Monkey and the Bone Demon
About the Film
Year: 2001
Alison Chase and the dancers of Pilobolus create a cyber-punk dance take on a traditional Chinese tale.
Three travelers on a religious pilgrimage are rescued from the wily White Bone Demon by the fearless Monkey in this delightfully campy interpretation of Buddhist legend. Characters leap and pole vault over imagined landscapes, repeatedly escaping the Demon’s snares and disguises, until he meets his death in a battle of swords.
Creative Team
Director
Mirra Bank
Choreographer
Alison Chase
In collaboration with Pilobous Dancers
Otis Cook - The Monk
Renee Jaworski - Pigsy
Matt Kent - The Bone Demon
Gaspard Louis - Sandy
Benjamin Pring - Monkey
Producers
Mirra Bank
Nancy Rosenthal
Directors of Photography
Vic Losick
Tom Hurwitz
Editors
Wendy Caplin
Mirra Bank
Music
Paul Sullivan
Costumes
Angelina Avallone
Lighting
Steven Strawbridge
“Visually arresting and delightfully imaginative and suffused with vivid acrobatic invention.”
Film Festivals and Awards
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts - special web transmission
Dance on Camera - Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn
Cine Gold Eagle Award
“A charming gloss on crouching tigers and hidden dragons, with high-flying heroes arrayed against a comic villain on stilts. Amid its funky martial arts, a moral lesson comes through: things are not always what they seem.”