Last night I sat transfixed and totally inspired at a performance of MOMIX’s Botanica.

Known internationally for its ability to conjure a world of surrealistic images using props, lights, shadow, humor and the human body, MOMIX is a Connecticut-based company of dancer/illusionists under the direction of the brilliant Moses Pendleton.  Mr. Pendleton’s illusionist dance company has unveiled a dazzling new show at the Joyce theatre in Manhattan entitled Botanica.

Botanica is billed as a ‘herbal remedy and natural aphrodisiac for our current universal blues’ and features fantastical costumes and mind-bending concepts of illusion and dance.

One of the founding members of the ground-breaking Pilobolus Dance Theater in 1971, he formed his own company, MOMIX in the early 80s and has been its artistic director since 1984.

I went because I have been working on a huge environmental Radio City Music Hall type musical extravaganza for a number of years now with producer and fellow conceptualist, William Spencer Reilly, called H2O.  Bill rightly thought I should see this production of Botanica to consider the work of Moses Pendleton.

This was one of those longed-for moments in creativity where all the ducks suddenly get in line, where all the pins drop in place.  I looked at Bill after the show was over and said, “Wow, this is exactly what we’re looking for.”

It was an evening of awe.  Beyond dance, it told stories, made you laugh out loud, made you think, all while entertaining you completely.  I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage and the elegant sensualism of some of the pieces was simply overwhelming.

It closes its run here in New York this coming weekend.  It will surely tour internationally.  Watch for it in your city.  Don’t miss it.