Pilobolus

If you watched the Oscars last night, you may have noticed the interpretive dance troupe who tumbled into formation to create characters that represented movie titles. Believe it or not, I have a childhood connection to this group -- Pilobolus. When I was a kid my mother insisted that we all get "cultured" through enforced attendance of an arts & performance series that was presented in the Sentry Insurance theatre in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Every year she bought season tickets, and every year we had to get all dressed up (gripe) and drive forty five minutes to attend whatever orchestra, opera, ballet, musical that was being performed there. Standouts for me include HMS Pinafore and Chinese acrobats. However, also EXTREMELY memorable was the performance by the interpretive dance troupe Pilobolus. For some reason (my siblings were older and much better at excuses for why they were busy?) I think that night it was just me & my mom. Midway through the very modern what-the-heck-are-they-doing "dancing", the members of Pilobolus came out wearing um, next-to-nothing. I mean REALLY next to nothing. I think the men just had jock straps on and the women had sheer nude tights. This being a small town in the Midwest, everyone was aghast -- you could hear the shocked gasps rumble through the audience. I looked at my mom with big eyes of surprise -- you have taken me to see naked people?!?!? but she was surprised as I was yet shot me a look that said -- pretend this is normal. Wow, I thought. Naked people! I especially liked the crowd reaction -- lots of tittering and uncomfortable air. This was much more shocking than performance art, because well, you expect to be shocked by performance art, and this was completely unexpected. The thing that is most amazing about Pilobolus, is that after awhile their bodies cease to matter, as they expertly create bizarre formations and you stop noticing that the men (and women) are not wearing pants. (Again, a much greater achievement than performance art.)

However, when we got home I told EVERYONE that MY MOM had taken me to see NAKED PEOPLE dance. Yeah, NAKED! I was delighted to share this with EVERYONE. I SAW NAKED PEOPLE LAST NIGHT! MY MOM TOOK ME TO SEE THEM!

In the last twenty five years or so I've always enjoyed reminding my mother of this naked people grade school outing. So it was with great pleasure and divine timing that when I took my mom on a mother/daughter trip to Chicago for her 70th Birthday I noticed that -- who was scheduled to perform the weekend we were there? PILOBOLUS!!!!!!! It was their 35th Anniversary tour!! I told my mom I had "theatre" tickets but I kept it a secret until we arrived. There it was lit up on the marquee -- I pointed and squealed -- PILOBOLUS! It must have been a success because she got a little teary as we laughed on the sidewalk. It was fun that night to see them perform again, because even though they were still nearly nude, it didn't seem that shocking. We both enjoyed it and there were no gasps from the audience.

So this morning post-Oscars I sent my mom an e-mail. Subject line -- "PILOBOLUS!"

There was other stuff on the Oscars aside from interpretive dancing (safely hidden behind a screen.) My favorite speeches were from the Best Costume Design winner, Milena Canonero and the ultra-cool queen of film editing Thelma Schoonmaker. Knowing that someone like Thelma exists makes you feel that believing in dreams CAN make them possible (just like Forest Whitaker said). I'm so pleased how gaga everyone was over Helen Mirren, because that's how things should be. Gaga over Helen Mirren.

Also, please go and rent "Half Nelson" -- it's good. Ryan Gosling deserved his nomination, but Shareeka Epps should have been sitting next to Penelope Cruz in the best actress category. Broken Social Scene (who did the soundtrack) would have been a good wake up performance after Celine Dion. That was the only time I had to physically leave the room.