The desert storms into town

By MALCOLM BURGESS

You won't find Moses Pendleton wasting his time delivering sermons on the mount or parting red seas like his namesake. Not when this prophet of dance has free rein to do the top job: creating worlds all his own, and peopling them with beings purpose-built to do his bidding.

The inhabitants of Opus Cactus - his latest self-contained world - are about to touch down for the first time on these shores.

As otherworldly as this may seem, the founder of dance theatre company Momix could have been one of us, if his father, who once worked on a sheep station in New Zealand, had fulfilled his dream of returning here and raising a family along with his beloved four-legged friends.

But history - like the Washington-based company's extraordinary dancers - moves in mysterious ways, and Pendleton grew up in an area he calls the New Zealand of America. "Someone suggested northern Vermont, which is another sheep farming area," he explains.

His father's suggestibility was clearly no bad thing. Having to sweat it out with a high-country flock Downunder might have got in the way of his later career and eventual transformation into a dance legend.

But instead of deserts of grass, Pendleton's Opus Cactus draws its inspiration from the southwestern sands of the United States. More specifically, it employs the giant saguaro cactus as its central motif, a protected species that is sacred to Native Americans.

"It's a giant mythical cactus that captures the mystery and magic of that area. Inside that cactus is the fantasy of my experience."

Seeing Momix in action makes it harder to believe Pendleton's claim of near-nationhood, let alone that he comes from the same planet. The company appears to be filled with strange Siamese twins, who, while not physically joined, function as complementary drones in a greater mind.

Opus Cactus features the cast in combinations representing various desert life forms, although what exactly is another matter. Just be warned not to invite them round for a game of Twister if you don't like to lose.

Pendleton says Opus Cactus is "identifiably Momix-ian" in its heavy use of lighting and props, but different because it uses the theme of the desert - its flora and fauna, the impression of the soil. "It's very sensuous and very organic."

Not strictly dance and not purely theatre either, his troupe of dancers-cum-actors engage in "a kind of visual theatre ... they don't think of themselves as dancers, although they do ballet barre each day".

To handle the regular feats of gymnastic acrobatics required to carry off a Momix performance, his dancers need a classical base and a strong upper body, particularly the male dancers, who vault around the stage on long poles. He doesn't call them illusionists but says the show is "magic".

This kind of dance theatre invites comparisons with Cirque du Soleil. Pendleton says it is true his work is "similar in the way in that they both use a kind of surreal, physical, non-linear style", but Cirque du Soleil is, obviously, more circus-like, and Momix is "much more dance-oriented".

"Circus" would fail to describe a globetrotting career that has taken him from choreographing the closing performance of the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, to music videos and classical ballet, and appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Sesame Street.

He has also done more than his share of stints as a soloist at dance galas across Europe, and choreographed works in Milan, Berlin, Florence and Zurich. Then there's Disney Theatrical's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and a commission for the Arizona Ballet rooted in Native American folklore.

It is hard to imagine you could bend your body into the outlandish forms Momix dancers so effortlessly assume; more believable that Pendleton found these strange creatures readymade in the desert, playing under a lonely saguaro.

So it is fortunate that members of the Washington-based company will also teach a dance masterclass to show the sceptics that moving and improvising in Momix-fashion is indeed possible for dedicated mortals.

While his latest opus slithers around the world like an errant desert gila monster, Pendleton won't be in the country with his creation. He is content to re-explore his athletic past, swimming and skiing on the lakes and slopes of the US. "I do a lot of dancing, but these days mostly fish are my audience who flap their fins in appreciation."

Performance

* What: Opus Cactus, by Momix

* Where and when: Aotea Centre, February 10-15