It's all part of the company's commitment to "collective creativity"; something Pilobolus is big on. It runs an international collaborators project (ICP) where it joins forces with visiting artists to expand its repertoire; in the 1990s, it worked with writers Maurice Sendak and Arthur Yorinks on a piece with a Holocaust theme, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology robotics laboratory, led by roboticist Dr Daniela Rus, has assisted the company more than once with multimedia. So it's not entirely surprising that Pilobolus teamed up with Banks, the writer of one of TV's most wickedly funny and subversive kids' cartoons.
"It might seem totally weird, but these are the collaborations I love; in fact, the stranger, the more fun it tends to be and it is wonderful to have a short-term involvement that makes a lasting impression," Kent says.
"We have a history of working with unusual collaborators. The idea is to work with someone who does not view things the way you do and who works outside our field and can therefore ask what may seem like stupid or obvious questions. But the thing about those 'ignorant' questions is that they aren't because they deal with assumptions that those of us working in a specific field have made and have assumed are a given. Once we're forced to think and examine more carefully what we're doing and why, that's when you find something new.
"Someone like Steven knows how to use zany and unusual characters and make you feel something about them. He's the best in the business and he knows how to take elements of a story and keep them in a framework but work with crazy ideas and do something wonderful with them."
Pilobolus first wowed audiences with its shadowy shape-shifting illusions when it performed at the Academy Awards in 2007.
The act was performed in silhouette behind a white translucent screen with dancers forming figures such as the Oscar statues and logos or scenes from popular recent films. The performance became an overnight viral sensation; appearances on the 39th season of Sesame Street, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Oprah followed. With ever-increasing demand for the work, the company knew it had to create a full-length dance and theatre piece. The creative processes of finding ways to use human form to devise complex figures challenged the company to pioneer new techniques and develop a different form of movement language.
Kent says it was important to view those challenges as fun problems to solve, to be patient and open to more experimentation than usual, and to enlist the help and support of all those working on the project.
Shadowland became a tale of a teenage girl who yearns for independence. From her dreams she wakes to something behind her bedroom wall: her shadow. The wall of her room begins to move, trapping her on the other side. Unable to escape, the girl goes deeper and deeper into Shadowland, where strange creatures, threatening and seductive, appear.
It is set to an original score, which includes ballads and rock music by American composer David Poe who is no stranger to productive partnerships, having toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Chris Whitley and Tori Amos.
Kent says ultimately Shadowland celebrates the transformative power of the dark to show us who and what we are in unexpected and thrilling ways. He likes to think audiences leave the theatre viewing the world as a little more rich and mysterious, thinking about their own reactions and interpreting their environment with a fresh perspective.
Performance
What: Shadowland
Where and when: The Civic, June 3-8
