by Tim Van Schmidt

The world of MOMIX is not the real world. At the Lincoln Center on January 28 for the Dance Series, MOMIX created another time and space beyond the one we normally experience. It's great art and that's what it should do, but MOMIX delivers new experiences that are so rich in color, shape, movement and light, that they complete the transition from artiface to tenuous, shimmering reality. For fleeting moments on the stage, MOMIX succeeds in cracking open a window to something extraordinary.

Billed as "The Best of MOMIX," this concert featured a dozen pieces presented rapid-fire over two halves. When I say rapid-fire, I mean that the down time between pieces was absolutely minimal- none of this coming out and waving your arms around for applause at the end of each segment. There was applause, but MOMIX didn't upset its momentum and moved right on to setting up the next piece. The pacing was excellent.

The physicality of the pieces MOMIX performs is what connects them to dance- the creatively costumed bodies of the troupe members and what they do with them. Some of their movements are acrobatic, while the members also at times entwine and interact physically as dancers.

But it is that MOMIX goes above and beyond the body itself that propells it into another dimension. The troupe members are rarely without other objects on the stage. These objects are not just props, but they are components in creating a larger effect. The dancers are also components as are the lights and the music. MOMIX works purposefully with all of these to create something bigger- something only an audience can see.

You can discuss MOMIX's Lincoln Center performance from the standpoint of the extra objects- an enormous dancing puppet, exercise balls, a swirling headpiece, long poles, flittering ribbons, skis, a sphere and fabric draped over umbrellas. Add in lighting effects such as flourescent arms and a screen for artfully projected shadows and there is a lot to describe.

However, what MOMIX accomplishes with all of that is the creation of otherworldly images that hang like clouds over the stage. They move and shift in the light and playfully tug at the eye. The components themselves no longer end up mattering as much as the thing that gets summoned up when they are put together. It's a different way of seeing, a different way of experiencing live art. What MOMIX creates is not like the real world- it's a new world full of grace, precious and sweet.