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Uni International 300 N ?EEB ROAD. ANN ARBOR. Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW. LONDON WC1R 4fcJ. ENGLAND 1315830
WHITAKER, LESLIE ANN PILQBQLUSî AN ANALYSIS OF A CURRENT DANCE COMPANY.
THE AMERICAN UN IVERSITY, M .A ., 19B0
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Univeî3icy Mkzrdnlms IntEmarional :0C \ Z = = = AN'N AR30P Ml 48106 ‘313) 761-4700 PILOBOLUS: AN ANALYSIS OF A CURRENT DANCE COMPANY
by
Leslie Ann Whitaker
Submitted to the
Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences
of the American University
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree
of
Master of Arts
in
Dance
Signature^^'-pfi Committee:
Chairman//^^^^%v( .
^ S- Y?ljsyy^
Dean of the College
Date
1980
The American University Washington, D.C. 20016
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY PILOBOLUS: AN ANALYSIS OF A CURRENT DANCE COMPANY
by
Leslie Ann Whitaker
ABSTRACT
Pilobolus is a dance troupe of highly skilled theatrical perfor mers who have developed a theater art form unique in its material and
presentation. The group has become a focal point of controversy. Its
development can only be traced through scattered and haphazard press
reviews. This thesis provides an examination of the internal workings
of Pilobolus, their process of choreography and their compositions,
as well as the critical reaction to the group, the philosophical and
technical questions raised, and a synthesis of a cohesive picture of
the conjectures about Pilobolus. TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...... I
I. HISTORICAL PROFILE...... 2 The Choreographic Process...... 2 The Technique...... il
II. THE CHOREOGRAPHIC GROWTH OF PILOBOLUS AS SEEN THROUGH THE REPERTORY...... 14 Characteristics of the Choreography...... 14 The Amoebic Period...... 16 The Human Condition...... 30 New Directions...... 38
III. PILOBOLUS IN THE CURRENT DANCE FRAMEWORK 40 Post-Judson: A Source of Comparison...... 40 Pilobolus and Judson Technique...... 41 Composition...... 43 Theater/Dramatic Presentation...... 44 Pilobolus and Alwin Nikolais ...... 46 A Philosophy of Dance: Is Pilobolus Art?...... 49 Pilobolus — Its Relevancy to Today's World 50 Function and Form: Is Pilobolus Gymnastics?.... 53 The Critics' Views...... 56 The Foreign Critics...... 63
IV. SUMMARY: PILOBOLUS INTERVIEWED...... 65
APPENDIX A - REPERTORY IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER 73
APPENDIX B - DANCERS OF PILOBOLUS...... 74
APPENDIX C - SELECTED EVENTS OF THE SEVENTIES 76
APPENDIX D - A PARTIAL CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE PILOBOLUS TOURING SCHEDULE AND CORRES PONDING AVAILABLE REVIEWS...... 78
APPENDIX E - PLAYBILL...... 89
APPENDIX F - SELECTED REVIEWS...... 90
APPENDIX G - SELECTED PROGRAMS...... 98
ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustration 1. The Amoebic Period ...... 20
Illustration 2. Major Group Works of Pilobolus.... 30
Illustration 3. Philosophical Ideas of Judson Choreographers...... 42
iii INTRODUCTION
Pilobolus is a group of highly skilled theatrical performers
who have developed a theater art form unique in its material and pres
entation. They are playing to packed houses. There are videotapes of
their work; there are masses of reviews with fragmented impressions of
their compositions, and there are reams of comments on their style.
They are an important contemporary dance company and this thesis will
address the issues of their relationship to the mainstream of contem
porary dance, the qualities characteristic of their movement and why
they command such a varied response from their viewers.
In existence only nine years, Pilobolus has become a focal point
of controversy and its development can only be traced through the press
reviews of performances. These reviews provide an interesting history
of the company. However, they are scattered and haphazard in their
isolated reactions to the performances of Pilobolus. They do not pro
vide any consistent chronological or developmental history of the group which would examine the Internal workings of Pilobolus, their process
of choreography, their compositions. This thesis provides that history,
along with an analysis of the critical reaction to the group and the
philosophical and technical questions raised, and concludes with a
synthesis and a cohesive picture of the many conjectures made about
Pilobolus. I. HISTORICAL PROFILE
The essence of modern dance is choreography and not technique. Don McDonagh, Don McDonagh's Complete Guide to Modern Dance
Many contemporary dance companies' styles of movement rely on a self-styled ideology of technique, chiefly one that reflects the choreographer's needs and is designed to achieve his goals. Not so the Pilobolus dance company. There are two reasons for this. First, the Pilobolus choreographer is an amalgam of six people with limited dance backgrounds; and second, Pilobolus frequently does not move as a set of independent individuals but as an appendage to a larger, collective being. It is this collectiveness that has baffled attempts at defining Pilobolus movement. The Pilobolus creative process devel oped choreography and choreographic methods which continue to grow and evolve. This chapter discusses the techniques that evolved from this process.
The Choreographic Process
The source of the choreographic process was Alison Chase, who in 1970 was a new dance instructor at the all-male Dartmouth College.
Evaluating the classroom situation where her students were all male and athletically biased, she said, "There's a limit to how much tech nique can be taught to a group of muscle-bound beginners. But anyone can try his hand at choreography, right boys?"^ In 1970 Dartmouth
^Shanta Serbjeet Singh, "Pilobolus Dance Theater," The Tribune (New Delhi), 26 November 1978. was known as a jock school, but in drawing on their athletic background
and insisting on short compositions, Mrs. Chase struck a responsive
chord. The dance class was "a physical release from competitive sports 2 and competitive academics. That’s why people enjoyed it." Mrs. Chase
concentrated on basic body alignment, improvisation and composition.
"She'd look at your work from your point of view— that of a swim team 3 guy taking a dance class."
For the end of the year concert, a cross-country skier (Moses
Pendleton), a fencer (Jonathan Wolken) and a pole-vaulter (Steve Johnson)
choreographed a composition called Pilobolus.
This composition was characterized by "a sustained contact that was the result of body weights and leverages.This sustained contact
formed the core of a choreographic process that was dependent upon
group rapport and interpersonal relationships.
The flavor of the internal workings of this choreographic process
are best demonstrated by examples drawn from workshops^ given separately
by Alison Chase and Moses Pendleton. In keeping with their philosophy,
the sessions concentrated on group relationships and composition. In
neither case were there technical warm-ups. Mrs. Chase did a kind of
^Anna Kisselgoff, "Not Ballet, Not Acrobatics, But Pilobolus!", The New York Times, 20 November 1977.
^Ibid.
Tim Matson, Pilobolus (New York: Random House, 1978), p. 14.
^Pilobolus Master Class, 31 July 1978, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. "follow the leader" where the class had to mimic her every move and expression. As she projected a very wry and quizzical sense of humor,
the session participants were soon laughingly following her through what can only be described as Dr. Suess type figures and their move ments. Mr. Pendleton had his group stand in a circle and introduce
themselves; however, before each person could verbalize, he stopped
them. All he had wanted was the initial movement to the introduction.
Having gotten this first point, he then asked for a reversal of the movement. Finally, going around the circle, each member initiated, paused and then reversed his first introductory movement. With each person dovetailing his beginning with the previous person's ending, the effect was that of a flickering, silent movie.
In both cases, the point was to learn to see. Mrs. Chase used a familiar child's game, where the point was obvious. Mr. Pendleton used a gimmick less well kno\m, but effective. He forced his partici pants to refine their movement to its true beginning. With many of the group, it was difficult for them to realize the unconscious gestures they automatically discounted and they had to be helped to see. As
Pendleton pointed out, "Much movement has to do with your ability to see it."
Mrs. Chase developed her class along fairly standard lines.
She assigned, in groups of three, first a short sequence of pure ath letic movement (no recognizable dance forms and no mime); second, a sequence of purely everyday movement; third, an abstraction of either of the preceding sequences; and finally, an editing and bringing to gether of the above three sequences. The point of the exercise was to keep the movement within the common experience of everyone (dance ability in the workshop ranged from beginner to intermediate) and
then, seeing it, use it. The majority of threesomes were complete strangers to each other and whatever rapport occurred was surely by chance. The most successful pieces in the final sequences were those where the group maintained a lot of contact and interaction.
Mr. Pendleton actually manipulated his group's movements. Start ing with a foursome, he made a creature that had to learn to walk to gether and see together. As the creature gained in proficiency, he would confuse it by adding bodies until it had sorted itself out as a collective being of fifteen humanoids. The creature went in and out of itself, flattening and rounding its shape. It took a linear crawl around the room, tensed itself and then relaxed into total disintegra tion. As its human components had become more assertive, Mr. Pendleton had become less so, occasionally stepping in to correct a glaring aber ration to the conformity of the creature's general shape. As he put it,
"Choreography is a vocabulary to exercise your whim.As "it" grew in confidence and awareness, the whim became less Mr. Pendleton's and more the creature's. The point here was very much to see the movement and
to react with the group. Each link in the creature was very responsive
to those others in direct contact with it. Initially there was a great deal of confusion and breaking of the links, but eventually things settled down to if not a harmonious, then at least a cohesive existence.
Both workshops utilized the movement exploration approach. By
^Ibid. concentrating on the process, some original moments appeared, although
there was need of a great deal of editing for a final product. In this system one is hard put to explain what is the goal— the process, or
the result, or both? As the workshops were but an introduction into
this kind of choreography, there was no real indication of an answer.
Certainly, the possibilities were infinite.
Both the critics and members of Pilobolus have commented in print on the importance of this particular choreographic process and a selected sampling of these comments provides insight into the impact of this group creative process.
The New York Times, From the Pilobolus's beginnings, it May 4, 1975 has been a group effort, an experimen tal fleshing out of its members' ideas ab ou t movemen t.^
The New York Times, "In the beginning, our work had to March 5, 1976 do with body linkage — a dependency upon each other," Mr. Pendleton said. "The linkage was the only way we could move together. We were afraid to move as independent movers. It was a comfort ing thing — where you never felt person ally responsible." Creatively this togetherness had its plus side. The exciting energy for which Pilobolus was noted "came out of that life style," Mr. Pendleton said. "Ideas were always being formed by being bounced around four heads," he said. "It freed us to experiment. You know, it's the same when a kid won't break a window by himself, but he will do it if he's with others.
Jennifer Dunning, "Pilobolus at the McCarter," The New York Times, 4 May 1975. Q Anna Kisselgoff, "Pilobolus Dancing Its Way to Togetherness," The New York Times, 5 March 1976. Christian Science Monitor Pilobolus*s great "obsession" is February 5, 1975 movement that dares to be as different as it is intriguing. No attempts at plot, the selections are an evolution choreographed with an eye for the unus ual and the witty.9
Dance Magazine Jonathan: "It's all very amoebic. July 1974 You know, the creature itself will send a shoot out and then pull itself up so the bulk of the creature is there and then send out another shoot in another direction. It's that kind of process. We go where our thoughts go."10
Seattle Times Because of this creature cooperation, February 10, 1976 the group looks fresh in every piece, shows an uncanny ensemble feeling and fairly bursts with intelligent flow and dynamics,11
Dance Magazine Robb Pendleton began: "The relating July 1974 of individuals comes across as a clear statement. Whatever we do will be interesting, if for nobody but our selves. ..." Jonathan: "The wonderful thing about this collaborative process is that somehow or other amidst the vari ety of creative impulse or variety of opinion, what it is we're doing and where it is we're going, we manage to keep going. That is the unique thing. The essence is that we have a kind of creative enthusiasm that somehow or another perpetuates itself. We enter tain ourselves and hence we entertain other people."12
Thor Eckert, Jr., "Breathtaking Dancers Come to Loeb," Christian Science Monitor, 5 February 197 5.
10 Iris M. Fanger, "Pilobolus," Dance Magazine. July 1974, p. 41.
^^Carole Beers, "Pilobolus Translated: Dance at Its Best," Seattle Times, 10 February 197 6.
12 Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 40. Dance Magazine ...Pilobolus is the only company February 1978 I can think of that presents composed, rather than improvised pieces that might be called choreography by commit tee, or at any rate, by commune.
Montreal Gazette Pilobolus *s ["sic] approaches the February 2 , 1977 art of dance organically. It creates slowly evolving and plotless dances which look as if, like a flower on a stalk, they could be snipped off at any point along the stem without ruin ing the blossom.
Los Angeles Times Pilobolus permits no given followers February 18, 1974 or leaders. And yet one finds extra ordinary logic as well as stylistic unity in the calculated interweaving of limbs, space and torso. Nothing is left to chance. The common denominator would seem to be a constant striving for inventive body clusters.
Dance Magazine Michael: "Choreographically for July 1974 this group, the dance comes out of the feelings you have. When you see things like Jonathan swinging someone around and Robby sailing over someone’s head and the balances — that happens because someone feels like the action, like swinging around or standing there and getting stuck." ("Getting stuck" is a favorite Pilobolus move where one per son makes a flying leap across the body of another and sticks on. The receiver is hard put to see the body hurling at them through space and not flinch or duck!)
13David Vaughan, "Reviews," Dance Magazine, February 1978, p. 32.
^^Linde Howe-Beck, "Superb Dancing No Hallucination from Pilobolus,' Montreal Gazette, 2 February 197 7.
15, Martin Bernheimer, "Pilobolus Theater at Inner City," Los Angeles Times,Imes, 18 February 1974.1974
16 Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 42. Minneapolis Tribune Virtually everything these dancers January 14, 1975 do causes reaction in the other dancers. A pushed hip here starts a second dancer into a series of movements which invari ably ends with the whole group pressed into some organic sculpture. They are all very aware of each other. The work 17 finally has an awesome, powerful grace.
The New York Times The difference in this company is January 22, 1978 that no one expects to be told what to do; rather, each member is expected to get the job done.18
Dance Magazine The process seems to be the most July 1974 Important aspect of Pilobolus for each of its members. Robby Barnett began; "I'm completely sold on the working method. Each turn in the road we come to I find the collaborative effort, our concern for each other as human beings, is what has sustained us. There were innumerable times in the last year when we could have dissolved. As soon as we set some structural outside, something we wanted to aspire toward, it began to get hard. When we turned back on our selves as people and erased our precon ceptions of what we wanted to do and began building again,..pushing out the borders rather than erecting something and trying to fit into it, it saved us time and again."1^
The New York Times "I have never seen dancers with such November 20, 197 7 unity of body and spirit." -Pierre Cardin.20
17 Mike Steele, "Pilobolus Theatre," Minneapolis Tribune, 14 January 1975.
1 A Don McDonagh, "Pilobolus Thrives at Home in Washington," The New York Times, 22 January 1978, XXII Connecticut Weekly 1:1.
19 Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 40.
20 Kisselgoff, "Not Ballet...!" 10
In the fall of 1971, the company formally included Jonathan
Wolken, Moses Pendleton, Robby Barnett and Lee Harris. When, in 1973, two women joined the group, they contributed two very extensive dance backgrounds. Alison Chase had earned her Master’s in dance at U.C.L.A.
Martha Clarke was a graduate of Juilliard and had danced with Anna Sokolow.
Thematically there would be changes. Yet the process remained the same.
There were no company classes. Each member was responsible for his/her own movement readiness. The choreography was still a collectively evolved process. And the process remains to this day.
Initially, the group shared living quarters. When Alison and Martha joined, they had their own homes but lived part of the time on the company farm during rehearsals for tours. By 1978 the group had moved to Washing ton, Connecticut for a little more breathing space and flexibility in life style. They avoided New York City (the acknowledged dance capitol) and maintained their focus within the group as their source of inspiration.
Michael Tracy replaced Lee Harris in 1974. He was added without being auditioned. He was brought into the process because his movement style and feelings about movement fitted into the group psyche. On their tour to India in 1978, Martha Clarke was replaced by Georgina Holmes.
The company seems to accept substitutions without detriment to the group numbers although individual solos are lost such as Harris' Syzygy and Clarke's Pagliaccio. Can substitutions continue to not affect the group rapport and future creative process, and can the company survive as such a close-knit group? When Lee Harris left he said, "Pilobolus 21 is a group thing. I am not a group person." So far, the company has
Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 42. 11 accepted new members only one or two at a time. The performing company has never exceeded six, although the supporting group has expanded to
include the usual business and technical people, and at times guest artists.
According to Pendleton, "I think that Pilobolus, instead of saying no to personal demands, has tried to encompass them. Pilobolus will go wherever the people are going. The power and beauty in all this will be
in its staying power. This democratic system works. It’s inefficient, 22 but all of us feel we have some sort of control."
Idealistic? Yes. Practical? So far. Successful? For the moment.
The Technique
The technique employed by Pilobolus is a system of group movement based on body linkage, which is comparable to the image of a collective muscle. As Moses Pendleton explained, "We came to realize that you could move all kinds of ways with bodies linked together that you couldn’t pos sibly do with one body....The individual dancer simply becomes an appen- 23 dage to something much larger than himself." Extending this, Jonathan
Wolken described it thus; "We feel as much at home on our hands as on our
feet. Conventional Dance depends on arms and feet. We have a non-partial
ity to space. We can work as much upside down. We work on highly developed
group balances more than individual balances, six people linked in some 24 new way, some new shape, some new use of space."
2^Ibid.
23 Alan M. Kriegsman, "Pilobolus; The Merging of Muscles," The Washington Post, 23 April 1976.
^^Ibid., p. 40. 12
The Pilobolus technique is peculiarly free of steps and combina tions. It is very shape oriented, and many of the earlier pieces show an emphasis on the resultant shapes and shaping rather than the process by which they were achieved. This brought comments of "tableau vivant" and "energy circus" from audiences.
