‘Catalyst for Choreography’

Moses Pendleton and Jonathan Wolken, two Dartmouth College students in the 1970s, may not have been the first to combine gymnastics, acrobatics and modern dance. But they were the first to make the mix stick.

Pilobolus Dance Theater, as they called the troupe, soon conquered the dance world, and it’s still going strong--but without Pendleton.

In 1981, he struck out on his own to form Momix. This company will dance a 10-part program that spans works created over more than 15 years tonight through Saturday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The troupe also will give a children’s matinee performance on Saturday afternoon.

Where do Pendleton’s loopy, inventive ideas for those works come from?

“I get inspiration from the natural world--plants, animals, minerals, flowers,” Pendleton said in a recent phone interview from his rural Connecticut home.

“I spend most of my day walking through acres of oakwood with headphones on. I’m pretty wired up. I might be listening to music, playing one score through one earphone, something else on the other.” At the same time he may be taping notes to himself as ideas come to him.

He feels, in fact, that he may be the main beneficiary of the process.

“It’s a form of therapy. It keeps you on your toes. I stopped worrying about getting ideas a long time ago.”

Pendleton actually doesn’t regard himself as a choreographer, but “more as a catalyst for choreography.”

The important thing is “figuring out who and what you’re working with, and trying to bring out the essence of what you’re dealing with.”

For instance, last September, he was commissioned to create routines for the Romanian National Gymnastic team while it was touring in Europe.

“I saw there were these extraordinary physical beings,” Pendleton

said. “But when they danced, they did not look so good. But the men could sure move on their hands. So I had them dancing on their hands.”

In contrast, with Ballet Arizona, with which he recently worked, Pendleton realized “they were much better on their feet. So I did a section for them on pointe shoes.”

His philosophy is a Zen-like approach.

“You find whatever a person’s nature is and develop it,” he said. “So I don’t have that much of a plan ahead of time, other than to be open to what is spontaneous.

“Many times we have too many ideas and preconceptions and lose the essence of what’s being generated spontaneously in the energy of the day.

“It’s like the story that the sculpture is [already] in the stone. What [the artist] basically does is just peel the stone away. The sculpture is already there.”

The program at the Irvine theater will include such Momix classics as “E.C.” (created in 1982) and “Skiva” (1984). More recent works will be “Jonas et Latude” and “Orbit” (both 1996).

“ ‘Jonas et Latude’ is almost like a ‘20s silent comedy,” Pendleton said. “It’s about two characters--incarcerated people--who have a shortage of space and a surplus of time. They confine themselves to a bunk bed. It’s quite comic. The challenge is to make these characters dance. They have to be in shape to project the look of a human cartoon. It’s quite lively. They use these mini-trampolines as beds, as props. ‘Orbit’ is a marvelous solo with an oversized Hula-Hoop.”

Determining the sequence of such a multi-part program is a practical matter.

“There are only five people in the company,” Pendleton said. “If two guys are dancing the first piece, it’s better that they don’t dance the next. Otherwise, I try to balance the slow with the fast, the masculine with the feminine.

“This particular show is going to [include] virtuosic solos and duets and a group piece at the end,” he said. “It will end with a bang.”

Pendleton won’t be dancing here, however. He limits himself now to doing character parts. But he still stays in shape.

“I do my [ballet] barre and swim a mile and walk for a couple of hours every day. I listen to music. Then I’m ready to go.

“Once I get anything done, I feel energized and take on the next project, which might be clipping the hedge. . . .

“But no matter what I’m doing,” he said, “even when I go work on my garden, I think about a new ballet.”

BE THERE

* Momix will dance a 10-part program at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday. $22-$25. (Tickets for the 2 p.m. Saturday children’s performance: $11-$12.50). (949) 854-4646.