By Jennifer Thomas, Knight Foundation’s Program Director/Akron

MOMIX’s performance on Saturday night in Akron, OH, of Botanica was a huge success. 1,900 people were in attendance for an incredible performance of dance, props and optical illusions. The Knight Foundation’s $15,000 grant allowed DanceCleveland to engage about 300 new audience members who have not previously experienced contemporary dance. People came from all over Ohio as well as from Pennsylvania and Indiana. The diverse audience ranged from toddlers to octogenarians.

Additionally, because of DANCECleveland’ s partnership with the University of Akron, MOMIX dances took up residency at the University for the week prior to the performance and taught master classes during the week to the UA dance students and two area high school dance students.

The Plain Dealer called MOMIX “arresting, lush and inventive.” Read below for an excerpt of the review written by Donald Rosenberg and click here to read the complete piece.

Momix brings its garden of visual delights to Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall

“There are many moments during “Botanica,” the evening-length work performed by the dance company Momix, when the stage pictures trick and dazzle your eyes. Even though you know humans are manipulating the puppets, props and costumes at their command, the images evoke a sense of wonder.

The arresting visual aspects of “Botanica” were on bountiful display Saturday at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall, where the company of dancer-illusionists performed its lush production under the auspices of the hall, DanceCleveland and the University of Akron’s Dance Program.

Momix has specialized in inventive mixes of dance and images since 1981, when Moses Pendleton left the contemporary dance company Pilobolus to unleash his own, fertile imagination…”