Pilobolus and the band OK Go are a per fect match — they both thrive on gimmicks.
For its new season at the Joyce, the inventive physical troupe teamed with the YouTube faves — they’re the four guys dancing on treadmills or playing with dogs — to create a new work to the band’s song “All Is Not Lost.”
It’s only a matter of time before this hits YouTube and gets a few zillion hits.
Not surprisingly, video plays a large part in the piece. On one side of the stage is a large table with a see-through top. A camera is under the table, and on the other side of the stage is a large screen. You choose whether to view the action from your usual perspective, or see the designs and patterns created by the cast on the table from a completely different angle.
The music’s recorded, but at Monday night’s opening, the band gamely performed in pale blue unitards that made them look like toilet-paper cozies. They crawled across the table, clambered around and climbed into pyramids or starbursts with the rest of the troupe.
All told, “All Is Not Lost,” which runs only a few minutes, plays more like a video performed live than a concert dance, but that’s probably the point. The band will perform again on July 25 and 27; the rest of the time, Pilobolus does a version without them.
The company’s presenting another New York premiere this season: “Korokoro,” a collaboration with Japanese butoh artist Takuya Muramatsu. The dark, aboriginal work uses a hallmark of that avant-garde form, dancers smeared with ashy powder. But butoh is evocative and disturbing; here the dancers just rolled about or recycled gymnastic tricks from earlier pieces.
The oldest number is still the best: “Untitled,” from 1975. Two Victorian women in voluminous skirts magically grow into giantesses in a haunting performance that resonates with sexual tension. The work never loses its subtlety, even though there’s full nudity. Like all the other pieces, this one’s based on a gimmick — one too good to spoil by revealing here. This time, though, it goes beyond gimmickry and becomes art.