The shapes of Pilobolus show a double use of space. Images mater ialize and startle the audiences, and, with some manipulation by the group, strange creatures are seen. These shapes can be abstract or liter al, but they are recognizable (as proven by the critics' similar reactions)
This is the external use of space, where the shapes are projected into the environmental space of the dance. But these shapes also cause an internal exploration of space, where what is inside the outline of the linked bodies can become more the focal point than the space surrounding the external boundaries of the group. What makes Pilobolus what it is
"is the kinetic and visual impact of the shapes into which the dancers 25 mold themselves."
The impact is achieved by using the conventional dynamics of dance qualities. Perhaps it is because the shapes are so much the metaphor of
Pilobolus that it is this which people remember when asked to describe a Pilobolus concert. A piece may flow along with the lyrical freedom of flight or have all the bound control of sculpture, but it is the mom ents that are shown through the shapes that make the memory of Pilobolus.
It is as if shown still pictures of Pilobolus, the company could be iden tified simply by these shapes.
^^Kisselgoff, "Not Ballet...!" 13
Next to shaping, their collective sense of weight is the dance quality most noticed. As a collective, they have a center which permits them to create balances that extend the individual's realm of movement.
Since this center is changeable upon need, there is full use of body inversion, cantilevered supports and movement planes. The technique is free from sexual expectations. The women are not always the liftees nor the men the lifters. All of these factors contribute to the iden tifiable look of Pilobolus and its choreographic repertory. II. THE CHOREOGRAPHIC GROWTH OF PILOBOLUS
AS SEEN THROUGH THE REPERTORY
Characteristics of the Choreography
Pilobolus is quick with its images and it often gives the observer
two simultaneous ways of looking at their dances. There is a clever sense
of "visual paradox and Illusion.Things change as if in a kaleido
scope, the same pieces differently arranged to produce totally different
pictures. Characteristic of this kaleidoscopic approach is the use of
rhythm. Because of the organic growth of the choreography, where one movement will stimulate another, the use of rhythm becomes dissassociated
from an expected pulse. What is happening is happening because of its
own internal rhythm, not because of background music or counted cues.
Hence the comment: "...what is often missing in Pilobolus is dance rhy- 27 thm." Clive Barnes attributes this to a lack of continuity: "Dance
phrases are not so much fragmented as dislocated, there's no natural
flow of the movement, merely an exploratory use of the possibilities of 28 the body." Alan M. Kriegsman affirms that the sense of time here is
one of duration rather than rhythm due to the evolutionary nature of the
^^Arlene Croce, Afterimages (New York: Alfred A. Knopft, Inc., 1977), p. 215.
27 Clive Barnes, "Two Young Troupes— Off and Running," The New York Times, 14 March 1976, p. D8.
7 ft Vaughan, "Reviews," p. 32.
14 15
29 movement.
Another characteristic of the Pilobolus choreography is the way in which all forms are dictated by function. Pilobolus has perfected explorations in movement that seem to be almost scientific axioms of engineering. Nancy Goldner describes it thus:
People walk over each other without doing damage to each other's spines. A totem pole of three slowly sinks to the ground intact; what's more, the six knees of this human structure are perfectly in line when prone....These people approach bodies and the possible hookups therein as geometrical proofs; they must only discover how to make their bodies conform to what is rationally known....
The forms Pilobolus creates are frequently funny. The very fun- 31 gus for which it is named suggests a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Their dance legacy is "more what they have seen with their eyes than fondled 32 with their muscles." They have been called "the nearest thing to slap- 33 stick comedy in modern dance.” This humor is inextricably linked with the Pilobolus use of metaphor. In referring specifically to one of the company's pieces, "Untitled", Clive Barnes was inspired to say, "Dance
29 Alan M. Kriegsman, "Unusual, Provocative Dance Troupe," The Washington Post, 12 April 1977, p. B7.
30 Nancy Goldner, "Dance," The Nation, Volume 222, No. 12, 27 March 1976, p. 379.
31 "...a light-sensitive fungus that grows on horse dung..." John Skow, "Fungus, Fantasy and Fun," Time, 20 November 1978, p. 113.
32 Clive Barnes, "Unique Pilobolus Troupe," The New York Times, 25 July 1977.
33 Dorothy Samachson, "Startling, Vibrant Dance by Pilobolus at Ravinia," Chicago Daily News, 11 August 1975. 16 metaphor, thy name must be Pilobolus!And this is true of many moments throughout the repertory— little bits of half-recognized creatures, some with the childlike stamp of Dr. Seuss, some more fanciful as in a Hierony- mous Bosch poster (which inspired Monkshood's Farewell). Pilobolus can be so absorbing that "sometimes you forget that the creatures on stage 35 are people." But they are not anonymous objects. "One of the most appealing aspects of the Pilobolus company is the fact that, although these dancers are used most often as physical entities to test equilib rium, tension and momentum, they themselves are never depersonalized."^^ 3 7 "These characters literally emanate from the nature of the movement."
The Amoebic Period
The period 1971-1973 was a grab bag of creativity. The works produced during this period provided the core repertory of Pilobolus.
During the two year period of 1971-1972, the Pilobolus men created and performed five group pieces and two solos. The movement emphasis focused on the shaping and balancing of images which were suggestive of organic entities, plant and animal. This suggestion was aided by such titles as
Anaendrom, Syzygy and Spyrogyra. These years were the foundation, when the body linkage technique was explored to its athletic limits. The
^^Clive Barnes, "Dance; Pilobolus Images," The New York Times, 6 March 1976.
35 Lorraine Haacke, "Pilobolus Dance Theatre: A Treat That Fools the Eye," Dallas Times Herald, 25 September 1978.
^^Dunning, "Pilobolus."
37 Eckert, "Breathtaking Dancers." 17 overall stamp of the first two years is a Frankenstein on an amoebic level, i.e., the creation of varied collective beings and their evolutionary movements. Pilobolus was labeled as an entity unto itself. In defer ence to Mr. Wolken's own labeling of the choreographic process as amoebic and the critics' frequent allusion to the same, it is appropriate to call these early years the amoebic period. To understand the choreographic development of Pilobolus one must start with the first of their works:
Pilobolus Choreographed in 1971 First performed at Dartmouth College in the winter of 1971 Costumes by Pilobolus Original music by Jim Ruben, revised score by Jon Appleton
As the first successful piece choreographed, Pilobolus is the measure by which all other growth can be charted. Into it was poured the first rush of athleticism and body linkage. It was a portent of things to come. The explanation of a Pilobolus alone gives a good sense of the imagery and the movement in the piece is an abstraction of this imagery. Pilobolus was the piece that brought the group to the attention of Murray Louis, who arranged for their first concert appearance at the 39 Louis-Nikolais Dance Theater Lab in New York on December 29, 1971.
The men wore mustard, crimson and green leotards ("None of us knew what dancers wore; someone said he had seen a Merce Cunningham dance that used red, yellow and green, so we chose those colors"). World War I aviation caps with ear flaps and goggles: three silhouetted shapes pulsing to an eerie electronic score. Suddenly one head blossomed into three. Motion increased. One figure disconnected while the other two remained enmeshed. They sped up, hesitated.
3 0 Matson, Pilobolus, p. 22.
39 Anna Kisselgoff, "Dance; New Group from Dartmouth," The New York Times, 31 December 1977. 18
changed shape, joined and redivided, always moving with the logic of naturally evolving forms.40
Reviews of Pilobolus were descriptive rather than critical. It was as 1 the critics were waiting to see what would develop from this first endeavor. Later, as the repertory grew, Pilobolus was used as a referral point:
...their original impulse grew out of a concern with plant imagery. "Pilobolus" was the name of the group's first collaborative composition and it was built upon the principle of merging bodies into larger organic shapes, a principle that has made Pilobolus the most talked about new dance phenomenon since Twyla T h a r p . 41
It was Kisselgoff who, seeing Pilobolus for the first time, raised the initial questions.
...at times they were in danger of confusing athletics with art....In "Pilobolus," which owed something to Mr. Nikolais' use of space, the three other men created witty and theatrical shapes through various linked groupings of their bodies. Was this gymnastics disguised as dance? Perhaps. But it worked.42
Seeing Pilobolus again, Kisselgoff called it "...the metaphorical space journey created by linked bodies...and pronounced it "symptomatic 44 of the group's Intramural relationships...." If nothing else, the piece was good collegiate fun, a fact brought out in an interview with
40 Matson, Pilobolus, p. 14.
^^Kriegsman, "Muscles."
^^Kisselgoff, "New Group."
^^Anna Kisselgoff, "Dance: A Blending of Humor and Guts," The New York Times, 29 July 1973.
^'^Kisselgoff, "Togetherness." 19
Moses Pendleton:
"Again, I see ourselves as being very dependent upon each other— as being not yet formed," he said. The piece’s central image — dancers "trying to break out of a cluster and then being thrown back into a glob"— was typical of what was "almost a nostalgic college-days feeling of togeth erness," he added.45
Pilobolus exhibited the characteristics of process or technique discussed in the first chapter. The first such characteristic was a phy sically interdependent support system where individual bodies were expand ed in function and space by means of extra limbs and body parts which supplied a new center of gravity. Second, this collective center of gravity resulted in a kaleidoscopic shaping and reshaping of this expanded being. In these shapes were half-recognizable images, clever and athletic in achievement with the muscular effort quite evident. These images were left half-formed, marking the beginning of the Pilobolus metaphor, where images flowed with a "sinuous underwater smoothness.
A look at the choreography of Pilobolus as seen through the pic tures of Tim Matson in his book, Pilobolus, projects a boundness which seems the inevitable result of the very secure grip the men exert upon one another to maintain their collective relationship as it stretches and curls about its center of gravity.
The critics were intrigued and Pilobolus was encouraged to con tinue its choreographic explorations. By the 1975-76 season, Pilobolus
^^Ibid.
^^Allen Robertson, "Pilobolus Dance Theater," reprinted concert review, courtesy of Susan Handler, Business Manager, Pilobolus Dance Theater. 20 was no longer in the company’s active touring repertory. Perhaps it was not considered professionally mature. The major works of the amoebic period are shown in Illustration I. Five of the major group pieces,
Spyrogyra, Ocellus, Walklyndon, Ciona and Anaendrom, were from the early amoebic explorations. All five pieces could have become contrived varia tions of Pilobolus. However, each developed a different emphasis and helped define the movement style of Pilobolus.
Illustration 1. The Amoebic Period
Pilobolus 1971
Ocellus 1972 Spyrogyra 1972 Walklyndon 1971
Ciona 1973 Anaendrom 1972 revised 1975
Spyrogyra was the closest of the works to the concept of Pilobolus.
Spyrogyra is a genus of fresh water algae commonly known as frog spit, green silk, sand scum. The name of the piece gave it a lot of its imagery and its movements were characterized by very strong pyramid-like struc tures. There is a note here of daring in the process; there are snap-the- whip like movements and moments of flight:
Spyrogyra includes some of their most impressive body sculpture, but this work is also caught up in rapid, spin ning probes of centrifugal force. One movement begins with two of the men in tight, circling rotation center stage. With lightning speed the other men rush forward and are suddenly, miraculously linked to this swirling mass, their 21
legs swinging free like propeller blades. Later two of the men, using the others' backs as springboards, bound off into the air in an incomprehensibly high volatile leap. The lights black out at this moment, freezing this soaring image of flight. This final vision of the dance, and of the evening. Is a perfect synthesis of PDT— of the impossible made possible.47
Choreographed in 1972, Spyrogyra was well accepted by audiences through out the U.S. and abroad. With a personality of its own, the piece still fit into the expectations of the Pilobolus style of high powered balances and amazing shapes.
A digression from this type of dance appeared with Walklyndon, which finds its place in the choreographic genealogy of Pilobolus as a parent piece because of its characterization and its humor. From it came Anaendrom, Monkshood's Farewell and "Untitled".
Walklyndon Choreographed in 1971 First performed at Hampshire College Costumes by Malcolm McCormick48
Walklyndon is the only dance of the amoebic stage which broke the mold of technique as well as theme and became a mimed movement impression of the locomotor habits of the human race. It was choreographed on a squash court and its title is a pun on the name of the Pendleton family farm. It is the shortest (seven minutes) group piece in the repertory.
If one word were to describe Walklyndon, it would be, by unanimous con sent, called slapstick. It is an accepted audience favorite, a company gem, as evidenced by the following comments.
^^Ibid.
48 Matson, Pilobolus, p. 22. 22
In "Walklyndon," the troupe offers an uproarious slap stick view of human interactions.49
Walklyndon...featured the men strutting about in a revolving promenade of salutes, collisions, fisticuffs and embraces. It was a slapstick vision of the human procession with bloodlines going back to the Barnum & Bailey circus and Charlie C h a p l i n . 50
...Pilobolus comes close to being circuslike, with their acrobatics and boys' wrestling in their funny number, Walklyndon....51 52 ...sophisticated slapstick of a piece.
It was without any musical accompaniment which height ened the essentially humorous nature of the composition. I'/hether or not it deliberately aimed at satirizing the rat race of today, as an endeavor in creating a sequence of coherent funny movements — that with the image of a scale was memorable— it was excellent.53
It was a well executed persiflage on the hurried human behavior pattern in an over-populated society. The mime was exquisite.5^
...a bit of locker room nonsen :e.... By moving so rapidly, the men create different images of joggers, including one that scoots along with his pot belly leading the way and another who simply walks over those who have fallen flat on the floor.55
49 Dorothy Samachson, "Pilobolus Dance Provocative," Chicago Daily News, 30 January 1974.
^^Matson, Pilobolus, pp. 14-15.
^^Irma Vienola-Lindfors, "Modern Dance With Wings of Humor Joyous Success for Pilobolus at Kuopio," Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki), 7 June 1974.
^^Kisselgoff, "Blending."
53 "Pilobolus," Amrita Bazar Patrika (Calcutta), 23 November 1978.
54 L. Van Duinhoven, "Pilobolus Dance Theater," Algemeen Dagblad (Amsterdam), 21 June 1974.
^^Haacke, "Pilobolus." 23
Pilobolus can be extremely funny. "Walklyndon" is a frenetic walkathon of interactions, group styles, and walking habits. One person may walk into another, who in turn trips a third; brushing up against a passerby can initiate spinning; one toppled person becomes a heavily used carpet; and so forth. It’s done quickly and with great style.56
"Walklyndon"... chronicled the actions of passers-by, joggers perhaps, considering their outfit, and also the epidemic features jogging has acquired in the U.S. "Walklyndon" is thoroughly amusing and vaguely remenis- cent of Chaplinesque slapstick. But if Pilobolus nudges the line of absurdity it does so only because they are searching for humor, and humor is so often a cohabitant of the same domain.57
The wit had immediate appeal, such as when two rush ing bodies collided with a smack in mid-flight. Or when the young son of one couple in the company "streaked" across the s t a g e . 58
...an anthology of totters, sags, struts, promenades, stumbles and l i m p s . 59
Nancy Goldner's comment is probably the most illuminating;
...the best dance with a message was Walklyndon, a series of sight gags strung loosely around the topic of encounters. Anonymous people (for a change) mow each other down, whisk each other off and continuously surprise each other and the audience with their respon ses. Toward the end, one fellow rests his stomach on the floor while his head and legs lift off the floor. Starting from that familiar emblem of physical fitness, he becomes an uncooperative scale. When one of his colleagues steps on his legs, he persists in weighing
56 Eckert, "Breathtaking."
57 Sayeeful Islam, "A Bounce in the Mind: A Review of Pilobolus," Holiday (Dacca), 3 December 1978.
58 Beers, "Pilobolus." (The streaker actually belonged only to Martha Clarke.)
59 Jack Anderson, "Pilobolus. The Space. November 17, 1972," Dance Magazine, January 1973, p. 79. 24
in heavier at the head. Another friend pounds on his head and sure enough, his weight springs back to the legs. Then he becomes dead weight. One by one, the group forms into a machine designed to lift h i m — the ultimate test of group strength, ingenuity and science. Just as they've finished positioning themselves for this task, the object of removal steps out of the group, leaving his colleagues in a very pretty but useless picture. Walklyndon could be a very wry self-spoof on the whole idea of communal effort, which is the ideology by which the group lives and creates, but certainly the best thing about it is that it's short and fast, It is the only piece in which the PDT is not only slick but sleek.
Walklyndon was one of the three original group pieces of the all male period of 1971-72. It was expanded in 1973 to include Alison Chase,
Martha Clarke and occasionally Martha's young son, who in keeping with his age and the fashion of the times, became the company streaker. In recent concerts^^ only the men have performed Walklyndon.
It is with Ocellus that Pilobolus produced a work which austerely simplified the Pilobolus style and broke from the animal imagery of
Pilobolus and Spyrogyra.
Ocellus Choreographed in 1972 First performed on Ram Island in 1972 Music by Moses Pendleton and Jonathan Wolken
Ocellus is the classic of the amoebic period. It combines the shaping, molding of space and balance/counterbalance of the body linkage technique. However, there is no attempt at ambiguous images of lower animal life. The focus is a very human one. The pulse of the movement
^^Goldner, "Dance," p. 380.
^^Haacke, "Pilobolus."
^4,atson, Pilobolus, p. 22. 25 is slow and steady, supporting the complex transitions. The movement is very strong, very clear and very male. It is the only group piece that has not been revised to include the additional female members of the company. To do so would be to alter the basic integrity of the piece.
Ocellus has been negatively likened to tableaux vivants and gymnastics.
It has been considered limited in its scope. Yet generally, it has been accepted as an austere celebration of the male body.
Actual movement phrases were described in only two reviews:
In Ocellus, four scantily clad muscular men roll and tumble in a chain of physical fitness to low sounding oscillating music by Pendleton and Wolken. It is a slow motion graceful athleticism at its peak — something like an ancient Greek or Roman wrestling match. Two standing men form an arch with their arms over two men entwined in a rounded shape below. The men seem to stop, but they continue on, shaping and reshaping sometimes in quite intimate contact.^2
They joined hands, swung each other over their backs, arched and posed, transforming the flow of energy from one body to the next.
