Momix's Voyage to the Moon

A Virtuosic and Powerful Display of Movement in Light

The dancers in Momix have the ability to amaze with their abstract formations. (By Max Pucciariello)

They float parallel to the earth, bob in space and swing back and forth 20 feet up in the air. The dancers of Momix are masters of otherworldly illusion, and their performance of "Lunar Sea" Saturday at the George Mason University Center for the Arts thrilled the audience, and rightly so. This ballet of sailing shapes in a vast, weightless space is a tour de force of line and lift.

Momix Artistic Director Moses Pendleton has been turning his imaginative visions into regularly scheduled flights of fantasy since this former member of Pilobolus started his own company in the 1980s. In "Lunar Sea," he and his band of dance illusionists use black-light effects that make lighter shapes stand out and dark colors disappear.

In the opening, three dancers created long wavy shapes as half of their unitards literally were left in the dark. That half became negative space, while the other looked like long, podlike creatures that tipped precariously, hovered and swam dolphin-like through the air.

Throughout the rest of the 90-minute work, Pendleton used props, acrobatic choreography, light and projections on a scrim the size of two movie screens to astonishing effect, creating a weightless rhapsody full of humor and grace. Kudos to Michael Curry (puppets), Phoebe Katzin and Cynthia Quinn (costumes), and Joshua Starbuck (lighting), who worked closely with Pendleton to achieve the illusions. No less important was the soundtrack, put together by Pendleton from hypnotic electronic music excerpted from European techno and futuristic-sounding works by movie composer Hans Zimmer.

The environment through which the performers floated was created by the projected images of changing psychedelic shapes, gigantic flowers and eerie vistas. A dancer wafting by a 40-foot flower looks strange and small, indeed.

For the illusion and otherworldliness to work, there could be no hint of individuality or variation. Performers successfully subjugated their personalities to Pendleton's vision, working with incredible precision, especially when pairs were called upon to mirror each other and create perfect symmetry.

Key to the illusion's power was the moment at the end when the performers appeared as themselves to dance mini-solos. It demonstrated how brilliant they were as dancers (not just as acrobatic illusionists). The men are strong and fly like birds. The women are equally strong and as malleable as Play-Doh. The images in the dance company's mind-blowing work are sure to live on in the memories of viewers.