Tour the seasons with ‘Botanica’

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The worlds of plants, animals and humans are intertwined in Momix dance company’s “Botanica.”

Momix

 11 a.m. Sept. 10

 Ravinia Festival, Lake-Cook and Green Bay roads, Highland Park

 Tickets, $10 pavilion, $5 lawn

 (847) 266-5100; ravinia.org

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Updated: November 30, 2011 12:21AM

Theatrical dance troupe Momix will offer up a feast for the senses when it presents “Botanica” at 11 a.m. Sept. 10 during Ravinia Festival’s final Kraft Great Kids program of the year.

Known for athletic movement, magical lighting, unusual props and fantastical costumes and imagery that create illusions, “Botanica” will take families on a tour of the seasons, said Momix artistic director and founder Moses Pendleton.

“It’s not just a dance concert,” Pendleton said. “I hope people realize that. It’s kind of its own thing; it’s Momix.”

And just what can the uninitiated expect from Momix?

“I think you should expect the unexpected,” Pendleton said. “And I think the visual feast of physical action, pictures and props that create imagery, that goes beyond the body but it uses the body to go off into other worlds, namely the plant, the animal and the mineral [worlds] to see how the human connects with what is part of our humanity.

“I think it’s fun for young people — I think they really do enjoy the fantasy,” he continued. “Fantasy is really quite an integral part of our reality and kids know that, and hopefully we as adults can continue to know that. There’s that element in the program. The music is quite varied from classical music [Vivaldi] to some rock and Peter Gabriel to ambient sound, bird sounds.”

A Vermont farm boy with dreams of one day being a veterinarian, Pendleton’s path to dance grew from a series of accidents. After his father’s death when he was young, Pendleton’s mother got him involved in downhill skiing; that athleticism and physicality is evident in Momix’s movements.

While majoring in English at Dartmouth College, Pendleton broke his leg in a ski accident. That led him to take a dance class to aid the healing process; within months, he and several other dancers opened for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at Smith College. His career took off from there.

Getting involved with dance, he said, “was the farthest from my imagination” but when accidents happen, he said, “you hopefully just capitalize and just go with the flow.”

Go with the flow he did. Before long, Pendleton co-founded Pilobolus, which grew out of those Dartmouth dance classes, and 10 years later, in 1981, he founded Momix. The troupe has been evolving and performing ever since.

“We are kind of a physical, visual theater,” Pendleton said of Momix. “We have lots of beautiful costumes and props that create otherworldly imagery. It’s pretty fast-moving that way. We don’t really tell stories, but we try to be evocative, let people’s imagination be stimulated. If that happens, if people walk away with less gravity in their step, then it’s been a success.”

KIDDING AROUND

During September, Theatre-Hikes presents Around the World in 80 Days at the Morton Arboretum on weekends. Performances are at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday starting Sept. 10. Tickets are $19 for adults and $13 for kids ages 2-17. The arboretum is at 4100 Route 53 in Lisle. Call (630) 725-2066 or visit mortonarb.org.

Jennifer Burklow is a local free-lance writer.