It is this flow of energy that saves Ocellus from the true tableau vivant.
To carry the image further, the athleticism of "Ocellus" is that of the statue of the discus thrower. The same impression of arrested motion, the accomplishment in the making is always present. The men might pause but they do not pose. Rather they are on their way to something else— an assembly line roll, a supported stretcher neck stand, a conglomerate of forms that is as intricate as a clock's insides.^4
^^Haacke, "Pilobolus."
^^Beers, "Pilobolus."
^^Anna Kisselgoff, "Dance: Pilobolus 6 Show More Topsy-Turvy Skill," The New York Times, 28 November 1977. 26
That this energy flow is sustained is evident. Yet it seems to have had conflicting effects on its audiences.
The coiling and releasing of tension creates an energy level of whirlwind force, and seems to produce exhilaration, rather than exhaustion, in the performers.65
The agonized bay of hounds or the muffled sound of a drum— all very much subdued, provided the background of a slow number that denoted fatigue, exhaustion and a total draining of life force and often giving an eerie feeling.
The tone of the piece is very ceremonial. This could be the key to recon ciling the above impressions. The former is the feeling of exaltation felt by the performers while the latter is an interpretation of an overall mood. Another consideration to be made is that the latter comment was taken from a foreign source where cultural expectations may have influ enced the effect of the performance. In any case, there is an overpower ing sense of energy required in the sheer physicality involved, a physi- cality that again borders on sport rather than art:
Ocellus is...one that best illustrates the men's gymnas tic bent.^7
The four males participate in Ocellus as a living sculp ture slowly moving across the stage creating a human frieze, performing feats of superhuman muscular coordina tion and control....^®
Ocellus is akin to an energetic circus act with its series of avant garde tableau vivants.^9
^^Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 40.
66,,Pilobolus," Amrita Bazar Patrika. 67. Howe-Beck, "Superb."
^^Martin^Mart Galloway, "Dance Troupe a Must-See," Montreal Star, 2 February 1977.9:
^^"AmeAmerican Dance Troupe in City," The Times of India (New Delhi), 3 December 1978, p. 5. 27
Yet another question is to be raised by this classical effort.
What limitations would emerge in style and subject material with Pilobo lus as an all male troupe? They seemed to be making statements about sexuality by their impersonal approach to physical contact. David Vaughan expressed it this way:
...I will admit that I was made uncomfortable by the fact that in Ocellus, for example, the bodies were frequent ly in close, even intimate, physical contact— face to face, crotch to crotch, face to crotch— not because of its sexu ality but because of its supposed asexuality. An issue is being avoided here, it seems to m e . 70
This impersonalness was also limiting in the area of thematic contrast.
At this point in the company history, the choreography was extended to the creative limits of Pilobolus's psyche. A comment made about Ocellus was equally pertinent to the overall choreographic picture: "Hypnotic but limited, it repeats motifs without expanding its vision.
It was during this time that the four men reexplored the possi bilities found in their first efforts. A saturation level was reached where a technique which emphasized logically evolving movement forms was no longer enough. The body linkage system was becoming a sophisticated technique, capable of much, but it was a movement vocabulary without a subject. Whether it was the all-maleness of the group, that they had come to their limits with such similarly limited movement backgrounds, whether they needed new psychological and sexual diversity to break out of what has been termed the image of "looking like gelatinous blobs in
^%aughan, "Reviews," p. 33.
^^Arlene Croce, "Dancing," The New Yorker, 19 December 1977, p. 133. 28
72 a modern lamp stand" or simply an input of dance vocabulary, the absorp tion of the two dance-trained women into the group created a change in
Pilobolus that gave them new thematic and movement material.
In Anaendrom, the two ladies were originally choreographed into the group. There are individuals in Anaendrom. What kind of characters or androgynous beings these are is not explicit, but the participants engage in some very hilarious, monkey-in-the-zoo kind of antics. There is a male-femaleness about the piece but it is a restrained, remote sexu ality. Anaendrom is a humorous piece but in the middle of the fun there are moments where the bizarre touch is slipped in. It is this quizzical 73 brand of humor ("all the logic of a dream...." "...out of nowhere, a stare, or a twist of the head has the power to transform an inane moment with the sudden breathcatching terror of a nightmare.— part ribald and slapstick, part bizarre and always ambiguous which becomes a refinement of the initial Pilobolus collegiate humor. Tentatively, the women are in corporated into the supportive aspects of the movement technique, taking an equal role in the technique. Anaendrom is a comedy well knit together.
It is another growth effort.
It is with Ciona, choreographed in 1973, that the fragmented pieces come together as a whole. Initially limited in their craft, the men of
Pilobolus had established their security in not only the connected bodies.
7 2 Ellen Stodolsky, "Horses and Mystics and Gymnasts— Oh My!!" Dance Magazine, March 1974, p. 70.
^^Dunning, "Pilobolus."
^^Robertson, "Pilobolus." 29 but also in the sense of environment those connections gave. They worked within the space those bodies formed as well as outside it. It took the dance backgrounds of Alison Chase and Martha Clarke to further expand the body linkage technique and sculptural forms. Ciona became the proof that the body linkage technique is a workable one where brute strength is not a valid substitute for balance, form and a delicate interdependence.
There is a subtlety about the change in dynamics as well. Stodolsky attri butes this to the women:
Right on ladies, you've brought me back to the admiring fold. I can see, in "Ciona," for example, where you've broken up those sculptural forms and spread them out on the floor. Now they pulse and flow into new shapes along diagonal paths rather than building up into towers of strength. You've got them moving in space too.... 75
The women had added the dance knowledge and tools that made it possible for Pilobolus to expand its choreographic material. The movement theme is that of an oscillating coin^^ and the variations on the movement are what start the whole thing. But a Ciona is a creature which turns itself inside o u t — and that, in deference to the title, is what the creature made of six units inhabiting this work does.
In reviewing the amoebic period, Pilobolus literally spawned a breeding ground for exploring the movement and thematic potential of the concept called Pilobolus. Ocellus is primarily an aesthetic sculpture with a very classical theme. It is this cleanness of line and balance and strength which are dealt with in stark groupings. Walklyndon is a
^^Stodolsky, "Horses," p. 70.
^^Matson, Pilobolus, p. 72. 30 sight gag. Its participants are human but they suggest, through imagery, things which the movers are not. With its fun and imagery, Walklyndon is the parent of Anaendrom. In Anaendrom the members of Pilobolus become strange inhabitants of a not-so-recognizable and yet familiar place.
This is the beginning of the Pilobolus trademark of androgynous character izations. The humor is no longer wholesome but is warped slightly. Mean while, Ciona, as the descendant of Ocellus, shows the same sculptural forms but is more unified.
The Human Condition
Coming out of this frenzied three year period of creativity was a thematic use of the body in an undeniably human role. This is a direc tion that Pilobolus has pursued in its group works through the present
(see Illustration 2). Two important pieces that exhibit this character istic are Monkshood's Farewell and "Untitled".
Illustration 2. Major Group Works of Pilobolus
Pilobolus 1971
Ocellus 1972 Spyrogyra 1972 Walklyndon 1971
iona 1973 Anaendrom 1972 revised 1975
Monkshood's Farewell 1974 I "Untitled" 1975 1 Molly's Not Dead 1978 I Parson Nips and Rude Beggars 1979 31
Monkshood's Farewell Choreographed in 1974 First performed at the American Dance Festival Costumes by Malcolm McCormick Music by Robert Dennis^^
Originally entitled Monkshood's Delight, this piece offers a change
in the direction of the Pilobolus repertory. First, there are obvious characters, and of a human shape at that. Second, there is an abstract attempt at a story line or plot development. Monkshood's Farewell marks the beginning of a choreographic focus on plot. The process of making images which were the end product of the movement was changed. It was reversed so that the image or resulting potential character became the 78 inspiration from which the movement developed.
Monkshood's Farewell was inspired by The Garden of Earthly Delights 79 by Hieronymous Bosch. This painting is inhabited by strange space-age looking structures as well as more conventional flora. The people of the painting are medieval in dress and pleasant of face except where there are moments revealed to us of half-horrors gobbling up their victims. The work projects an aura of the bizarre. It is detailed and grotesque with its contrasting beautiful people and environment, and its intimation of corrup tion and putrefaction.
The dance Monkshood's Farewell is set in six unrelated sections which are held together by a medieval mood;
^^Ibid.
^^Ibid., p. 58.
^^Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 40. 32
I. Bucklar's Plaint
II. Celandine and Hellabore Encounter the Foetid Goad of Passion
III. From Haunts of Coot and Hern
IV. Hedgemustard's Rhume
V. Lady Curzon Has a Hunch
VI. Dyre's Woad
The medieval tone of Monkshood's Farewell is set immediately in the first section and continues throughout the piece. Pilobolus,
...using their unique technique...draw a far move vivid picture of the medieval mores than do most tapestries in which horsemen in full regalia, court ladies and religieux pursue questionable secular pleasures. Pilobolus "horses” may not be richly ornamented steeds, but they are clearly visible ; riders, trappings, hoofs and all.^O
In the first section, "Bucklar's Plaint," there is a joust which turns suddently from the humorous to the pathetic as if the winning knight 81 suddenly finds victory hollow. Representing the fauna population is
"From Haunts of Coot and Hern," the third section— a solo by Moses Pen dleton in which he uses the image of a stork standing on one leg. It is 8 2 generally acclaimed as hilarious and brilliant. The fifth section,
"Lady Curzon Has a Hunch," brings with it not only slapstick humor, but 83 an air of distortion, of gargoyles and cripples. Finally, in "Dyre's
80 Ernestine Stodelle, "In a Medieval Mood," New Haven Register, 25 August 1974.
81 Ronald E. Butler, "Viewpoint," Tulsa World, 27 April 1973.
09 Stodelle, "Medieval."
^^Croce, "Dancing," p. 133. 33
Woad," there is an abrupt change of mood to end this tapestry. The images
are nonrepresentational— three figures carrying three others on their
backs, upside down and rigid. It is as if the dancers, having given their
all in presenting their tale, are wearily about to continue their travels,
like wandering medieval troubadors. "Dyre's Woad" provides a satisfying
end to the entire work.
The movement in Monkshood's Farewell has an expressive quality
about it that avoids pure pantomime or charades. Monkshood's Farewell
is entertaining, but in an open ended way, where much is left to conjec
ture and audience imagination. The dance has a feeling of formal!ty be
cause of the sectionalized structure. Critic Ahmed Fazl commented that
"the images stress that the invisible fabric constituted by both space and
time link the present with the past and the future.
Can an analysis of The Garden of Earthly Delights be applied to
Monkshood's Farewell? The Garden of Earthly Delights is a visual state ment of the Reformation, that period in time characterized by extreme
concern for man's relationship with God— "the same urge for universality 8 5 that we encounter in the facade sculpture of a Gothic cathedral." Gibson
maintains that The Carden of Earthly Delights reflects "the Renaissance
taste for highly original, intricate allegories whose full meaning is
apparent only to a limited audience.The same could be said of Monks-
^^Ahmed Fazl, Bangladesh Times (Dacca), 1 December 1978.
8 S Walter S. Gibson, Hieronymous Bosch (New York/Washington: Praeger Publishers, 1973), p. 99.
G^ibid. 34 hood's Farewell with its bizarre shapes and open ended potentials. Critics argue on certain images and moods, and Rose Ann Thom says, "Though the literary references of this work escaped me, I sensed a medieval atmos phere and I was aware of individuals expressing personalities rather than .,87 anonymous creatures.
Of the many analyses given of Bosch's work, the consensus is that 88 he explored "the haunting obsession of the inner man," painting "the 89 frightening dream imagery that haunts one's subjective experiences."
If taken in this pessimistic tone— "...often there are no distinctions between flora and fauna among the nightmarish creatures and hybrids that 90 tease and torment man..." — this translates well with the interspersing by Pilobolus of strange animals and half-recognized humans that populate
Monkshood's Farewell. Yet, Monkshood's Farewell has a gentleness to it, a quixotic humor that escapes the pessimism of Bosch. Snyder suggests that Bosch's man is "the supreme corrupter of all of God's creations— a 91 complete inversion of humanistic thinking." The theme of The Garden of
Earthly Delights is "the sensual life, more specifically, the deadly sin
87 Rose Anne Thom, "Innovations of Inundation?" Dance Magazine, October 1974, p. 22.
88 James Snyder, ed., Bosch in Perspective (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1973), p. 3.
89 Ibid., p. 4.
^°Ibid.
91 Ibid., p. 5. 35
92 of lust." The world it is set in suggests "extreme psychic instability" 93 set in a "landscape of violence and corruption." Monkshood's Farewell is sensual in an androgynous way. It has the logic of a dream with all its free association. But it softens the potential for brutal violence with its touches of pathos. And while Bosch uses harsh images of corrup ted beauty, Pilobolus presents its images in a bizarre and humorous manner which neutralizes any sinister suggestion in its corruption or rearrange ment of the expected. The Garden of Earthly Delights can be considered an inspiration for Monkshood's Farewell on a medieval and contemporary plane
— truly part of the fabric "linking the present with the past and future."
Monkshood's Farewell is a development of one more facet in the
Pilobolus growth pattern— the development of characters within a plot.
Also, Kriegsman sees Monkshood's Farewell specifically as singularly an in- 95 terest in "a kind of insidious eroticism and an obsession with medievalism."
This eroticism is perhaps inevitable as Pilobolus, first exploring its movement worlds, develops creatures and then human characters and finally must explore its sexuality. This is most clearly seen in their next work,
"Untitled".
"Untitled" Choreographed in 1975 First performed at the American Dance Festival Original costumes by Malcolm McCormick Revised costumes by William Mickley and Kitty Daly
92 Gibson, Hieronymous Bosch, p. 81. 93 Snyder, Bosch in Perspective, p. 4.
^^Fazl [in] Bangladesh Times. 95 Kriegsman, "Unusual."
^^Matson, Pilobolus, p. 22. 36
"Untitled" is the signature piece of Pilobolus. It fascinates
its audiences, its critics and its performers. It is the result of a maturation process. To quote Pilobolus— "It grew out of enormous con- 97 tention among all of us, and because of that it is elusive — even unfocused." 98 "Untitled" has been called "a comment on Victorian morality," a "Thurber- 99 like view of the war between men and women" and "a chronicle of the ages of woman, set in Victorian times.
Based on a Vaudeville gimmick, "Untitled" is a carefully crafted blend of mime, dance and gimmickry. What could at any moment become a charade, a joke, is instead a well-rounded theater piece.
It begins with one woman combing another's hair. Then both women are propelled upward each atop the shoulders of a man who is partially covered by the woman's dress. Each pair moves as if it is one extra-tall person. The work unfolds with a number of tell-tale snatches of the human life cycle — pregnancy, birth, growth, court ship, physical conflict, rebellion and submission.101
There is a definite sense of "unspoken dialogue" between the two 102 women in their toilette. Two dandies come on stage to flirt and then leave, bewildered by the giant ladies. They later return and are caught up like pieces of a puzzle in the snatches of the life cycle that follows.
^^Ibid., p. 96. qn Vaughan, "Reviews," p. 33. 99 Barnes, "Dance."
^^^Butler, "Viewpoint."
^^^Robert Kimball, "Pilobolus Continues to Grow," New York Post, 6 March 197 6. 102 Lillie F. Rosen, "Pilobolus," The Progressive, Vol. 42, No. 6, June 1978, p. 39. 37
The unspoken dialogue is continued in the fight of the two dandles. But it is the lovely and delicate use of metaphor through which images of a life cycle are projected. The focus is from the feminine point of view with the women giving birth, taking lovers and dominating them. I'fhile the women are portrayed in an ultrafeminine, à la Southern belle motif, there is a suggestion of masculinity in the women and the "customary male fear 103 of it." This is especially underlined in the closing moments when the women use the men to whom they have given birth as rocking chairs while they complacently rock themselves.
"Untitled" is a coming together of all the Pilobolus exploration in movement. As in Monkshood's Farewell, the action is determined by a
"dramatic rather than kinetic timing.In this piece more so than in
Monkshood's Farewell, the plot determines the movement; each event must work itself out but the goals are set and the action is kept going until they are reached. In Monkshood's Farewell as in some of the earlier works, the images ran themselves out. In "Untitled". the continuity never strug gles to an end— it is short and to the point. While the characters are all human, they are the product of the metaphorical images through which
Pilobolus had been exploring its movement potential. In fact, it was
"Untitled" that prompted Clive Barnes to write "Dance metaphor, thy name must be Pilobolus; Also, there is an effort to confront the sexuality of the group. Until this work, Pilobolus dealt with androgynous beings.
^^^Barnes, "Two Young Troupes."
104 Matson, Pilobolus, p. 96.
^^^Barnes, "Dance." 38 but in "Untitled", they contrived male and female roles. This piece also showed growth and new directions for the group. Moses Pendleton, in an interview with Anna Kisselgoff, was quoted as saying that "Untitled" did indeed symbolize the hardships of growing up and the state of Pilobolus at that time. "The fact that we couldn't even find a title for our last piece," he said,"is tell-tale.Perhaps also, the company nickname for Alison Chase as "queen" would suggest personal insights into the values of Pilobolus.Certainly she figures heavily as a teacher as well as performer, and the new work reflected the roles of queen and woman.
