Pilobolus is celebrating 50 years of rebellious art making. In 1971, Moses Pendleton, Jonathan Wolken and Steve Johnson created their first dance composition ‘Pilobolus’ and the name stuck. The opening night at this year’s American Dance Festival spanned works from 1975 to an ADF-commissioned world premiere. Co-artistic directors Renee Jaworski and Matt Kent, who are also former company members of Pilobolus, introduced the dancers: Nathaniel Buchsbaum, Quincy Ellis, Paul Liu, Hannah Klinkman, Marlon Feliz, and North Carolina native Zachary Weiss. Full administration and dancer bios can be found here.
Untitled (1975) by Robert Dennis featured costume design by Kitty Daly and Malcolm McCormick: Two women, on a summer evening, are in a whispered conversation. Assisted by male dancers under their dresses, the women are dizzyingly elevated, and their dresses elongate. Two men, dashingly dressed, enter and try to gain their attention. They duel to the death for the women’s attention. Superbly acted by Klinkman and Feliz, the women end by rocking away as the sun fades on their summer evening.
Read on . . .