The Academy Awards introduced the public at large to a small dance troupe with a large amount of strength and creativity. The contemporary, interpretive Pilobolus performed throughout the show.

Behind screens, the troupe, named for a tiny fungus with immense power, created iconographic images representative of some of the best movies of the year, including a gun that gets its trigger pulled for Best Picture award winner "The Departed."

Two of Wisconsin's own are a part of the troupe: Green Bay native by way of Chicago and UW-Milwaukee graduate Edwin Olvera and Greenfield native and Marquette grad Andy Herro. Taking time out from his hectic travel schedule, Herro recounted his Oscar experience from his Boulder, Colo. hotel room.

"It was really amazing experience," he says. "I never expected to be in that position of what someone described to me as the 'Superbowl of Entertainment.' To be in the presence of all those big names was cool."

Pilobolus was on stage for approximately three minutes, the time which lent itself to creating six different images: Oscar himself, the VW bus from "Little Miss Sunshine," the gun from "The Departed," a heel from "The Devil Wears Prada," penguins from "Happy Feet" and the logo for "Snakes on a Plane."

"We had to rehearse quite a bit. We worked on and off for 12 weeks," Herro says. "We were working with creative team and with the Academy to really get the solid shapes that would represent the movies as well."

During the preshow the group ascended up and down the red carpet to show off some of its moves. Herro describes his time on the red carpet as "what it's like to be on the other side of the velvet rope."

"It's normal for what we do, but to do it on the red carpet is different," he says, especially because the group's audience were people who are well-known.

The group got to go on Ellen Degeneres' talk show the next morning and show off a little bit more. Pilobolus spelled out "Ellen" with their bodies.

Herro says that because the group is so strong physically, it's not too hard to create letters and shapes with their bodes. However, the group doesn't do any weight training to get to the level that they are at. The strength work that the group does is with each other. The more they work together, the stronger they become.

As a dance company, Pilobolus does more than create body sculptures.

"We're a dance company and every year we create three new works. The way Pilobolus creates works, we work collaboratively," Herro says. "It's not just dancers just show up and the director tells us what to do. We improvise, we tell stories, we are storytellers with dance."

Co-dance captain, Herro joined Pilobolus after graduating from Marquette in 2003 and has been with the group for three and a half years. He's had a passion for theater and dance, he majored in both during his college years and he can't be more thankful for his experiences.

"One of my teachers said 'beware of what you wish for' and that's how the whole experience has been like," he says. "I really wanted to do theater and dance and I wanted to show that you really can do what you want to do. It's been such a fun experience."

People can get a glimpse into the group's experiences outside of the rehearsal hall from three short video clips the group has posted on their MySpace and on YouTube as a video blog.

"I just discovered the camera on my computer and started filming. We all thought that this is really fun," Herro says, laughing. "Soon we had hours of footage and it became too much work. There was talk of taking them down."

But it gives people a look at the life of a traveling dancer, which, apparently, is not always studio time. Herro and his fellow dancers take viewers to a reptile farm and even wedding dress shopping.

While Herro is enjoying his time outside of Wisconsin, he says that he misses it. He only gets a chance to visit a handful of times a year when he has long breaks. He currently lives in New York with his wife Julia, also a Marquette grad, while he has family here.

The one thing that Herro would really like to know is "how do I book Pilobolus in Milwaukee?" There aren't any Pilobolus performance dates scheduled in Milwaukee in the near future. Herro says he misses festivals like Summerfest and Irish fest and the theater scene, but he'd really like to show off for his hometown.