In approaching the question of sexuality in "Untitled", Pilobolus opened up potentially new directions for its work. Pilobolus considers the ambiguity of "Untitled" an asset in flexibility. For them it reflects 108 "an emotional spectrum that changes as we do." Croce sums it up best:
"Untitled" never gets explicit in its references to life and it doesn't tell us what it means, yet we know wordlessly what it means. The design is there not to dictate our reactions but to set us free.
New Directions
In 1978, Molly's Not Dead premiered. It has a hillbilly motif and features swaggering yokels. Most of the movement is concerned with sight gags — pregnant looking gnomes, a three-bodied lecherous being enamored of Alison Chase, among others. All the tricks are literally
^^^Kisselgoff, "Pilobolus."
^^^Fanger, "Pilogolus," p. 38.
^^^Matson, Pilobolus, p. 96.
1 nq Croce, "Dancing," p. 133. 39 spelled out, explicitly pointing to the l a u g h s . Molly is strictly charades for entertainment.
In 1979, Parson Nips and Rude Beggars premiered. So far the cri tics have largely ignored it, relegating only a few sentences to it. The usual Pilobolus creatures are present, along with a patriarchal gentlemen, presumably Parson Nips. There is an oblique plot concerned with a war in the Parson's garden in which Nips' staff is some obscure symbol of power.
At one point a three-headed creature tries to eat itself and then dis solves into three individuals who, along with Parson Nips, perform a group sequence.^^^ It ends in an arabesque-like movement which is pushed to its choreographic limits.
Both Parson Nips and Rude Beggars and Molly's Not Dead have been well received by audiences. However, neither piece contributes to any new growth in the Pilobolus repertory. They are more of the same, as if
Pilobolus were maintaining its identity by repetition. All the familiar raw materials are present, but the forms are empty. In its ninth year,
Pilobolus is established, but again, in transition.
^^^Elizabeth Varady, "Pilobolus Tries a New Dance Style, But It Doesn't Work, ' Boston Herald American, 20 October 1979.
^Pamela Sommers, "Pilobolus," The Washington Post. 11 October 1979. III. PILOBOLUS IN THE CURRENT DANCE FRAMEWORK
...Pilobolus is so distant, not only from the mainstream but even today's avant garde, that it is in no way "representative" of today's dance....No other troupe so concretely tests the lim its of dance art. Watching Pilobolus inevitably challenges one's preconceptions about what dance is, or can, or should be.
Alan M. Kriegsman The Washington Post May 4, 1977
A cursory examination of most critical reviews of the early Pilo bolus career show the majority of critics exclaiming awe and astonishment over a new movement phenomenon. It's as if Pilobolus sprang, fully formed, from the Dartmouth campus, devoid of roots or a past. Critics have tended to avoid dealing with Pilobolus as a dance group, but this is beginning to change, either because of the sheer duration of the company or a change in the original work. Critics label them acrobats/gymnasts, energy circus, living sculptures. Yet, if one examines the events of the late '60s and the '70s in society as well as the dance world, there are certain develop ments that link Pilobolus very much to its time and make them appear more a logical part of the dance scene than a quirk of fate. Having described the chronological growth of the group, it is now valuable to analyze Pilo bolus in terms of its relationship to the dance world today.
Post-Judson: A Source of Comparison 112 The Judson movement, begun in 1961, was an intellectual approach
112, Marcia B. Siegel, The Shapes of Change (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1979) , p. 369.
40 41
to the dance by artists of technical expertise. Previously accepted ideas
of dance were examined and rejected. Illustration 3 is a chart of what
Judson accepted and rejected as important to their dance versus what was
acceptable at the time.
For the choreographers involved in the work at Judson Church,
training, choreography and performance/presentation were scrutinized and
clarified by looking at dance as art, art as dance and both as they reflected 113 life philosophies. Perhaps the whole Judson thing, in a nutshell, was about changing perceptions, a learning to see without old or even any value judgments. This relates immediately to Pendleton's comment, "much of moving
is learning to see."
Pilobolus and Judson Technique
As has been stated, the technique developed by Pilobolus evolved
from movement which was familiar to the group. It is important to emphasize here that while often called athletic, the movement was by no means mimed
athletics or movement patterns transferred from sport to dance. Referring back to Chase's master class, the desired end was not a mimed sport or even
everyday movement, but a real life action found in both, a means of extending
the everyday movement into more vigorous realms, i.e., running, jumping,
rather than leaping and pirouettes. Because the Pilobolus style is so vig
orous and without a codified vocabulary, because it is so familiar and yet
different to its audience, perhaps this is why the term athletic is so much
used in descriptive reviews of Pilobolus. Their movement thus has a base
113 Robin Silver Hecht, "Reflections on the Career of Yvonne Rainer and the Values of Minimal Dance," Dance Scope. Fall/Winter 1973-74, in general. 42
Illustration 3. Philosophical Ideas of Judson Choreographers
YES NO
Techniques ;
natural (found) movement (P) virtuosity (P) minimalism style (P) natural rhythm (P) fully extended body (P) energy virtuosic movement of feet equality of body parts (P)
Coraposit ion:
open field proscenium space imagery (P) incorporation of process into inner value judgment (P) finalized work phrasing chance variation assemblage rhythm task oriented shape (P) dynamics variety
Theater/Dramatic Presentation:
cool style of execution virtuosity (P) neutral performance elitism interdisciplinary use of music, dance, star image performance setting (the arts) spectacle (P) multifocused magic/make believe (P) heroic/antiheroic imagery/symbols (P) seduction of audience by performer (P) involvement of performer development and climax character (P) performance (P)
[(P) indicates those ideas which Pilobolus includes in its work 43
in everyday ordinary movements and activities and their exploration of
these natural movements is related to the premise of the Judson choreog raphers that new ideas could be expressed only if the traditional "arti ficial" movements were first rejected. However, Pilobolus does employ obvious virtuosity and a great deal of what Pilobolus presents requires great strength and skill. Inherent in this virtuosity is an element of trust that is reminiscent of the current contact improvisors.^ In fact, the virtuosity is not based on the traditional elements of extensions, turns, leaps and jumps, but rather on the risk and delicacy of complicated group balances.
Composition
Unlike the Judson movement, Pilobolus is very traditionally oriented in the area of composition. They choreograph for the proscenium stage.
Although some of their abstract, earlier pieces such as Ocellus could be appropriate for other spaces, works such as "Untitled" are designed speci fically for the stage. While the original impetus for a Pilobolus dance is improvisation based on specific movement ideas, these improvisations are eventually set and composed and the material that does not work theat rically is filtered out.
Shaping is the central Pilobolus force. Phrasing, variation, dyna mics and rhythm all proceed from this one focus. In the Amoebic Period, this shaping crystallized into sculptural forms. The movement used to arrive at these forms was often static. However, starting with Ciona and continuing on through the repertory, the dynamics of all the move-
^^^Steve Paxton, "Contact Improvisation," The Drama Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, March 1975, p. 42. 44
ment, not just the sculptural forms, seems to flow from the focus of
shape.
Theater/Dramatic Presentation
It is in the area of theatrical presentation that Pilobolus and the
post“Judson choreographers differ greatly. The orientation of Pilobolus
is toward dramatic presentation in terms of lighting, costumes and audi
ence appeal. It is not a dramatic orientation in terms of story or plot
but in terms of drama of movement, shape, humor and energy. The rapport within the group, however, is reminiscent of the Grand Union,where
so much of what was done in performance was dependent upon the group's
collective experience and association.
Another facet of traditional theatricality is the emphasis on the star
system. Initially Pilobolus was truly a "no star" collective but now star
personalities are beginning to emerge, each with their own ideas and im
pact. Moses Pendleton is the patriarch-diplomat who carefully guides the
group through its creative struggles. He gives the impression that through
a careful flexibility, the group work will carry on , allowing for indi vidual deviations from the fold. Jonathan Wolken comes across as defender of the philosophy behind the technique: that one does not have to be a
trained dancer to have an artistic approach to movement (this is in keep
ing with the Judsoii idea of using untrained dancers to dance). In one of
latest interviews granted, he was the only company member who steadfastly
refused to incorporate formal dance training into his movement experience.
^^^Robb Baker, "Grand Union: Taking a Chance on Dance," Dance Maga zine , October 1973, p. 44
^^^Elvi Moore, "Talking with Pilobolus," Dance Scope, Vol. 10, No. 2, Spring-Summer 1976. 45
But it is Alison Chase, the one-time teacher, the "queen"^^^ of the group in Pilobolus slang, that has emerged, not by her words but by her perfor mances, as the company star. First, she more than any other company mem ber appears in the majority of group pieces as well as duets and solos.
Second, her performance style is magnetic. She is centrally placed in all the group pieces since Monkshood's Farewell. While Pilobolus watchers do not go to Pilobolus Dance Theater to see a star, many come away with very strong images of Chase, enough to make her the unbilled star.
At one time, Pilobolus considered itself more a theater com pany than a dance company. Perhaps this was because they were still un certain as to the substance of their work (and also to a lack of tradi tional dance credentials). So much of their theater elements serve to support the movement that if there is no substance in the movement, then their theater is empty. As the company grew in experience, they seem to have accepted their place as dancers.
Pilobolus is a dance theater of spectacle and generates an atmosphere of make believe, a whimsical contemporary fairy tale land. In their later efforts such as "Untitled" and Parson Nips and Rude Beggars, there is more and more a sense of narrative plot, characters, development and climzx.
They have basically left their "movement for the sake of movement" works for the more narrative format.
When looking at Pilobolus as a total theater experience, it is apparent that they have their greatest break from the traditional in the area of technique. They are traditional in the areas of composition and presentation. This is a factor overlooked so often by critics and natur-
^^^Fanger, "Pilobolus," p. 47. 46 ally played upon for publicity purposes, as people often find novelty attractive.
Pilobolus and Alwin Nikolais
Most dancers and choreographers can trace their aesthetic and tech nical heritage to a member of the previous generation. In the question of dance parentage, Don McDonagh felt that Pilobolus was a direct descen dant of Alwin Nikolais, Nikolais' own words provide the best discussion of his philosophy.
First was expansion. I used masks and props— the masks, to have the dancer become something else; and props, to ex tend his physical size in space.... I began to establish my philosophy of man being a fellow traveler within the total universal mechanism rather than the god from which all things flowed. The idea was both humiliating and grandizing. He lost domination but instead became kinsman to the universe.... We might, even, then, return to the vision of self, but placed more humbly into the living landscape, adding grandeur to vision of self — not in proud pigeon arabesques but as consonant members of the environment — enriched by the reson ance of that which surrounds us, a shared energy interplaying with vital discussions rather than domineering argument.
The key to the relationship of Nikolais and Pilobolus lies in the way each uses their theater to create an environment. Nikolais creates an environment with all the tools of the theater— lighting, scenery, costuming, sound. He fragments these aspects until reality and illusion are inseparable. His dancers are desexed and occasionally dehumanized, seeming to disappear into the environment. Pilobolus, on the other hand, creates an environment of and with dancers' bodies so that the viewer never loses the feeling that the bodies are warm, living and vaguely
118 Marcia Siegel, ed., "Nikolais, A Documentary," Dance Perspec tives 48, Winter 1941, pp. 11-12. 47
human. Also, even when becoming anonymous shapes and creatures, Pilo
bolus dancers never lose their human qualities. They seem to be masters
of their environment while Nikolais seems to make his dancers more depen
dent on the environment. 119 In going back to Nikolais’ roots, through Wigman and on to Holm, we can see that dance emphasis was "on motion and an awareness of space 120 rather than on an imposed artificial dance technique." The words
here imply a kinship between Nikolais and Pilobolus, but is this so in
action? Both deal in metaphor. Pilobolus has specialized in only one
area of metaphor: shape; but for Nikolais the metaphors are in terms of
shape, sound, light and color. Nikolais is trying for a "virtually ab stract theater...he wants to express in a fully theatrical form...an ab- 121 street expression of the world in which we live." His universe is more cosmic, more focused on an external level of gigantic proportions. Pilo bolus' s world suggests (and not only by their precious titles) a world of half-recognized origins on a very physical and primal level. But their experience is one of emotion; however dehumanized, it is never impersonal.
They are organisms of undetermined origin or future but with a place in a strangely familiar world where the proportions are less cosmic or gran diose.
119 Jean Battey, "Art is Motion, Not Emotion," distributed by Naima Prevots, The American University, Washington, D.C., in a lecture given 20 October 1976.
120 Don McDonagh, Don McDonagh's Complete Guide to Modern Dance, Popular Library Edition (New York: Popular Library, 1977), p. 101.
121 Clive Barnes, "Sure Your Dog Talks Pretty Well," The New York Times, 12 March 1967, p. 11:17. 48
Don McDonagh was writing when Pilobolus had not yet channeled it self into a more plot-oriented direction. Most of the pieces done by
1975 concentrated on this creature world with its connotations of primal
level organisms- But it seems that, as Pilobolus has developed new directions of specific plots and lost some of its abstractness, it has lost its similarity to its parent identity. In developing its charac
ters, it seems to have returned to what Nikolais refers to in the general 122 dance world as "foetal, phallic and fertile." Now the scope is nar rowed to a realization of man as a thinking animal central to the uni verse. When Snyder writes about Bosch, it is as if he is writing about
Monkshood's Farewell;
Often there are no distinctions between flora and fauna among the nightmarish creatures and hybrids that tease and torment man, but if the lower forms of nature had the jump on him in time in the great chain of corrupted being, she found in him. Homo sapiens, the supreme corrupter of all God's creations.
With "Untitled" following soon after, there is evident a definite explor ation into human emotions. The period following "Untitled" becomes one of searching for new directions. Molly's Not Dead is a sight gag with hillbilly or country overtones. Parson Nips and Rude Beggars has defi nite intentions of a plot. The focus is again unclear. Where is the
substance?
It is here that the philosophy of Pilobolus, developed as a pro
cess of growth, and relevant to the society in which these artists live.
1 7 7 Battey, "Art is Motion."
123 Snyder, Bosch in Perspective, p. 5. 49
must be examined.
A Philosophy of Dance — Is Pilobolus Art?
Within the choreographic identity of a group should be its philo
sophy of dance— what are their aesthetic goals in dance and how do
they perceive their work in the framework of art? Langer offers some assistance in this area. "Art is the creation of forms symbolic of human feelings.Dance is a play of these forms made visible.
"The primary illusion of dance is a virtual realm of power— not actual,
physically exerted power, but appearances of influence and agency created 12.Ô by virtual gesture." In other words, in order to qualify as an art/ dance form, movement must evoke in the viewer a response based on sym bols which are knowable through the human experience "even if the beholder 127 has never felt the experience in his own flesh."
The symbolism of Pilobolus is in its imagery. Art is indivisible 128 in its symbolic form. Pilobolus can lapse in and out of images which are symbolic and work with movement which consists of mime rather than symbolic images. When they do not work with symbolic images, Pilobolus
loses its potential complexity of meaning and then exists only on the 129 level of entertainment and people go "simply because it interests them"
124 Suzanne K. Langer, Feeling and Form (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1953), p. 40. 125 Ibid., p. 187. 126 Ibid., p. 174. 127 Ibid., p. 374,
^^®Ibid., p. 369 129 Ibid., p. 404. 50 and not because of deeper meanings.
Prior to Monkshood's Farewell, Pilobolus's forms were simplistic in their symbolism. In Monkshood's Farewell, the symbolism is still an integral part of the movement. "Untitled" relies heavily on mime but the mime is interwoven skillfully with the main theme of the work.
There is a tendency in Parson Nips and Rude Beggars toward gesture and mime. Their allusion to literalness is in danger of becoming real rather than virtual gesture. It seems the more constrained by plot their ideas become, the more unclear their artistic form. It is where Pilobolus are their most abstract that they are at their best artistically.
Pilobolus— Its Relevancy to Today's World
What was happening in society that would cause such a group as
Pilobolus to emerge? And having emerged, what is the importance or rele vancy of Pilobolus as an art form to the society of today?
The fact that Pilobolus was born at Dartmouth in 1971 is important.
Dartmouth was a very upper middle class college. Artistic endeavors had only recently been sanctioned at this athletically oriented male college.
The population itself was part of a baby boom that was beginning to make its voice heard on many issues. After the issues of Vietnam and women's liberation, sexual liberation and various counter-culture explosions, there was a new search for values. The fact that the original members of Pilobolus majored in English literature, social psychology, philo sophy and history reflects the search for values.
Since Pilobolus is so often identified with sport, not only in their original varsity interests but also in their technique and its continual comparison to gymnastics, it is appropriate to mark this series 51
of thoughts on sport in the late sixties:
Athletics was more important to the national sense of well being than ever before... .Sports is the only thing this country holds sacred.... In an age marked by fakery, hedonism, and contempt for work, sport was one of the few areas where hard work and ability were still pre eminent ... and. .. drive , ambition, respect for standards, and individual excellence....Now many thought it their last resort.
The athletic and virtuosic approach to movement by the original male quartet highlighted several ideas:
1. the possibilities of non-dance-trained movers dancing,
2. a destruction of elitist principles in reference to specific dance training, and
3. the development of movement that was uniquely and organically
that of Pilobolus.
According to Jowitt, relevant artistic form today is directed by
1. an awareness of developments in technology and scientific
forms,
2. direct opposition to the artistic concepts of the preceding
generation, and
3. fear and uncertainty produced by violent changes in our ideas
about life and our ways of living it.
Jowitt feels that in the new forms, instead of symbolizing events,
dances expressed something about the feelings, structures, rhythms within _ 131 tiiese events.
130 William L. O'Neill, Coming Apart; An Informal History of America in the I960's , 4th paperback edition (New York: The New York Times Book Co./Quadrangle, 1975), p. 230. 131 Deborah Jowitt, "Dear Jane, May I Explain," The New York Times August 23, 1970, p. 12. 52
It is interesting to take Jowitt's criteria for contemporary artis
tic form and see how they mesh with the directions explored by Pilobolus.
