local star show is down right heavenly 0 NOW YOU CAN LEARN BOTH! FINALLY! A SPEED READING PROGRAM THAT CUTS YOUR READING TIME WITHOUT SACRIFICING COMPREHENSION OR RECALL! FAST AND SMART ... ISN'T THAT HOW YOU WANT TO READ? BREAKTHROUGH RAPID READING .Call Days, Evenings or Weekends for Details KAPMN (313)662-3149 EDUCATIONAL 203 E. Hoover CENTER2 E. H r PREPARATION SPECIALISTS SINCE 1938 ANN ARBOR, MI 48104 By Jeff Frooman Being a big city boy I thought I'd seen it all. I was convinced that Chicago's planetarium was the ultimate. Not so. The Exhibit Museum's Planetarium Theater puts on a pretty mean little sky show. This summer's show, Dark Skies Over Michigan is educational, enter- taining and very practical. It's educational because it teaches you something about astronomy. You'll learn facts about the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. And they're not just dumb facts-you know, the type of trivia facts that were designed to im- press people at cocktail par- ties-rather, they're facts that really give you a better feel for the universe around you. It's entertaining for two reasons. Fir- st, the show was produced for the general public, not for a bunch of astronomy majors. Therefore, the show in intelligible. It uses non-technical language to answer many of the questions you've probably had about space. Secondly, it's different-really different. There's nothing quite like star gazing from dawn to dusk in the comfort of a soft chair in the planetarium-especially since there are no mosquitoes, no trees, no city lights, and no clouds to spoil the magic of the moment. It's practical in the sense that Dark Skies Over Michigan focuses on what you might see if you stepped into your backyard one clear night this week. In fact, that's probably what you'll find yourself doing-going into your backyard to identify the North Star, the planet Jupiter, and the constellation Sagittarius-just as they appeared on the domed ceiling of the planetarium. And to help you with your backyard ad- venture, you can pick up a fact sheet from the Planetarium Theater called "Astronomical Events-July, 1984." This sheet includes a map of the Ann Arbor sky, which will help you orient the heavens to your backyard. When you first walk into the Panetarium you'll probably notice three things immediately. The first is that the room is rather small. It is about eighteen feet in diameter and seats only 50. In fact, the Exhibit Museum's See STAR, Page 9 0