Momix has been a favourite of audiences of the Bermuda Festival since 2002. This is my first year witnessing Moses Pendleton's troupe and I was pleasantly surprised.

I had assumed from audience descriptions of their previous festival performances that their work was largely acrobatic, full of humour with a certain circus appeal.

When I read preview on the group and discovered that Mr. Pendleton was co-founder of the amazing Pilobolus, for years my favourite troupe, I was somewhat more encouraged. Interestingly a former dancer who had quit Pilobolus informed me that she had done so because their new work was concentrating more on the acrobatic, humorous and sensational and abandoning, somewhat, serious dance.

This year's performance, "Opus Cactus", beginning on Friday, opened with a single dancer suspended in a hammock throughout the entire first piece, her tossing and turning a whimsical and uplifting dance that seemed both effortless and languorous, an impressive illusion given that the dancer spent much of the time eight feet in the air.

The number that followed was quite a contrast. Entitled "Desert Storm" and consisting visually of glowing tumbleweed like props blowing across the stage, then evolving into pulsating organisms that evoked both mouths and jelly fish for me, it was quite engaging and funny. What impressed me about this scene was how the image progressed from dark and ominous beginnings to a humorous light show.

Throughout the ensuing evening the dancers, with the assistance of imaginative and simple lighting and colourful costumes and props, created the illusions of flora and fauna of the desert.

Impressive athleticism and flawless technique that almost always seemed effortless enabled the audience to concentrate entirely on the visuals created and the life-forms that the dancers depicted. A number of creatures were assembled by dancers being entwined through whole pieces or supported on the shoulders of others or upside down. Props ranged from poles, which at one point supported female dancers high above the ground, to skateboards.

Much of the surrealistic silhouettes and living organisms suggested seemed alien as is often the case when squirming, pulsing, unfettered life is closely examined. Some of the reptilian and insect-like beings that were constructed by the writhing, contracting and arching bodies of the performers made me delightfully squeamish.

The final piece of "Opus Cactus" somewhat resembled the first. This time three female dancers were suspended in swings. The dance was amazing, the "flying" three walking on the air calling to mind spirits or angels, our higher selves. The tone was mystical, ecstatic and celebratory ? a dream that transforms.

When the dancers emerged for the bows, as themselves again, I realised anew that I had been watching a performance of dancers, of individuals. They had surrendered themselves so completely to create this fascinating journey for the audience that it was only now that I fully appreciated the tremendous skill, discipline and athleticism they possessed. Don't you love it when that happens?