1. Pilobolus started by an examination of movement qualities sug
gested by lower biological life forms. Without our present technology, we would be unaware of these forms. This led to the focus of the human body as an organism complete within its own way of moving and created
an environment/community.
In a world confounded by the use of energy, it seems very relevant
that rather than conventional Western dance rhythm, their movement should
possess an energy of its own existence, determined only by the life of
the movement. This energy is reflective of a philosophical and physical restlessness today.
2. Having none to begin with and intially being naive of any organized philosophy of dance, Pilobolus was not consciously opposing existing dance forms, but they were also consciously not seeking out the artistic concepts of the preceding generation. They are really an evolu
tion rather than a rebellion.
3. Pilobolus is funny. Its humor can be bizarre, quixotic, and
openly, honestly simplistic. Initially, upon graduation from college,
the four men intended to go off on their farm and live the beautiful 132 life. Their dances would be a product of the thoughts proceeding
from this communal and intellectual back-to-nature lifestyle. This bohemian lifestyle permitted them a certain freedom to laugh at changes
132 Anne Marie Walsh, Washington Star Dance Critic, "Modern Dance With Pilobolus," Lecture Series, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 17 October 1979. 53 in our society.
Function and Form— Is Pilobolus Gymnastics?
Gymnastics and Pilobolus are constantly linked in critical reviews.
Obviously, Pilobolus is pushing the boundaries of accepted dance movement.
But is Pilobolus glorified gymnastics? It seems a definition of gymnas-
1 Q *5 tics is in order: "...exercises to develop and train the muscles."
Modern day usage of the word gymnastics is twofold. The first is gym nastics as a sport that involves specific skills. The second is gymnas tics as a technique for body training. Since the latter could be no different from dance exercises or weight training, it would be fair to assume that it has become a subset of gymnastics as sport. The Pilobolus choice of finding familiar athletic movement (not mimed) as a basis for their technique is valid. It is how the movement is used and not its origin that will determine its expressiveness. In the early reviews of
Pilobolus, they are always described as mimes, acrobats and gymnasts.
Even as late as 1979, a critic (who has obviously not done her homework) attributed much of the Pilobolus skill to their former gymnastic train- 134 ing. The Piloboli deny gymnastic intent because of a specific lack of tightness in their movement.
In gymnastics, the body is made to perform in a variety of spatial planes and passes through various body positions using varying mechanical/ physical laws to achieve this. One obvious example is impetus; in dance.
133 Webster's New World Dictionary, David B. Guralnik, Editor in Chief, Popular Library paperback edition (New York: Popular Library, 1979)
^^^Laurie Horn, "From Pilobolus, It's a Dancing Rorschach Test," The Miami Herald, 8 April 1979, p. 2 L. 54 the majority of the time, it is given from the feet. In gymnastics the impetus for movement can come from the hands and include moments of being upside down. Both dancer and gymnast manipulate gravity, either giving in to it or fighting it. But the gymnast has one way of getting through a desired skill: the most efficient way. This is dictated by safety reasons and necessitates a strict codifying of muscular control. The dy namics of gymnastics include a quality of tightness to create certain body alignments which are subjected to stress from speed and gravity.
Without the resistance provided by tightness, the alignment would change and injury could follow.
Dance critics seem to permit virtuosity as long as it is within the existing vocabulary of the dance genre (i.e., entrechat or double turn). Perhaps this is because of educated expectations, perhaps be cause of a quality of expressiveness that has been superimposed upon 135 technique. "Pilobolus turns cartwheels with dance aesthetics."
But it seems to be this quality of weight inversion, of upsidedownness which immediately strikes the critics as not dance. The old rule of thumb, form follows function, is appropriate here. It seems that func tionally, gymnastics is no more or less than any other codified technique.
What the Piloboli are doing is twofold: they are using a technique sim ilar to gymnastics within an expressive framework, and they are confusing the problem by using more than one body in a manner formerly reserved for only one body. Pilobolus chooses tightness as a functional expedient in certain situations only, sometimes as a means to a specific end, some-
L35 Clive Barnes, "Pilobolus Turns Cartwheels With Dance Esthetics," The New York Times, 11 September 1977. 55
times because of the demands of the movement they discover. Gymnastics
considers tightness as an aesthetic standard and this Pilobolus does
not do. The gymnast has an objective and only one way to achieve it,
but Pilobolus can make choices.
Interestingly, Pilobolus uses no formal gymnastic skills. They
have yet to use a true cartwheel, a kip, an aerial. What they do use
are concepts of balance, gravity/centering and every possible spatial 136 plane. Other groups, such as the Multigravitational Experiment Group,
have created a special environment to free themselves of earth's gravity
so they may conduct human locomotion in these planes. Pilobolus uses bodies for an environment and an instinctive use of mechanics to achieve
this same spatial freedom. In fact, other artists have used gymnastic movement, not trying to mask it. One example of this is the handstand 137 used by Yvonne Rainer in Trio A.
Perhaps it is because gymnastics is so little understood aesthetic
ally and functionally that its use by Pilobolus is questioned. As soci
ety's experiences change, perspectives on various kinds of movement change,
The value of the movement has not changed, only the terms in which it is viewed or the response it elicits.
Changes in aesthetic standards caused the critic Alan Kriegsman
to make the following observations about our perceptions.
The arts have always singled out or abstracted forms for our contemplation. There is no earthly reason why factual, ordinary or random forms should be excluded.
116 Thom, "Innovations," p. 22.
137 Sally Banes, Terpsichore in Sneakers (Boston: Noughton-Mifflin. 1980), p. 52. 56
"But if we can hear or see these things in everyday life," comes the rejoinder, "why put them on a canvas, a stage or in a score?" The answer is that we don't see or hear them. We look and listen, but always with the purposive ends of our own lives in view. What we don't see, are too busy to really notice, are the shapes and qualities that confront our senses.^
As ballet and modern dance have drawn closer by each encompassing more of the actual movement potential of the human body to achieve an expres sive form, Pilobolus is also exploring the range of possibilities for one or more bodies. Kriegsman puts it succinctly: insofar as Pilobolus uses movement for its expressive value, then it is doing dance, not 139 gymnastics. Pilobolus is a group making a valuable contribution to the idea of all movement having potential for expressive form.
The Critics* Views
Pilobolus has helped expand the possibilities of expressive move ment. This is the conclusion which is unanimously presented in varying forms by every critic reviewing the company. The critics still have many questions about the quality and direction of the group.
The material from the critics is organized here as follows: a single critic's impression of one or two performances; articles by cri tics who have each followed the progress of Pilobolus over a period of time; and finally, the foreign reviews. These reviews are invaluable for preserving 1) descriptions and impressions of the company's reper-
138 Alan M. Kriegsman, "...But What Is Art?" The Washington Post, 16 March 1969, p. E 4.
139 Idem, "Twirling, Trampling With Daredevil Abandon," The Washing ton Post, 2 May 1974, p. G 3. 57
tory, 2) the evolution and history of the troupe, 3) attempts to capture
the essence of Pilobolus.
Headline leads such as "Fungus, Fantasy and Fun,"^^^ "PDT A Treat
That Fools the Eye,"^'^^ "Sleight of Limb"^^^ attract the reader's eye.
These titles are also the beginning of a set pattern in the critical reviews of Pilobolus. The catchy title is usually expanded upon in the
first paragraph with a play on words by the author. These openers are an exercise in cuteness and cleverness; it is as if the discovery of
Pilobolus's use of humorous images elicits a similar verbal exploration of those same images. Clever comments about Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carroll emerge. Following this formula, there is usually a brief background of the company— college students from Vermont, former gymnasts or athletes without dance training, and then finally descriptions of the works seen at whatever performance the individual critic attended. And it is the bulk of these one-shot reviews that make up the body of descriptive
Information from which the work of cross-referencing the various dances can be done. Until about 1976, general reviews of Pilobolus avoid plac ing the company as a legitimate dance troupe.
Another point to consider is that the majority of perceptive crit icism seemed to come from the New York critics. Their analyses of Pilo bolus centered on the essence of Pilobolus. They also proved an excel lent source of historical information, providing interview material.
^^*^Skow, "Fungus," p. 113.
^^^Haacke, "Pilobolus."
^^^Hubert Saal, "Sleight of Limb," Newsweek, 5 December 1977, p, 89, 58
Most critics tended to echo the thoughts expressed by the New York cri tics. Their descriptions were frequently reminiscent of other authors' descriptions and being postdated, it is not inconceivable that some re views may have influenced others. It is reinforcing to know that at least reviewers were doing their homework, but it is disheartening to think that most valid criticism comes from New York.
Marcia Siegal holds the function of dance critic to be twofold: that of historian and of educator. The unbiased description of a dance fits the historical requirement. The role of educator is fulfilled because most dance audiences have "very little anchorage in the past."^^^
The value of the critic who follows the growth of a troupe is essential to the troupe and the audience as a collective memory, and occasional interpreter, and a conscience — a challenge and a reminder to preserve the integrity and intent of the dance movement. Because the critic brings Individual associa tiens and values to the review, comparative re views are fascinating. But the critic who follows a troupe's growth lays himself open for ridicule if his observations are proven false.
As was to be expected, only the established critics wrote consecu tive reviews and attempted to record the development of the company. It is appropriate to start with Anna Kisselgoff as her reviews predate all the others.
Ms. Kisselgoff's available reviews span the time period from Decem ber 31, 1971 to November 28, 1977 and range from descriptive reviews to interviews. Her initial reaction was that Pilobolus was "in danger of
143 Siegal, The Shapes of Change, p. xiv. 59 confusing athletics with art....That they are having fun is perhaps more important....That they should distinguish between fun and art might be even still more important.It is obvious that Pilobolus is new to
Ms. Kisselgoff — at this point she carefully avoids censoring them as dancers but is unwilling to pronounce them legitimate.
As of 1973, Ms. Kisselgoff skews her criticism of Pilobolus away from dance — they are still not what could be called dancers in the sense of performers with extensive dance training — and mislabels their athle tic vocabulary: "...the basis of the men's movement remains gymnastic."
She is positive about the men moving together: "There is a healthy atti tude toward body contact here that would have been impossible on stage among men five years ago," and gives them the final benediction of, if at least not a dancer's legitimacy, then "a polish and theatricality 145 that was absent in the past."
The review of March 5, 1976, "Pilobolus, Dancing Its Way to Togeth erness," centers primarily on the history of the company’s communal life style. She is also beginning to come to some conclusions about the company. "The freshness of Pilobolus has always been its very lack of a standard vocabulary. At the same time, no one would dispute that the 146 pieces it presented could be defined as choreography."
By 1977, Ms. Kisselgoff is busy reinforcing the idea of dance
^^^Kisselgoff, "New Group."
^^^Idem, "Blending."
146, Idem, "Pilobolus." 60
legitimacy— "Yes, it is dance, if the definition of dance is stretched.
For dance legitimacy the criteria for Pilobolus are sculptural design,
images which become metaphors, an everchanging vocabulary rather than 148 traditional dance as steps have no meaning for Pilobolus,
The year 1976 is when the other critics of n ote— Barnes, Kriegs man, Jowitt and Croce— first comment on Pilobolus. By this time the troupe has passed through its initial exploration and is well defined in form. Consistently, it is the process with its resulting form which cre ates confusion among the critics and yet serves to underline the essence of Pilobolus.
Clive Barnes, in his initial discovery of Pilobolus, immediately labels them sui generis, divorcing them from a dance heritage of any kind.
In this he negates the presence of Mrs. Chase as a transmitter of current dance trends. It is also interesting that he considers Pilobolus "a conceptual company — apparently dedicated to the proposition that dance is too good a thing to be left to just dancers" and he considers them 149 radical innovators.
However, Mr. Barnes does agree with Ms. Kisselgoff by allowing that Pilobolus is dance "with a fresh approach to dance aesthetics.
In content he also notes that the style of the program "is remarkably
^^^Kisselgoff, "Not Ballet...!"
^^^Idem, "Topsy-Turvy Skill."
149 Barnes, "Two Young Troupes," p. 10.
^^^Idem, "Pilobolus." 61 constant. Despite the male/female perceptions, most of the company's dances concern the relationship of friendship rather than love.
Mr. Barnes adds his final label — "Dance metaphor, thy name must be Pilo- 152 bolus!" — rounding out his impressions of the Pilobolus technique as expressive movement, i.e., dance. It is this idea of metaphor which brings the focus of the Pilobolus essence to images and virtual gesture.
Yet, Mr. Barnes does not pursue the subject beyond the metaphor and leaves the reader to establish this source of innovation and focus.
Although he takes a positive stand, Mr. Barnes remains vague. It is left to Mr. Kriegsman to attack the problem of the essence of Pilobolus squarely.
For Alan Kriegsman, Pilobolus is the measuring stick by which to challenge the definition of dance. Kriegsman wades right in and asks what is the significance and intent of the "unarguably new stuff" that
Pilobolus presents. Over a two year period, he analyzes Pilobolus.
First, Kriegsman has the courage to offer a definition of dance as "move ment that is divorced from practical purposes or function...abstracted 153 from real life situations...a performance for observation and enjoyment."
He lists their expertise, the element of risk, the collaborative choreog raphy, the drift from abstractness to allegorical theme, the use of time as duration, not rhythm. He cites "the collective muscle extending the
^^^Barnes, "Dance."
^^^Ibid.
1 Q Kriegsman, "Twirling," p. G 3. 62 human movement vocabulary. Mr. Kriegsman agrees with Mr. Barnes and Ms. Kisselgoff that "mostly the movement serves to forge new bodily shapes.Finally, he concludes that all the acrobatics, the telling of stories and visual puns are not dance. It is when Pilobolus uses movement for expressive values that it is dance. "Both...exist side by ,,156 side within the works of Pilobolus, which is the reason for confusion....
So Alan Kriegsman's conclusions of Pilobolus's contributions to dance are its extension of the expressive human movement vocabulary and its function as a comparative measurement to test the definition of dance. He condenses the novelty, the confusion and then synthesizes them succinctly to place Pilobolus in the dance world.
It remains for other perceptive and well-known critics such as
Jowitt, Croce, Goldner and O'Connor to comment mainly on the movement themes that Pilobolus presents. Ms. Croce considers Pilobolus "a com pany of acrobatic mimes rather than dancers,but nonetheless bril liant. Her concept of the Pilobolus use of dance dynamics in a gymnastic context is accurate and excellent. Mr. O'Connor offers an analysis of dance heritage, while Ms. Jowitt underscores the tendency toward "messages that are humorous, fantastic or cruel." Kriegsman also added a "sexual 158 hostility" to this list. Jowitt maintains that the audiences respond
^Kriegsman, "Unusual," p. B 7.
^^^Idem, "Pilobolus Dance Theater," The Washington Post, 13 April 1977. 156 Idem, "Twirling," p G 3.
^^^Croce, "Dancing," p. 133.
Kriegsman, "Pilobolus Dance Theater." 63
to the virtuosity and the oddity more than the idea, while Allen Robert son considers Pilobolus "not dance at all but, more accurately, what 159 comes after." When he wrote that, Pilobolus had not yet started its present phase of development. It would be wishful thinking if he meant a pure movement form with the possibility of infinite expansion based on an infinitely expanding technique.
The Foreign Critics
There is a mixture of political and cultural overtones in the for eign reviews. In general, the troupe was enthusiastically received in
Europe, the Middle East and India. The western European critics tended to approach Pilobolus much as their American counterparts of the single reviews. The Finns linked Pilobolus with vaudeville — an idea not stated by anyone else. In Portugal, Pilobolus was used as an example of democ racy: "a slow path of learning based on achievement through experience.
America did not move instantaneously from its far west and black oil rigs into democratic practice as did this small company of six dancers.
The criticisms written during the troupe's tour of India were an educa tion in modern dance for readers supplemented by political and cultural comments. The French reviews were very similar to the U.S. reviews writ ten on the basis of a single performance. They were mainly descriptive and contained some inaccuracies in titles and names of dancers. All were positively oriented.
1 SO Robertson, "Pilobolus."
Douglas Coe, International Communications Agency, Correspondence and translations for foreign tours of Pilobolus in Portugal, Bangladesh and India. 64
The foreign press reviews served to emphasize several concepts about modern dance in general. First, most foreign reviews were based on American reviews. Where the two separated was in the manner the for eign reviewers chose to manipulate the material. This underlines the fact that the American critics did well in presenting an unbiased des cription and analysis of their subject where the foreign press could and did use the material in a political context. Secondly, the foreign re views demonstrate how much modern dance is a cultural aspect of America.
Whether accepted as such or not, our modern dance is a reflection of what our society is experiencing. The third concept that can be seen from the foreign reviews is that American dance as reflective of American society is uniquely American and yet it can be appreciated universally.
This is self-evident when reading the foreign material, as it is, with out exception, enthusiastically positive toward Pilobolus. IV. SUMMARY: PILOBOLUS INTERVIEWED
In this thesis, it has been shown that Pilobolus, a company now in its ninth year, has developed from a haphazard collegiate effort into a professional dance company. Organic in its growth, Pilobolus has gone through several stages of development. The body linkage technique and the choreography by group decision caused the first reactions of innova tion and uniqueness. They also caused mixed critical reviews and con fusion about the dance of Pilobolus. Inspired, educated and influenced by Alison Chase, Pilobolus began its development as a more sophisticated dance theater art form when Ms. Chase joined the company in 1973.
Pilobolus challenged the definition of dance. With its acceptance into the dance world, Pilobolus can no longer claim its earlier naivete regarding dance. Its future efforts may find it becoming increasingly traditional. Yet, perhaps the company will continue to challenge even further the current trends of the dance world. Again in transition,
Pilobolus is a company that bears watching.
