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Thursday, February 27, 2014

DANCE THAT’S FUN AND FLEXIBLE: PILOBOLUS RETURNS TO McCARTER THEATRE CENTER

DURHAM, NC - JUNE 20:  Pilobolus performs "Licks" during a photo call June 20, 2013, at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina.  (©Grant Halverson/ADF)PILOBOLUS

WHEN: Thursday, March 6th at 7:30 PM
WHERE:
McCarter Theatre Center Matthews Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton
TICKETS: start as low as $20, and can be purchased online at www.mccarter.org, by phone at 609.258.2787, or in person at the McCarter Theatre Ticket Office, located at 91 University Place in Princeton.

The members of Pilobolus perform a unique form of modern dance, physical and beautiful, using elements of contortion and gymnastics — at times gravity-defying, at times ethereal and sweet, always what you’d least expect. Bending bodies and minds since 1971, Pilobolus returns with a collection of newer works.

The first half of this engaging dance program will include Rushes (2007), a work inventing an isolated community of broken dreams. Jacques Tati meets Gogol in what is described by the company as a major breakthrough for Pilobolus's constantly morphing aesthetic.

The Transformation (2009) is a shadow piece in which a young woman is transformed, created in collaboration with Steven Banks, lead writer for the brilliant animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.

American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/ADF 2011)<br />Korokoro (2011) blends Pilobolus' signature partnering with the atmospheric styling of collaborator Takuya Muramatsu (Dairakudakan), and creates a world of surreal physicality that is interested in the making and unmaking of heroes.

The second half of the program will include two works that celebrate energy and illusion, commissioned in 2013 by the American Dance Festival (ADF).   The first piece, [esc], is an invention born of a collaboration between Pilobolus and masters of trickery Penn & Teller to create a tantalizing piece of choreography that explores athleticism, strength, confinement, and escape collaboration. 

Closing out the program is Licks, created in collaboration with Trish Sie and Tijuana’s Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich and Fussible is a high-octane romp set to an original soundtrack and fuses infectious modern rhythms with traditional Northern Mexican border music.

About the Company

Pilobolus (the word literally refers to a type of fungus) grew out of a series of dance classes at Dartmouth College in 1971. Back then, Dartmouth was an all-male school, and a modern dance class offered by Alison Chase brought together a group of slacking guys who saw an easy “A.” “It was a little bit like just giving us finger paints,” said Robby Barnett. “We were given some materials, like us. And we fooled around and figured out what we could do.” They discovered that they had a talent for making a sort of moving human sculpture, by grasping one another, supporting and sharing weight as they moved. “The idea of standing alone in front of people was impossible,” Barnett said. “So we kind of clung to each other for moral as well as physical support.”

Today the company — including young male and female dancers — is internationally known for its unique approach to choreography, from the visceral to the sensual to the abjectly humorous.