Here is part of our summer guide to some of the hottest events in the UAE.
Abu Dhabi's landmarks, traditions and its F1 course will be recreated on stage with nothing more than lights, dancers and an illuminated screen in the stage production Shadowland.
Itamar Kubovy, the executive director of the contemporary dance company Pilobolus, says combining these elements with precision has enabled them to create a 90-minute production that tells the story of a girl who travels the world encountering absurd creatures and challenges – all through shadow play.
First staged in The show has been watched by half a million people around the world since it was first staged in 2010. "We rediscovered shadow-making in 2007 when we made an advert for Hyundai," says Kubovy, who joined the company in 2004, who after working with theatres in Germany and Sweden, directing plays by John Guare and was the co-director of the 2002 season finale of the American TV series The West Wing. "That gave us the idea that we can do much more with this ancient form. That year we got a call from the Academy Awards and prepared acts for them. One billion people saw that broadcast."
Kubovy says that by 2009 they had created an enormous amount of material and decided to bring everything together for a touring story.
Nine agile dancers with several years of physical conditioning and creative experience will bend their bodies in all ways possible to form shadows of mythical creatures, landmarks, cars and trees behind an illuminated screen.
“The show demands accuracy and humour, as well as grace and physical strength,” says Kubovy. “I think the audience will see all sorts of recognisable images in amazing shadows that will be breathtaking to imagine how it works. It is partly magic show, partly dance and partly a unique form of art.”
• Shadowland is at Adnec from August 8 to 16. Tickets cost from Dh199 on www.alchemy-project.com
aahmed@thenational.ae