At the time of this writing, Pilobolus was not available for inter view; however, with the material developed in this thesis, it is possible to supply some of the answers which could be given in an interview. This thesis will close with this imaginary interview as a summation.
How would you define yourselves in regard to theater?
About 1976 we dropped the title Pilobolus Dance Theater and simply
called ourselves Pilobolus. We use a proscenium stage and choreograph
65 66 with an eye to lighting, sound and space in a traditional approach.
In the sense of dramatic content we use theater. But we feel we are not really primarily a dramatic group nor a dance group. We use what we choose of various elements to express ourselves through movement. We are ourselves with our own brand of communication and expression.
Would you agree that the Pilobolus trend is more toward dramatic theme and development than any other direction?
If you mean literally, perhaps. Certainly our latest work. Parson
Nips and Rude Beggars, would lead one to believe so. However, that is what we happen to be doing now. That could change tomorrow.
Do you feel there is a difference between self-exploration or self- expression as individual (the group as one) experience (from a previous comment "We entertain ourselves, therefore we entertain others") and as an artistic expression?
First, there is a difference between self-exploration and self- expression. One can explore and use the results as a means of expression.
We may use our explorations in a finished performance. What we do is primarily satisfying to ourselves.
In your case, does form follow the function or does the function create the form?
Primarily we deal in images so you might say a little of both (we work from both directions). In works such as Ocellus and Anaendrom, the form follows what is happening, while in Monkshood's Farewell or "Untitled" the form definitely serves to stimulate the function, or action.
Do you feel there has been an expansion of the technique vocabulary since the performance of "Untitled"? 62
We are always growing. Since the technique is flexible it will accomodate to whatever vocabulary we choose to invent. Vocabulary con notes units which can be combined to form phrases, in our case an idea or image which is projected by our technique. Since we don't know what our directions are but are constantly evaluating ourselves, expansion or growth is a necessity by means of becoming inevitable.
Has your technique changed, if at all?
We are always building on past experience and are very aware of potentials for development in the use of what we have already done.
Also, when we first started moving, we rarely moved alone— the body linkage idea. We now move more alone out of confidence as well as in terest. That does not limit us either to moving in conjunction or singly.
This is most evident in the number of solos in the repertory, all of which are offshoots of the group work and which often stimulate ideas for new group works.
Are you seeking new ways of body training?
Our means of body training has changed. The men are seeking dance classes (with the exception of Wolken) — ballet mainly — but we do not have a company class. The women and the men may use calisthenics, weight training or whatever else is necessary to prepare for a piece. In other words, we condition our bodies by need, for a need, individually and collectively. This will probably remain flexible as we continue to grow.
Anything is possible.
Do you consider most of your movement source as imagistic?
If you are expressing a concept or communicating an idea, some how this will take the form of a symbol recognizable to the observer. 68
In that sense we work in images, even metaphors if you want to go one
step further. Originally, the connection between an idea and a result
ing image was closer— as in Walklyndon or Anaendrom. But lately, rather
than finding our results to be explicitly connected, the movement sources
are more conceptual and expressed in images and even mime, as seen in
"Untitled" and Parson Nips. Even these are beginning to become more
ambiguous. With Parson Nips, we worked, in the closing section, strictly
on a movement theme and pushed it to its choreographic maximum. Earlier,
it was enough to do the movement and let it end.
What do you consider to be your source of stimulation?
Anything and everything. Life. And especially, as a source
of challenge, support and stimulation, there is nothing more interesting
than our interaction with each other.
If you were to describe Pilobolus, what would you call its most
important quality? Its most pronounced characteristic?
For the audience, the obvious answer is the way we move— the body linkage technique which enables us to create new spatial designs,
environments and characters. For us, it's the ability to approach life
through a world of new perceptions where because we move differently, we are different and we express something different.
Do you still feel that you need to be removed from the main stream of American dance experimentation?
We never considered ourselves as normal dancers so we did not
feel the need to keep up with trends. We are concerned with our own
interests and will do what is necessary to stimulate them. If this leads to
a conscious seeking of direction from other dancers, then so be it. Our 69 dance is very personal and that means we are more interested in what it means to us, than to an audience.
The Pilobolus approach to movement... is it still based on a com munal lifestyle? How do you feel about the entrance of new members of the Rroup having (a) affected this lifestyle and (b) affected the company style?
We no longer live together but have allowed ourselves breathing space, so new members do not really deal with the communal society as it was originally. This really only pertained to the initial male members.
Originally when Alison Chase and Martha Clarke joined, they spent time on the farm prior to tours but essentially had their own places. No, rehear sal and creating sessions are the extent of our communal activity. As for others affecting the company style, new people bring new ideas but the group process still is the main means of choreography and stimulation.
When a member of the group leaves, are their solos lost to the repertory? Also, does this change the intrinsic make-up of a group work?
Yes— the solos and duets are lost. These are works of personal concern composed by the individual for the individual. So far, none of the solos have been composed for someone else. Szygy was one such lost to the troupe, Pagllaccio another. Other artists have been added and have successfully stepped into the group works. When an artist is brought into the group, it is because their communication fit with the group psyche so therefore, for us, the work is not changed. "Untitled" is a good example of this where Georgina Holmes has replaced Martha Clarke
(who has left to start her own company, Crowsnest).
Would you ever consider permitting another dance company to stage 70
one of your pieces?
The opportunity has not yet confronted us. We have no need to
choreograph for others. We are sufficient for ourselves. Again, since
the works are part of a group psyche, it is this communication of shared
Intelligence, of intuitive experience that would be hard for an outside
troupe to capture. Because the technique, the vocabulary and experience
are the products of years of mutual growth, they are not something which
can be codified and transferred intact. Imitation is a possibility but
insight is different.
There is such a strong rapport between you and the audience, yet
so little of this comes from the typical star seduction syndrome. How
do you account for it?
We work as a team. We enjoy what we do. This communicates itself
to the audience.
So many of your audiences are not habitual dance enthusiasts.
When you performed at Tawes Theater at the University of Maryland in 1978
this was the case. Yet the audience was most enthusiastic and Involved
in your work. How do you explain this?
We have a universal appeal in what we do. Movement is understood
by everyone and if what we do strikes a responsive chord in others, so
much the better. The fact that our movement style is less like expected dance and more familiar to the audience in an athletic context also helps,
And perhaps because we are so different, our movement causes expectations
to be altered and perceptions to change.
Has your choreography changed in any way?
We still work ensemble which means, while we have a recognizable 71 identity through our technique or style, we have always had a mixture of concerns in our choreography. Unlike Merce Cunningham, who grows by refocusing on the same thing so that it is new, we are still so diverse that we have not finished exploring outwardly. We may never turn intro spective as a unit, although we are introspective by our very collective satisfaction in what we do. Audience satisfaction is not primary to our work.
In what directions do you see new growth?
That depends on what we are doing and with whom we are doing it.
Anything is possible.
Pilobolus seems to be so much a product of our times...certainly the regeneration of interest in the arts in the 1970s. Do you see your selves affected and changing again in view of the changing trends at the close of the decade?
Obviously, artists are affected by their experiences. Pilobolus started as a new approach to the body focus — something more than phy sical outlet through sport. What trends do you mean specifically?
Generally, as we continue to mature in experience and relationships we will change. And if it reflects our society it will be because we are a part of it. We may even anticipate changes as artists often do.
If you are a product of the time, is this an organic reaction, an incorporation of your experiences subconsciously in your art or an intel lectual and conscious decision reflected in your choreography?
A combination of both — how can the two be separated?
An artist tends to become comfortable in a style and may repeat himself. Do you wish to avoid this and how? 72
That question may pertain more to a single choreographer company where there is a focus on interpreting one person's ideas. Also, even with one person (as with Merce Cunningham) it is possible to constantly re-evaluate what one does and so find new understanding and meaning in one's work. We are comfortable with what we are but we are always seek ing new stimulation and feel at the moment that we are too diverse to need to deliberately avoid any repetition that may occur.
*********
Strongin its choreographic identity, Pilobolus is still unpredic table in its future directions. I APPENDIX A - REPERTORY IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Group Works Duets Solos
1971 Pilobolus Geode (Barnett) Walklyndon
1972 Anaendrotn Cameo (Chase, Clarke) Spyrogyra Ocellus
1973 Ciona* Terra Cotta (Barnett, Clarke) Aubade (Barnett, Clarke)
1974 Monkshood's Pilea (Chase) Farewell*
1975 "Untitled"* Alraune (Chase, Pendleton) Pagllaccio (Clarke) Vagabond (Clarke) Lost in Fauna (Wolken) Pseudopodia (Clarke)
1976 The Eve of Grey Room (Barnett) Samhalm
1977 Shizen* (Pendleton, Chase) Bone (Barnett) Renelaugh on the Randan* (Wolken)
1978 Molly's Not Moonblind (Chase) Dead*
1979 Parson Nips and The Detail of Phoebe Rude Beggars Strickland (Chase, Brooks) Tendril (Holmes, Tracy)
*commissioned by the American Dance Festival
^Where discrepancies in dates occurred, Matson's book was used as the final source.
73 APPENDIX B - DANCERS OF PILOBOLUS In Chronological Order of Joining the Company
Robby Barnett was born and raised in the Adirondacks. He joined Pilobolus in 1971.
Lee Harris joined Pilobolus in 1971. Left in 1974.
Moses Pendleton was born and raised on a dairy farm in northern Vermont. He received his degree in English literature from Dartmouth College in 1971 and was co-founder of Pilobolus.
Jonathan Wolken, from Pittsburgh, first encountered Pilobolus, the fungus, in his father's biophysics laboratory. A co-founder of Pilobolus, he received his B.A. in philosophy from Dartmouth College in 1971.
Alison Becker Chase, from St, Louis, received her B.A. in philosophy and history from Washington University and her M.A. in dance from UCLA. She taught dance at Dartmouth College for three years before join ing Pilobolus in 1973.
Martha Clarke was with Pilobolus Dance Theatre from 1973 to 1978, when she left to form her own company, CROWSNEST. She occasionally does guest performances with Pilobolus and was involved in the choreography of "Untitled", Ciona, and Monkshood's Farewell, as well as her own solos. She is married to sculptor Philip Grausman and is the mother of a son, David.
Michael Tracy grew up in Storrs, Connecticut, and in Rochester, New York. He received his B.A. in 1973 from Dartmouth College, where he was a Senior Fellow in social psychology. He joined Pilobolus in 1974.
Jamey Hampton was born and raised in Oregon. He became acquainted with Pilobolus while attending Dartmouth College where he took his first
74 75
dance classes from Alison Chase. Jamey now lives in Portland, Oregon and is a maker of musical instruments when he is not tour ing with Pilobolus.
Georgina Holmes, from Vermont, received her dance training from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She was a soloist with the Louis Falco Dance Company for six years before joining Pilobolus in 1978.
Guest Artists: Kammy Brooks lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is presently teaching in the Theatre Arts Department at Boston University. She has been involved in theatre and movement as a choreographer, director, performer and costume designer.
Daniel Ezralow was born in Los Angeles, California. He went to the Uni versity of California at Berkeley where he was a pre-med major. Danny started dancing there under the direction of David Wood. Since moving to New York City in 1976 he has danced with The 5 by 2 Plus Dance Company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and is currently a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
The above information taken from theater playbill, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., 11 October 1979. APPENDIX C - SELECTED EVENTS OF THE SEVENTIES
1970 “ America's campuses exploded in a fury of strikes, demonstrations and shutdowns at the news from Cambodia - Women's liberation flared into angry life with strikes and mass marches demanding equality 1971 - Ellsberg leaks the Pentagon Papers - Charles Manson and three members of his macabre "family" were con victed of the 1969 Sharon Tate-La Bianca slayings - Gay liberation burst from the closet, demanding equal rights and society's approval 1972 - China's leaders welcomed Nixon to Peking - Watergate break-in - Senate approved the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, designed to end discrimination based on sex 1973 - Yom Kippur War caught Israel and the world off guard - The Supreme Court legalized abortion during early pregnancy 1974 - Nixon resigned in disgrace - Russia's Politburo exiled dissident author Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn - Transcendental meditation won legions of converts; the saffron dhotis and shaven heads of Hare Krishna devotees dotted city streets 1975 - U.S. leaves Cambodia and South Vietnam - Mayaguez siezed - Dr. Edelin's manslaughter conviction inflamed the national debate over the "right to life" - Soviet defector Mikhail Baryshnikov was the heir apparent to Rudolf Nureyev 1976 - Outsider Jimmy Carter...nudged Gerald Ford from the White House - In New Jersey, a court ruled that Karen Ann Quinlan had the right to die - America celebrated its 200th birthday 1977 - The women's movement was hit by a strong conservative backlash that blocked pro-abortion and ERA legislation in several states. Anita Bryant's fundamentalist crusade overturned a Miami ordinance ban ning discrimination against homosexuals
76 77
1978 - Camp David Accords - Indochina's refugees fled from Communist regimes in decrepit boats; many "boat people" died at sea - Carter postponed production of the neutron bomb - In the landmark Bakke case, a divided Supreme Court ruled that race can be a factor in student admissions policies - California voters passed Proposition 13, a $7 billion cut in pro perty taxes that sparked similar revolts in other states 1979 - Pope John Paul II travels to Ireland, Mexico, Poland, the U.S. - The Shah left his kingdom; the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returned in triumph to proclaim an Islamic republic - World feared a Sino-Soviet war as Vietnamese forces swept into Cambodia - Three Mile Island nuclear accident gave new life to the anti-nuclear movement - American recession triggered unprecedented jumps in gold prices
Taken from Cynthia H. Wilson, "The Seventies," Newsweek, 19 November, 1979. Pages 23-24, 27, 30, 36, 41, 44, 48, 52.
