Shadow-play performances in the Arab world go back to the middle ages, when it was called Khaial al-Dil (silhouettes). Pilobolus's Shadowland, which opened in Abu Dhabi this weekend, is proof that the charm of creating stories with the simple apparatus of lights and a screen on stage hasn't been lost in this high-tech age.
The 43-year-old American dance company uses the flexibility of trained dancers to create any form – be it an animal or object – behind an illuminated screen, and has been wooing audiences worldwide ever since winning the hearts of celebrities and home viewers at the 2007 Academy Awards.
The writer Steven Banks' story, which is loosely built on an Alice in Wonderland theme, began with a girl yearning to break away from family constraints and finding an escape in her dreams. While her reality was expressed through contemporary dance on stage, her surreal universe was accentuated through silhouettes created by nine acrobatic dancers behind a screen. She transformed into a girl with a dog head (her bent elbow serving as a snout) and spent the next 45 minutes being shunned for being a freak, escaping a motley crew, fleeing a circus and being saved by a seahorse and centaur. Performers twisted their bodies to form an elephant, jellyfish, camel and spiders, and recreate a mosque and even a Formula One car on the Yas Marina circuit, especially for the audience in Abu Dhabi.
The storyline was fraught with ambiguities and transitions from behind the screen to the front of the stage during the 90-minute show were chaotic. But the athletic dancers made up for those imperfections with their immaculate shadow transformations, which were set to a mix of upbeat rock, ballads and country music composed by David Poe.
aahmed@thenational.ae
• Shadowland is at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre until Saturday (no show on Monday). Tickets cost from Dh150 and are available at www.tixbox.com
