Gus Van Sant’s choreography of a splinter group of the Zoobombers calling themselves the Bombers [note the distinction] has ignited tensions amongst, and between, the groups that Van Sant last night compared to the confrontational mood of the British punk movement in the mid-1970s. Van Sant also likened some Zoobombers’ reactions to his involvement with the Bombers to the response by marginalized sections of the gay community to his films Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho in 1989 and 1991. “People get mad,” he said. “They say, ‘Fuck You, that’s not how we live our lives.’And I respect them for that.”Last night, as all last week, the “Bombers,” led by ‘handsome’ Dave Terry, who is also one of the longest-running Zoobombers, performed a three minute anarchic dance piece at the end of the Bodyvox contemporary dance show, above the Bridgeport Brewery. Terry is pictured above, after the performance, standing behind Van Sant, who also kindly posed for Blogtown with the recently more infamous, albeit clothed, “Reverend Phil,” bottom right. Read more after the jump.

Here are some pics of the show:It has an anarchic feel, with the 25 Bombers riding around in circles to Tom Jones' Sex Bomb, crashing, whooping and hollering along.Van Sant, who injured his ribs falling off a mini-bike during dress rehearsal, can be seen walking around the group in a striped jacket, taking photographs on the right. "Later on, all these implications to taking photographs came, but I was injured in dress rehearsal. It was Dave's idea," said Van Sant, who initially contacted Terry after seeing the Zoobombers' pile of bikes on Burnside, opposite Rocco's Pizza.

Van Sant initially just wanted to go on a bomb, but was already in conversations with Bodyvox choreographer Jamey Hampton, about choreographing something for his upcoming show, and soon made the connection. While some of the Zoobombers leapt at the chance to be involved, others have accused Terry and others of trying to capitalize on the Zoobombers' name, even though Terry's Bombers are working for free. While Terry defends his decision to get involved, asking "I mean, how could this not create good will?"—Van Sant says he understands the reaction of some of the group.

"It's been really great, liberating, really fun," he said, when asked how he had found working with the Bombers. "But there's a whole other contingent that's opposed to what's going on. It's a political situation—it's like London in 1975—it's the nay-sayers. And there's a contingent, but perhaps rightfully so, because this is a chi-chi event, and rightfully so."

1975 is seen by many as the year punk rock got started in the UK, with former New York Dolls manager Malcolm Mclaren's return to London from New York to manage the Swankers, who he would shortly turn into megastars after re-naming them the Sex Pistols. Mclaren has been credited with channeling the angry mood of mid-1970s London into the punk movement, but also stands accused of exploiting it for financial gain, seizing a commercial opportunity by exporting the genre from New York to London.

"I didn't know there would be such a division," Van Sant continues. "But because of the political climate of bike riders—the Zoobombers, by definition, there's a strict division between bikers and the commercial world."

There are currently no plans for Van Sant and the Bombers to collaborate on future projects such as a film, but last night neither the new choreographer nor his controversial troupe would rule it out entirely. The show is sold out for the rest of its run.