Copyright 1979 by Newsweek, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission. 78
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Cl 9! d • d C U c A c (TK A C C y y U 3 Cl G TO L JZ c E TO c TO (L tn X Ci a G c U TO TO eu ^ 0 Ci TO N X c C 44' Cl X c TO > X TO c d H y t/5 y ec Whil hij _vt lip, one hurt M tj of srevltjr end W H A T IS f th n _ " «ontinenbT rTirrtutic," (S; “ Wul/ chcreoi : W HSield; "• roup to tit ■ New Yofk Time:; "romirlubte," Ennln{ Stinderd; PILOBOLUS ? "inyentiw end JeruMlem PoilJ ^Oincf M«g«iijic PILOBOLUS represents a bold new concept of self-propelled DANCE THEATRE. This fantastic six-member troupe of tremen dous skill, humor and innovation is rapidly making an interna tional name for itself as a highly original "energy circus." Com “GREATIu N” bining dance, acrobatics, sculpture and wit into an irresistible —WeuBSk Times new art form, complicated geometric patterns sprout and grow APPENDIX E - organically) Wondrous shapes emerge, merge, split and remerge! g H » T O Noted for its originality and precision, everything about the PLAYBILL ensemble sense of PILOBOLUS DANCE THEATRE is quite extra “IRRESISTiBLE" ordinary. It is as though the dancers see with their txxfies rather than their eyes, as though touch rather than vision is the crucial —8oB 3 Globe sense, as though their uncanny knowledge of where their partners are is t»sed more on a combination of faith and experience than KHATJS on vigilance. Incorporating group movement with body linkage has led to PILOBOLUS DANCE THEATRE'S kaleidoscopic sense "PROVOCATIVE" of shape, structure and balance producing an effect never before — C h i c a E & a i l y N e w s seen on any stage! am ng "STUNNING" — DinffjypgaTine fiHAqs. "FANTASTIC" — Los a E ^ c s Times PILOBOLUS DANCE THEATER Tour Direction. S H A W CO N CERTS, IN C ., 1993 Broadway, New York, N V. 10023 ___ Cable addre»: Shawconcer Newyork 89 APPENDIX F - SELECTED REVIEWS The New York Times: Friday, December 31, 1971 I ' ■ ^ * Dance: New Group. Prom Dartmouth Four in Pilobolus Show pea red here by invitation and Humor, Inventiveness is not performing on the 'pro- Athletic Skill fcss'loiiai concert circuit—it at Louis-Nikolais Lab is one the troupe’s members themselves might want to By ANNA KISSELGOFF , lake into account. There were even still more important. ’ Pilobolus, a dance group times when il seemed they Mf. Barnett, for instance, formed by four Dartmouth were in danger of confusing has the makings of a very men as an outgrowth of athletics with art. unusual dancer. The resilien dance classes at the college, o - cy ^yith which he bounded made an informal debut here There is a strong tendency up from prone positions on Wednesday Bight at the in the New York avant-garde the floor and his exploration Louis-Nikolais Dance Theater to use "natural" as opposed of movement that was proto Lab, 344 West 36th Street. to "traditional'' dance move dance wore extraordinary in This may not represent the ment. Many choreographers "Geode "jt solo. -Dartmouth—some—old—grads— deliberately—use—nondancers — In-" p n ob olu sr“VvhicTi'bwcd know. Luckily, nothing is today. Often the nondance something to Mr. Nikolais’s sacred. The involvemepLand movement is performed by use of space, the three other enthusiasm shown by 4he highlv trained dancers. Yet men created witty and the four— two June *71 graduates, the Pilobolus (fhc name of a atrical shapes through vari Robb Pendleton and Jona fungus) men rely upon nat ous linked groupings of their than Wolken. Robby Barnett ural movement not only be bodies. Wa.s this gymnastics ‘72 and Lee Harris '73—sug cause it obviously appeals to disguised as dance? Perhaps. gest an interest in dance them, but also because they But it worked. that can only be applauded. have had no more than one The same could be said of Tiic group displayed amazing or two terms of dance. "Walklyndon," a processional physical fearlessness, humor, That they can do so much of kinetic gags. Perhaps the inventiveness and unsclfcon- with so little is astounding. last number, with country St iousncss. ,That they arc having fun is raga on a banV* and som e Although it might be un perhap;; more important. I hat jar thumping, might have fair to voice a reservation— they should distingiii.‘;h he- been left liehind at the cam ni.iinlv hfvaii.se the group ap- twecn fun and art nii.’hl ho pus futfceliiiuse. First review of Pilobolus; New York debut. Copyright 1971 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by perm ission. 90 Copyright 1973 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by Permission. 1 tm Tto N* fat TIM rhwmy ^ N E W YORK, SUNDAY, JULY 29, 1973 — Dance: A Blending of Humor âtnd Guts PiloboIuB Troupe Puts Biology to Rhythm By ANNA KISSEtJGOFF mwaiceTte;** TuctTiaa NEW LONDON. Conn., July 2B—Before winding up it} leeson next weekend with ■ usual aerie) of prosceniixn peifonnancea, the American Dance Festival hen has de cided to give it) audience and visiting critics a run for their ticket. Five young dance companies are spread ing out aU over the Connec ticut College campus this weekend, and the onlooker who hopes to keep up with I each performance will have to scurry from lakeside to studio to Indoor pool to see the show. Friday night’s event had a n more traditional netting, when the Pilobotus Dance Theater presented II works on stage at Palmer Auditor ium. Yet Pilobolus Itself is a most unusual company. * Urn since this nucleus of four re Members of the Pilobolus Daisce Theater cent Dartmouth graduates— Robby Barnett. Robb Pendle ton. Lee Harris, and Jona refreshing about the group. ris’: solo. ‘‘Svrvgy.’' While than Wolken—made their There is for Instance, Its the men do not use a recog- niiible dance vocabular., New York debuL A happy habit of using real or imag their performances now ha- e report is that they have lost inary biological terms for its none of their hisnooe or guts. a polish and theatncali-.y They are still not what titles. "Pilobolus" itself Is a that was absent in the past could be called dancere In fungus. Then there is its I the sense of performete with humor, which is always good extensive dance training. Al bumor. Most important per When Miss Chase and .Miss though the troupe grew out haps. there is n healthy atli- Clarke appear on stage, the of modem-da nee classes at hide toward body conucl atmosphere changes In a here that would have been mock pop duet. “Tv-o Br.i " Dartmouth and now includes two women who are dancers Irnpoasible on stage among the)- referred to seine of the men's movement quality and —Alison Becker Chase, who men more than five years spoofed toe dancing by walk has taught dance at Dart|gp. ing on their toes in sneakers mouth. and Martha Clarke- Pilobolus’i men have no the base of the men’s move- hangups, and their ability to But "Cameo’’ was a more conventional dance about an tnents remains gymnawk. enjoy diemsdves has a con- uneasy relationship between Most of the program, in tsÿous effect We see this h c t, will rind the dancers in the sophisticated slapstick tw o women Yet the group gains from the women’s pro upside down, on top of one of a piece such as "WalklvP- fessionalism. and the wo another's backs, swinging the metaphorical space horiiontatly out from a part journey created by linked men’s dance Orientation fits comfortably into a men’s ner’s neck or locked together bodies bi ’’Pilo^lus.'’ the and tumbling in and out of tiered structures built by the style in a work in progress a highly original and In bodies In "Sovrogyrs,’’ the "Aubade." a cool but len- genious, series of designs and three-legged monsters pro derlovf duel by Mr Barnett shapes. Pilobolus Is great duced by tiro men hobbling and Miss Clarke, was re fun. and the young audi along In "Anaendrom,’’ the markable for Its combination ence’s response her» was Boanng freedom of Wr. Bar of both types of dance and extremely enthusiastic. neW’s solo, ’’Geode" or the gymnastic movement Pi'^bo- Them is something very spastic control of Mr. Har lus it a group to see again 91 Copyright 1977 by The New York Times Company, Reprinted by permission. TJU D AY, S O V e H B E R IS. 1$77 mm r M c B b M et M k W u * Dame* T t* * w , M w ly I am Broadmy. Dance: Pilobolus Climbs High By contrast, the other new piece was By ANNA lOSSElGOIT T alk igg MBlgphorB a solo, at inspired by razor-edga nak ^ OAHCF THiAtft. «* «W V il*iM of the physical thnll a* "Sbtzen" le ILOBOLUS D ine» T hetlH . th it lAMt* kr f'lBWuwj WBi#* by the serenity of flowing body config MBi ►«*#- B# % fibulously innovtuvc group of WiiH t I tfr-. k g#. CN#- ##m# 0#Wk RBMr urations. The solo, excerpted from a young peopi* who hive MIM# tncB d#n*. dance work called "Eve of Samham." developed hanging upside is illusionisiie, and Its premise is atm- P down Irom on* another» oeeks nasts: into Usually, they are offering us pie. a fine art, amved last night at the more than sculptural designs in space Robby Barnett is the aatyrlika crea St. James Theater for its first Broad Ti In bolus likes to talk in metaphors, ture who tames a snake. But ItIa Iri- way season, couched m a language of plant and ( redibly, a snake that it merely a leath A little learning Is not a dangerous animal imagery. Those fantasy crabs er strap of aleigh twUs. And yet, as thing. In 1971, four Dartmouth students M lova with each other apeak alto of Mr Barnet; swings it through th* air. who could not dance nonetheless Aha human condition. as it coils around bit neck, as be rolls formed a dance company and called In the first of two programs, which in B tump over it. tba snake comet it after a sun-loving fungus. Berhaps was seen at a preview Wednesday alive. This is spectacle, and it la down- is was because they could act dance night, Pilobolus presented two New nghi aaciung. York premieres at well as the familiar 4a the conventional aetsse that they For comic relief, there Is another aolo. created aomelhiog al their own. "Pifliaccin." In which Martha Clark» "ShiZen." the first of the new works. gives every Pierrot and sad-faced clown The current Pilobolus company of It a knowing but beautiful love duet of the world what-for. She walks with four men and two women is American by Moses Pendleton and Alison Chase. her feet in buckets, sometimes in tubs free enterprise'» beat advertisement. In- The title, which hat connotations of and she is i terrific actress. She does veauog In a little Ingenuity, they have "nature" in Japanese, is linked to the everyihing but stand on her head. ‘ thing different and atmospheric, even spellbinding, music Pilobolus usually does, however, and fresh. Vas. It la daoca tf the definition composed and played, on tape, on the Jonathan Wolken and Michael ‘Trwcy. of dance is stretched. Certainly, it is Japanese bamboo flute by the Ameri us iwo oiher stars, joined the group an axpenmant in a aew movcmeni can musician Riley Lee. in such ant.cs in ''JdPiiks.hood's Fare- aocohujary and Is an appeal to the Miss Chase and Mr Pendleton are we'l " Tins IS the company's m^iovtl oanaes That appeal. Incidentally, cuts certainly nature's creatures. Wearing piece; a world peopled gargoyles, across all ages and all audiences. Pilo- nothing but flesh-colored briefs at this jousimg knights and pilgrims-In- bolua has had a hug* international suc performance, they danced in a way that progress cess and it has itiractad an American can only be called organic. Il was Pilo- "Uniuled ' has been the company's huge following on college campuses. bolus at its most sophisticated Two an success, and it it ambiguous at ever. Who Although the company had a brief thropomorphic forms rise from the are th eie two g antesses M ss Clark* and sold-out engagetneoi last year at the earth They walk on all fours, leet and Mist Chase, whose legs belong, respec Brooklyn Academy of Music and iii palms flexed They have no awareness tively to Mr, Barnett and Mr. Pendleton? progress has been easy to monitor each of each other until their four-limbed And'if they don't get pregnant with just finnmer at the American Dance Fesii- forms overlap in space a kiss, do they become pregnant when ral, this season produced by Pierre The awakening of these creatures Is two men. Mr Wolken and Hr Tracy, tip Cardin, introduces Pilobolus in a more the crux of this duet. It is a story of their top hats to them? That they give compieie way. Its members ate zany tenderness and passion, of a union birth to Mr Pendleton and Mr Bayne::, enough to make any family's holiday's symbolized explicitly and in fanciful, who roll out in Iheir birthday suits, is marry and they are also smart enough cantipedelike images. At the end. Miss not in doubt. to appeal to the mind's eye Chase lifts Mr Pendleton out in front Pilobolus is a Mad Matter's tea party Use body is a prop ta Pilofeotas. When Ilf her. and later, when his feet touch Children of the 60's and 70'a, they, has* Its dancers cantilever out from one I he ground, they go forward The created their own wonderland. Th* mar another and play around with leverage, dancers are mutually dependent upon velous part is that all of us enjoy our balança and weight, they are not gym- each other selves at the tiarty 92 il I Ill I I IIlîilfJilüi m f5l5:ê ill U (l> I? iP m m m M i ! ! r I Ifml111 I HII li r! E ( S 3 l i Copyright 1980 by The New York Times Company, Reprinted by permission. 93 Copyright 1977 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. M E W Y O R K . S U N DAY. S E P T E M B E R II . 1977 m i Hi hen M yo u Ujt « a tikTthtng av w iB du K » > Î B%Metao (tadsta PUehalue » a fraah aptaiecb to dancw W don't m M n ju A a #n r & you ha v t nrvtr w e n ■ Over the years, really over the centunae. dance h u before.or a a r m o.MKsr, or ■ m * dmriogn. devatopad a t a d o o n of eethetice that w e take so m u c h for phrr. or even, lor that matter, a nv * co m pa- ■ gragiad that w e never questioi O u r view of the central point ny. I m o a n ■ocncrhinj aa » — — dll* oftaManee tar the body.gur concepttbc dynamics involved teftnt- ftnonally, 1 k n o w wttan the laii wttai a ma n partners a wo m a n , even our basic tenets of what tUBf wa a — contain your tmpatMnoe, for 1 abatJ dtackae all ui taoas— try tlui w o r d on for * u a — "gracefuH has been mb r e d f o 6 u m o — kii I'm not m l u n about (be time before that ta aa. dancers an d audJencas alike AJwln Nikoiaii pertiape Cartatnly Nikoiats’i uat of lighting W e see nothing immuicalt) orange in a m a n lift mg e an d hi* concept ton of tAaa(Mc*| dance u akind of Waytenan m / e e taaaaae up above his he e d , PUoholus sees nothing rtrange m a Gewmtkuiwwerk wai very new. but hii actual ohomogra- ■Mtaeupportifig both himseH and a wo m a n 0(1 ant leg W r a r w pi y « U clearly a peraonai development frotn the ■cbool of é a a h n g with a différant co ice pt of oddity aad. therefore, a Banya Holm and, through her. Mary Wlfraan 4#aw#var ddtakta* concept of "grace " jtraDgt the hlnaaom. Nikolau'a iwou ware aiwaya abowtng ‘Piloboliu Dance Theater u a new tf the gy m n a s U c etaoeni la very Important to (he ?\lobta T h u u how II tt. and h o w ii ahould be hut Pilobolua Dance fonn of pop-dance. A form for which, htauray of tbaaier, so alao u mime The use of mime— some* Theater u aomething différent Jt really ia a o m c U u n g n e w ddtaawith Clarke and. mo r e receotly, Wo U c n in concert toioa The more J aac M the caenpany the aare oomdaoad I am, wpi ■o far aa popularity eoe*. the aly ^ vary m u c h part of the company's nylr. and the m i m e is •araty of u m r aovefry. b u ibavmmmà. « m u m m . a4- could be the limiL work aucH aa"Untitled." wtnualfy wnaeetmilsied aaoai tamediUe. ae w D B H lUBureof tbechoreograpliy. Soenehasnaiurwlwnof Having started m y first paregreph with a queatkai. let e and anextiwmMy cievwr. e*d remarkably elhleik e^ m e alao start m y aacond with a qu aetwn W h y u It incredible W b a t Ë BO radical about Püobolue has a graai daaJ to do »*miMna styk. all OQobined with a trequoKU. and to be n e w in d a nce? U it incredible to be ne w in p w t r y w i r with the o m p a o y ’i taepiration a nd the c o m m u n a l faeling eoae*taBallyaaulu4ay*id une of symbolism. Added lo this Is even drama* What u fo différai about dance? WeU. (hat u f h m a# a m tbm« h the matter or bwiwhce j « eechmcal hnihaeoe ihnt w aurpetamg ftaply taacaime it is three ouestwna. but we can group them together (We#are ewvwr leehaed ta dance c n eaooahy a hereditary a n Yaw loan your crwfi from your #e m e o a e la lifted he or the la tm « d as a de a d wdgtit tbei# Is aaacber and that retnams wtth you Y a v ahiUa gnot da. tawmtauog Jump aa then almota afweyi n m rtarww egaja. vetoped. you m a y raaa away from wbat you ^ r e taogie or 0tan^ (ta real condnuum of m o w m a m t wtth FHahataa, op Mochtng (BuU be more ''acrobatie" aa such than the ^ ma y be very much lafluenced Nevwthaàeea. wWathe-you •taaauotmy Damce phrmaee are aa aa w h tregiataaad as dto- male dnnoer's standard emrvctai or douNc to#' m aiw a diactplf or a rebel. wliâ! you produce— thi maflwer U aet tamsad. thma's as eaturaJ O o w ef the movameea. maraly aa ftair. such steps are models of aruflaaltiy. lotncacy and # # «hataiwe of your seatatnew— will have a craauve raia. tayüBdon They are supremely mxnatural The mnabiral* tsaasbip m yoor cwhurai c r e d m o n Hot— « 4 t h m ■ t W #» . a a a gamaf PUobo##, bpwei». Gakaa on getae a taftarmi slam perns, thti ta wb a t m mcrwdibk^-tbs PUeboiea D m b s Tbaaaar For Inataace, they art liabta to hav e one dancer cl a m b e n n g Same gene pu It baa not bean éetwkpad b o m the past Ewacy etlB nma through ta pertonaaace.But what must aJ- m a t another dancer as If be were a mountain— litereily N o w damoar ta the world can trees tea hat ii agt a r m the ma d s