Shadowland - DVD

Content: The already 1971 founded PILOBOLUS Dance Theater from the USA has landed with the magical story Shadowland the very big coup. After the company already by a memorable performance at the Oscars in 2007 could enchant an audience of millions around the world with their wonderful blend of dance and shadow theater, Shadowland brought them finally on the very big stages of this world. The play, created in collaboration with Steven Banks, the head writer of Spongebob Squarepants, and the singer/songwriter David Poe, has meanwhile thrilled over 600,000 visitors. And there's no end in sight to the success story. The Dance Theater's world tour will continue in 2014 and will once again ensure sold-out houses everywhere. If you can't get hold of a ticket or simply want to experience the show again and again, you now have the opportunity to do so, because Shadowland is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

In an imaginative mix of modern dance performance, ballet, acrobatics and fascinating shadow theatre, PILOBOLUS show how you can create entire worlds and magical figures simply with the human body, completely transporting the audience away from reality for 90 minutes. At the centre of the story is a girl who is trapped in the land of shadows and tries to find her way back to her world. On her journey she encounters all sorts of strange and dangerous characters, and when she is also turned into a dog, returning seems almost impossible.

This story only loosely follows a classic narrative structure. Completely without words, carried only by dance and music, the journey through Shadowland is told as exactly what it actually is. A dream. The laws of logic are suspended, here even the impossible is possible. And how the dancers of PILOBOLUS realize this on stage is simply magnificent. No matter whether their shadows melt behind the white curtain into fascinating, poetic or humorous figures and objects, or whether they reveal their skills directly in front of the audience, the elegant, graceful and sometimes almost acrobatic performances are something very special.

And of course this has a particularly intense effect live. As was the case with Cirque du Soleil's feature film, even with Shadowland, despite the really well-captured mood of the performance, some of the magic of the show has to be lost due to the added delineation of the television screen, which is missing from a live viewing. That weighs more heavily, however, especially for those viewers taking their first trip to Shadowland in a home theater. For those lucky enough to have been to one of the performances before, watching the show again can bring back that live feeling, allowing them to relive the original magic over and over again. And for this, of course, there is a more than deserved: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for testing, no rating can be given here about the final picture and sound quality.

Extras: Also the bonus material could not be sighted on the press disc. For the purchase variant a scarcely 23minütiges SHADOWLAND special is announced.

Conclusion: Shadowland is a fascinating, beautiful show, which represents a very special live experience for the audience. On DVD, that effect is lost a bit, to be sure. But even in a somewhat toned down form, what the dancers of Pilobolus bring to the stage has a magic that is hard to resist. Shadowland is more than dance, more than fantasy, and more than a simple show - it is a very special experience that can now be relived again and again at home. Highly recommended, especially for fans who have seen this performance live before!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp