Will the Real Pilobolus Please Stand Up?

If you had never seen Pilobolus before, Sunday's sold-out show at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington was probably a delightful, entertaining evening. But for longtime fans eager to see the new direction this company has taken the past few years, you were a week late - and a few thousand miles off.

Like many dance companies, Pilobolus has more than one dance company. But unlike Paul Taylor or American Ballet Theater, which clearly label their second companies, Pilobolus performs at more than one place at one time, but labels all its performing groups simply Pilobolus - at least in the programs. Imagine going to see the Boston Red Sox and instead getting the Pawtucket Red Sox. (Actually, on second thought, maybe it would have been better to see the Pawsox instead of the Boston on Sunday, given their abysmal collapse in the 9^th inning, but that's a whole different story. Seriously, though, what the #@%& is wrong with Papelbon?!?!??)

One of Pilobolus' founders and artistic directors, Jonathan Wolken, said last month during an interview that Pilobolus has a "touring company" and "Pilobolus creative services," which creates new works like "Shaddowland," the company's newest work featuring its famous shadow-puppet-like creations. "Shaddowland" was performed for the first time on Sept. 15 through Oct 4 in Madrid, Spain. They're also performing "Shaddowland" this month in Zurich, Switzerland. During this same time period, Pilobolus performed in places like Fairfield, Conn. and Washington, D.C.

Such distinctions might seem trivial. But most people are probably not aware of this difference. So for fans in Great Barrington hoping to see the amazing, puppet-like formations Pilobolus has made famous in recent years in television advertisements and on the Academy Awards show in 2007, they were sadly disappointed. Instead, the crowd was treated to five works which (except in one case) were more than five years old. And while the group's amazing acrobatics were on display in full force Sunday, especially in "Gnomen," the overall show didn't have the group's usual spark. The dancers may have caught imaginary fireflies in the first piece, "Lanterna Magica," but the fire often seemed to be missing despite the dancers best efforts. And while the Mahaiwe theater is a gem, it's stage seemed a bit too small for the acrobatic athletes to fully express themselves.

"Lanterna Magica" (2008) begins with two young girls pretending to capture fireflies in a forest. Soon, four men join them on stage. One of the men looks like a combination of a swan and a fighter pilot, if that's possible. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. The dancers playfully dart around the stage, exhibiting an acrobatic flair clearly meant to conjure up innocent characters straight out of "Peter Pan" or perhaps "A Midsummer Night's Dream." But a lot of tumbling around simply seems like kooky ways to fill up the first few minutes of the show. If this newer work is the best that Pilobolus has to offer, Pilobolus is in trouble.

The next two pieces were the two oldest works performed Sunday by Pilobolus. Both clearly illustrated why Pilobolus became so popular in the 1970s. "Pseudopodia" (1973) is a short, one-person solo created by Wolken. Dancer Jun Kuribayashi performed the solo set to pulsating drums, pounding as Kuribayashi contorted his body into astounding shapes and poses. The piece doesn't mean anything. It simply shows the amazing ways the human body can move and twist - and that is more than enough.

The next piece, "Walklyndon" (1971), features one of the best qualities of many of Pilobolus' best pieces: complete and utter silliness. Dancers in yellow leotards and bright, short shorts shuffle back and forth across the stage like crazed runners operating in overdrive. Sometimes, they bounce into each other. Other times, they toy with one another like kids torturing ants with a magnifying glass in the sun. That might not sound that funny. But Pilobolus has a way of finding comedy in the most unexpected places.

After intermission, Pilobolus performed two more pieces, its best and its worst of the night. The first work, "Gnomen" (1997), features four men stretching the bounds of what seems possible for the human body. Two men lift one straight up in the air upside by his arms. Three then lift one using only one feet each, rocking him back and forth like a baby in a crib. Watching them maneuver around the stage left the audience exhilarated and excited.

The last piece, "Megawatt" (2004), was clearly created with the same intention. Dancers dressed in punky clothes vibrate and bounce around the stage in time to loud, rock music as if they're guitar strings being slammed by some imaginary force. But instead of electrifying the audience, this annoying, bombastic piece simply blew a figurative fuse. Don't get me wrong. I love loud music. I will walk barefoot through the snow to see Sonic Youth or Sleater-Kinney or half a dozen other aggressive, in-your-face bands. But this overblown attempt to show how hip Pilobolus is rang as true as William Shatner singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It's bad enough Paul Anka covered this Nirvana hit. Don't get any ideas, Captain Kirk - or Pilobolus. And next time you perform locally, please bring some of your newer works so we don't have to travel all the way to Madrid or Zurich to see them.