Pilobolus Dance Theater

October 23, 2011 12:20 PM

What is the only professional, modern dance company to grow directly out of a college modern dance class? ... What is the only professional modern dance company directed by not a singular choreographer, but rather a group collaboration, using improvisational techniques? The answer to... those questions is the world famous dance company, Pilobolus. (links nsfw - previously)

"Symbiosis"

"Ocelius"

posted by Trurl (8 comments total)

I know I say this in a lot of dance-related threads, but . . . I watch performances like these and I feel like I cannot breathe. (in a "good" way).
posted by exlotuseater at 1:49 PM on October 23, 2011

One of the the things that gave me strength my freshman fall at Dartmouth, when I was confronting the fact that I may have made a terrible mistake in choosing where to go to college, was knowing that a place that fostered this company could not possibly be all bad. (I as right.) I look forward to checking out all the links when I get home to my laptop. Thanks!
posted by rtha at 1:50 PM on October 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ahhh, I was just preparing a Pilobilus FPP. Thanks for clearing a lot of open tabs from my browser!

This one made me feel like I could not breathe... and not in a good way, but I still was amazed.
posted by not_on_display at 2:39 PM on October 23, 2011

Funny, I thought that the ODC (Oberlin Dance Collective) fit that bill as well.
posted by plinth at 4:10 PM on October 23, 2011

this is very cool and also interactive but you'll need Google chrome for the interactive part
posted by HappyHippo at 5:30 PM on October 23, 2011

I just watched the 26 dancers squeezed into one car video. Claustrophobic! It also struck me that there seems to be 25 women and one man (presumably because the women dancers are smaller.) I saw Pilobolus in Seattle recently and they danced the OK Go number while projecting the video so you could see how it was done.
posted by binturong at 5:31 PM on October 23, 2011

Yeah, I gotta say, I'm a total ignoramus when it comes to dance, but I've seen several Philobolus programs and always been amazed. Here's my question - at what age is it appropriate for my daughter to start attending?
posted by newdaddy at 7:02 PM on October 23, 2011

Newdaddy, Pilobilus did a great job with James and the Giant Peach at the Norma Terris last year, and the production was very kid-friendly.
posted by kinnakeet at 9:13 AM on October 24, 2011