n i w ^ i be romambared aboui the mem (the two women have a t b w IS pe c u l l a r ^ u t U it mo r e or leas peculiar than an enfrr- dawean can— hae* to Vaatna. or ew m lanher The Pitnhnlm otaomoonal dance faactgroiBid) a lhal they are not bamcsHy dtagr It Is worth thinking about paopst cannot The reaatm tar (hM H that thee wars a m r 1 daaccn but athicta u d gymnasts, and their motor faenething aise worth ihinking about. parUculariy as the («•liy (eight aadthey're a n teaity Hsmoara hi tao, «m a y I etiil comas more from the gymoaahim than the ballet c o m p a n y Is juat poised for its first Br a a d w a y eaason this com* wa U be that the ealy aawt h m g la daaoa m a o a m e w e eaa tag November. W Its gigantic populaniy Two companies Tbtt rwveeW ttaalt ta a mututude of way s The company's have rsosnUy become popoihs One is Ti^ls Tharp s, wtuch Mabohu* * w K a l background, tar example. Meiry I s ^ k . aad the other Is Püobolue. which u sporty (in fact. Th e c o m p a n y ta n a m e d after a A inf a -at flrat moa t of ttamtaigt sphan use sound as an iDvumunent rather than asI kHsps la also sporty and Pllobolua is also chit— bul oowediyv (he company** dancers were provided with obscure botanical taagstaoampoluta.but pHobolue scarcely uses outak at ail. dHftcuh m be i* H a e d that ao erne can aflonl to osglsci ■ m n irrl ll w a s taundad in tITl by four y o u n g m m from T h e ralauooihip between the dance and any axmds chat may DaruBouth College At first an ail-male company, it was later bcatanpaoyli (or may not—for nltaice is a rrwt}uswi PltaWue k tallf as rwspocd, Arse at least, ot b e cheakydexiertTy youwd by rwo wm n m The group has always been as much of aBy J Is tamious u the pttsi of the srta trmry • and bewHdcrug deftnaas of Tharp She u Jive gone magical a family as a coopaay, and at m e lime the daocert Uvad and I ID PUdtatata H pi^Hat ly Mta scpNeticatad It is woehad together m a Va r m m t farm I taod pr e s u m a b l y other) B B t a w a a have • • a Watching the company ai ihu ywar * American The group was started tn the summer of '71 by Motet Dance Feativw] performing both m Ne w London. Conn . and Nadtatm and Jte^than Woihm. who had oci at Dartmouth N e w p s n . R.l , I wa s interested to note the tsttata* reaction to as studmt* Their baehgroutid w a s aihJrcics rather than PUebolitafranpaople whodidtiai sppaar to be dance buffi, or daoca. e v m though both m a n bad a dance mteraat. and. to even to be clearly knowledgeable abom dance Their tnitr- tact. tODh ehoraograplty cl aaa# t r a m A J i a m Chaae. T h e all. tatasao) chatter w a s refreatungJy free of any peeudo-sophmi* mala group first cunetstad of the rwo loundtn together wiih cauoB about dance They seem to be sppmaehing the com L a e H a m s and h o b b y B a m c n T w o y e a n later— *n Ptndle^ pany a* tbey would a ball game, and their applause eudden. soa't view n w a s the ‘‘aw n a l turtung pouii ta the co m p a n y " sbairp taithuelastK and (pacific— w o uld ring out tar wb a t they — the group was yotnad by H a n h a Clarté and that same Ali- ragantad a* a ^rucuiarly clever pieo* of pfay sesi Chase w h o orlgifuily gave the choreography classes at tawgtatatas pOobQfctaisadeM ysMsellkM tarpeeptawko Da r t m o u t h Later. K a m a left to be n p U c e d by yet another g s o d e d they wo uld like ta dance taw tataetmmad tatabirt tor Dartmouth graduait. Michael Tracy, and thme eut arc now Htarwagi. and their o w n gymnastically trained bodisa tor the the p n a e M troupe Martha Clarke. inddemaHy. eaam* lo be gusst diJIcrSDtly trained bodies of dsjicer* A d d a little mi m e , about to leave to pursue her ow n individual caraer She was 94 (be thoughtful dr a m a of ctaeet symbolisa, and mix the whole a a rwcam tour of South Aa e n c a . although the coDv taing together an d y w u have a ne w form of pef^danes. A form a y m to appear without her to the United States tar wbicb. so far as po p u U n i y fe e . the say could be the limit T h e y «D i d even be a b c w to p n M d e dance tar people w h o do eta really Ük s d f p m ’B ical a n o v e m e m 1 v'7'v ii.f-ijfÇ;-- luiarRUc -' •.* * 'Question appears inooL There isn’lio r , 'fSeê^g-PüobdlÜE In action for thé s one thing, a great deal of insistency ^ B : a # f l £ fcun.Vr-s of Phioholofslane^. ready, the jour men two wuw,... * .* ^ th virtuaUy *''' no dance Jjackground of PllobDlus offer iinârguahle nmrrf to %whlch' partly accounts for the novel theth e Contran-, Contran-,' t ‘ - -I ; : ' -t. J ? « n d ; unexpected -aspects of the ■ At the Sahae Yime, 'the troupe troupe's creations 'They 'work a lot SQch a rare hybrid'that after a fuQ ith ■’"‘body linkage"—piling figure and -markedly varied program you'r^ pon figure Onto anonudous shapes, not quite aure what tt is they're'doing, y ,in ding -one body at-oun& another . O r let’s put It this way-^I'm notmireT J .0 a screwy" spaghetti of -writhing It's not a matter of categories or '-dimbs, Botanicâl ad ^zoological imagery pfCeoahoUng.The members of Pilobo- . is an ‘Important molding influence. Itla co^d care less about labels, and ^.-'PUobolns - has<.4iBO'ttm trived new th {ir ,-performances ^would be Just as % Scinda Jof - rhythmic. ; progression and. Wbriguing ■whethei' -one calls them 1' energy, flow. A risissy theatrical ven- da£ce,or an’‘energy- rircus* as aome-L ^ w r curroumfe the perlortnancei./but-- one*has dubbed them,i)r by any other ^ tressed by taventive lighting and mu- calne. ~But one is left wâlh a ^certain sical background- - ; - ' uhderly lngoottfusion about the Intent? i ■ CX the evening's offerings, less than significance of "Pilobolus, a con-]* ÿalf would qualify as "dar c,' in the ■ ftiaon-which aeems by it* very natoe’c tense of cohesive, atruciured state- ' to'âlemand resolution. Does Pilobolus g ' me'nts In the language of movement amount to aitything'more .thangenler-A' The rest would fail aomewbere be- i taSilng, tieyér-yaztde dazzle? I* what. ‘ tween mime and farcical gymnastics i they are up to mere quirky calistben-*. : One thing is certain—Pilobolus makes , ! - ic i or visual -üiicanety) or high Washington Post, April 24, 1976. Copyright 1976, The Washington Post. Reprinted by Permission 95 Copyright 1976, The Washington Post. Reprinted by permission. PI! i 11 I lîliîr i s 96 Pilohohis Rforlnlecî from ves'rrdn-’i Islf tdllior.s "What's the philosophy behind tins group?" asked one bafPcd woman of another during the intermission of Tuesday’s Pilobolus concert. Her friend couldn’t tell her, and 1 suspect that the Pilobolites themselve.s would be hard , put for an answer. The company is difficult to pigeon hole. Their movement style conjures up a whole battery of warring images; the Olympics, collegiate pranks, por no flicks, marine biology. One minute you’re convinced that what you’re watching is a particularly fluid form of gymnastics; the support systems arc phenomenal, the somersaults al most liquid. But then you notice the odd man ner in which this small (seven mem bers, two guest artists), mixed {six men, three women) band of folk re late to one anothei. You could call it intimate—bodies adhere to bodies in TIÎE TPASHTNGTOX POST Th„ri,<}ny. October 11,1979 the most familiar, suggestive ways possible. Spectators may squirm, hut the dancers seem oblivious; they've breasts, arch in order to contract, and chosen to deny their own humanity, stare in understandable bewilderment. to regard themselves merely as un The remainder of the program con usually flexible objects; gummy toys, sisted of an unworkable "work in prog soft sculptures, taffy. ress,’’ "Tendril.” a lyrical duet on plant If one can get past people and into life, and "Parson Nips and Rude Beg things, Pilobolus’ work is for the gars." an unsavory combo of sado most part mind-boggling, ‘-ilolly’s masochism, sex and reggae. Not Dead" features a trio of goofy —Paineta SoiniuiTs males attempting a pick-up in tripli cate. Cemented stomach lo back to stomach, they move as a clump, land like a suction cup, Sharing the stage arc several bizarre duos; while one half of the pair stands erect, his part ner will plant her feet on his thighs and unfurl like a ribbon or tapeworm. "The Detail of Phoebe Strickland" poses a confusing anatomical question; How does one train the front of the body to behave like the back, and vice versa? The answer; Two spooky women, garbed in purple gowns and wearing masks on tlic backs of their heads, jut their derrières out to simulate preg nancy, turn their shoulder blades into Reprinted by permission of Pamela Sommers, 97 APPENDIX G - SELECTED PROGRAMS ■S' a u iiitîi 8 -S ES I- -S lili Mil 98 Wednesday Evening. April 13. 1977 at 8.00 Thursday Evening. April 14. 1977 at 8.00 Saturday Afternoon. April 16, 1977 at 2.00 *Ciona (1975) Choreographed and danced by Pilobolus Dance Theatre Score by Jon Appleton Lost and Fauna Ckoroegraphed by Moses Pendleton and Alison Chase Danced by Alison Chase Ocellus (1972) Choreographed by Moses Pendleton and Alison Chase Moses Pendleton, Michael Tracy and Jonathan Wolken Music by Moses Pendleton and Jonathan Wolken intermission Pagliaccio (1975) Choreographed and danced by Martha Clarke Eve of Samhain (1977, Washington Premiere) Choreographed and danced by Robert Morgan Barnett. Alison Chase, Moses Pendleton, Michael Tracy, Jonathan Wolken Music by Robert Dennis Costumes designed by Charlotte Rhea Costume construction by Kitty Daly The Eve of Samhain (pronounced Sa-own) is the early pagan precursor of All Saints Day. Falling yearly on November 1, it was the feast of harvest and the start of the Celtic New Year. The Eve of Samhain is the equivalent of our Halloween, and on this night doors separating this world and the next are said to open so that the inhabitants of either world can leave their respective spheres and appear in the world of the other beings. Lighting design by Pilobolus Dance Theatre Costume design by Malcolm McCormick Scores composed for Pilobolus by Jon Appleton were realised in the Bregman Music Studio at Dartmouth College, Hanover. New Hampshire "Made possible by grants from tl^e American Dance Festival, New London. Conn. ______Biographies appear on page 37.______ 20 99 Prcfrim tor November 22. 2J. 24, 25. December 1, ). 6. K. 10. ►MONKSHOOD’S FAREWELL THE COMPANY MtàMc bv Robert Dennis PSEUDOPODIA bf MelcoUn McCormick JONATHAN WOLKEN Muiit by Mom Pcadlctoa nod too#then Wotkcn intermissiùm Cattnmyt by MftkoUn McCormick or P A G U A C aO RENELAUCH MARTHA CLARKE JONATHAN WOLKEN Coiiumu ky Kitty Dsly CoirMMe cotutrueUom by Kitiy Only or VAGABOND inttrmiixUm MARTHA CLARKE •UNTITLED THE COMPANY ♦SHIZEN Mime by Robert Dcaais MOSES PENDLETON ind ALISON CHASE Costumés by Willlma Idicklcy tod Kiiiy Dily Cottumt dfiigfu by Mom Peadlcton mod Alison Chise Cosskm* eo/uiruceroii by KiHy DeJy Muuc by RiUv Lee •Comnutmiooed by the Americna Dance Fesrival. •Commiaaiooed by the American Dance FcMivtl. ST. JAMEN TIIEATIIE ProfniD for November 26, 27. 29, 30, December 2.4, 7.9, u. OWMEO ANO OPERATED BY JUJAMCVH THEATRES - RICHARD 0. WOLEF •a O N A THE COMPANY bdujii by Joa AppleUM pmann Canwmej by Malcolm McCormick LOST IN FAUNA AUSON CHASE lod MOSES PENDLETON Music by Robert Dennii DANCE THEATRE Corrifmea Ay Kitty DaJy ALISON BECKER CHASE MOSES PENDLETON MARTHA CLARKE MICHAEL TRACY OCELLUS ROBBV BARNETT JONATHAN WOLKEN ROBBY BARNETT MOSES PENDLETON MICHAEL TRACY Chorrogffiphy by JONATHAN WOLKEN PILOBOLUS Mviie by More* Pcedlnoa mod Joemibmn Wolben Litbiint Oti'tntJ by iiuermiulon N E lt PETER JAMPOUS •WAKEHELD PlLoUDl.L’S gratefully miknowlcJgca the continued aupporl of the National MARTHA CLARKE Endowment for the Aril and wtahe# to ibaak Pierre Cardin for hie invaluable MkJie by William Sidney Mourn aaaielaocc* frof# by Hunter Neabiti Spence Pilabtilat Dear# Thaaiae Maaaieaiaal: B*k 33k Costum* cofUtFuchon by Kitty Daly W«shiO|t»«. Caaa. MTfl 13031 M-73M or J’ïC£S£S*-%iU'î&^!£KSÎS'.îa»4. *ComcmaiHMMd by the Amcrkaa Dance Foural 100 e n S 3 ï§ I rs ll r%. 5) « 3 g 51 I m II s >i “- 5 = II II ID oP <0 ll Ü i i " - I " .9 E Œl ëh- " W ill W u •p II ? oI !î m è !i | i 2 O 00 I illl o c §s 11 C l ! oil o I! a I ili • Il ï ï l III &Ô IIuj o S K 3 II 2 II! ii 5 « 3 fi S ill 101 I IN Il Ill IT' lîi II l!i u l ï ! *III I - 11 II? i i ili11 ? î! i .S IJ - 3 I Il il i 3 lAJ U (Kill «I QÛ IIfil 5 5 I iS c s 1M n i î!î H II! a c ™ O Q S ■§ 1 O i r î l l : l-sis ! ï a M f <3 5 3 11 ■iii a £ Is 11 ill ill ï| m. ^ « o c 2 .= s 2 -£ ! .=il! <0 £ il O S 5 | i & co ? II! £ f a s IIH i S Ë3 I in 0 I il O 1 II s oc i ?» 102 Sadler'* Well* Foundation President Her Royal H ighness The Princess M argaret, C ountess of Snowdon Chairman Sir Roger Falk, o be Director D ouglas Craig, oce Sadler's Wells Theatre was reopened by Lilian Baylis on 6 January 1931 Sadler^s Wells Foundation gratefully acknowledges financial assistance from Islington Borough Council and the Greater London Council By arrangement with Benjamin M. Kuraa presents M L 0 8 0 L U / DANCE THEATRE ALISON CHASE MOSES PENDLETON MARTHA CLARKE MICHAEL TRACY ROBBY BARNETT JONATHAN WOLKEN Choreography by PILOBOLUS Lighting D esigned by NEIL PETER JAM POUS PILOBOLUS gratefully acknowledges the continued support of the National Endowment for the Arts and wishes to thank Pierre Cardin for his invaluable assistance. Managamant: Pilobolus Dance Theatre Bo* 233 Washington, Conn. 06793 (203) 868-7244 Staff for Pilobolus Dane# Thaatr# Stage Manager/Technical Director: Penny Leavitt Stegenga Business Manager: Susan Mandler Company Manager: Mark Ross Executive Producer /or Pierre Cardin: Jean De RIgauft 20 March - 1 April 1978 103 i 104 u l U I g £ 2 a ë “- fc ^ £ £ i l m ill piiîl I? I l î l l î Î J â î l «lili liil u | 3 llllll £ S l 5 i 2 « t/i •UJU II 1 1 1 1 1 105 s. *o 1 aI JZ c 0) 3 c 8 & I C X w. I *o _c o CJ (Q C y 3 V» ■a S X (0 I 8 m (0 I e o u 13 O O 3 II Û « "5 I.Ui Ui § to ■S ^ g .2 O I oc I IwO » « w u Jd i z it C 1 i3 m y 5 I u E m (0 g o II ca u E w 15 a c C 3 I u . (5 3c I Q oE IS I I a II % 3 o r; c I i 3 C s cs o § I if Ui I O II, X I 106 107 >. CD O O ^ -n (O cre o iî ï u I s .S’ il o= E10 i Q := c s 3 0: 0 ■o S < ■o 3 c E Q) £ o u c Z .o 8 (0 £ i: !î 8 O) (TI ï < II t- Z 1 I il 0) 0) re X U 5 àk c 52o I < C T3 re C c/> X re < c 5 I0 re> >■ -) O % z 'O Q o c w (£ t M ? c è m > •o S c ;UJ o o .S G g ’•5 1I 3 S O & OC S c 5 o c «5 8 § c 1 { o. f ç Z 8 Z £ u s 0 « 8 CL ü (0 O < * a o U 8 è E 1—î i 1 E Ê O) 3 E 1 a 3 î E (O S g O t £ 1 1 a! II i 1 u z Z 108 g I NI 1 I 1 I ^ I Ï I m i lillî: : ■= E II •g'l il’lii ii! a: 1; I |j U lii < Ï S\ III Ii Q S i l l li l t t l r. 5 Ii i: Ill III si l i liisil ' =IJ' 1ÎI o i! IlIPl ;{IÎ1I5 a liipi Ill- I! % c g o 0Û "T < ■a ■ 109 SOURCES CONSULTED Newspaper and Magazine Articles Allwyn, "Borabayman's Diary," Evening News of India (Bombay), 5 Decem ber 1978. "Amazing Pilobolus Will Dance Here," Sun (Colombo), 2 November 1978. "American Dance Troupe in City," The Times of India (New Delhi), 3 December 1978, p. 5. Anderson, Jack, "Pilobolus. The Space," Dance Magazine, January 1973, p. 79. Baigheris, Claude, "Le Pilobolus Dance Theatre," Le Figaro (Paris), 11 June 1975. Baker, Robb, "Grand Union: Taking a Chance on Dance," Dance Magazine, October 1973. Barnes, Clive, "Dance: Pilobolus Images," The New York Times, 6 March 1976. ______, "Two Young Troupes — Off and Running," The New York Times, 14 March, 1976, p. 10, p. 18. , "Unique Pilobolus Troupe," The New York Times, 25 July 1977. , "Pilobolus Turns Cartwheels with Dance Esthetics," The New York Times, 11 September 1977. Beers, Carole, "Pilobolus Translated; Dance at Its Best," Seattle Times, 10 February 1976. Bernheimer, Martin, "Pilobolus Theater at Inner City," Los Angeles Times, 18 February 1974. Bobroff, Margot, "Pilobolus Dance Group at Edison," St. Louis Dispatch, 29 April 1978, p. 3 B/ Butler, Ronald E., "Viewpoint," Tulsa World, 27 April 1973. Cartier, Jacqueline, "Le Pilobolus Dance Theatre," France Soir (Paris), 5 September 1975. 110 Ill Christiansen, Richard, "Pilobolus Typifies Beauty of Body," Chicago Tribune. 1 September 1978. Croce, Arlene, "Dancing," The New Yorker, 19 December 1977, p. 133. Delacoma, Wynne, "Pilobolus Dancers Show Art Can Be Fun," Chicago Sun- Times, 25 January 1975. Druker, Peter F. "The Surprising Seventies," Harper’s Magazine, 243: (July 1971) pp. 35-39. Dunning, Jennifer, "Pilobolus at the McCarter," The New York Times, 4 May 1975. Eckert, Thor Jr., "Breathtaking Dancers Come to Loeb," The Christian Science Monitor, 5 February 1975. Fanger, Iris M . , "Pilobolus," Dance Magazine, July 1974, pp. 38-42. "Fungus With Effects: ’Pilobolus’ at the Akaderaie," Der Abend (Berlin), 25 May 1974. Galloway, Myron, "Dance Troupe a Must-See," Montreal Star, 2 February 1977. Goldner, Nancy, "Dance," The Nation, Vol. 222, No. 12 (27 March 1976), pp. 379-380. Haacke, Lorraine, "Pilobolus Dance Theatre: A Treat That Fools the Eye," Dallas Times Herald, 25 September 1978. Hecht, Robin Silver, "Reflections on the Career of Yvonne Rainer and the Values of Minimal Dance," Dance Scope, Fall/Winter 1973- 74, pp. 12-25. "Heritage and Change," Economic Times (New Delhi), 26 November 1978, Horn, Laurie, "From Pilobolus, It's a Dancing Rorschach Test," The Miami Herald, 3 April 1979, p. 2 L. Howe-Beck, Linde, "Superb Dancing No Hallucination from Pilobolus," Montreal Gazette. 2 February 1977. Jowitt, Deborah, "Dear Jane: May I Explain," The New York Times, 23 August 1970, p. 12. ______, "Who's That Under Your Skirt, Dear?" The Village Voice, 22 March 1976, p. 89. Julien, Pierre, "Le Pilobolus de Retour a l'Espace Cardin," L'Aurore (Paris), 17 September 1975. 112 Kanesar, T., "Pilobolus Dance," Sunday Observer (Colombo), 26 November 1978. Kimball, Robert, "Pilogolus Continues to Grow," New York Post, 6 March 1976. Kisselgoff, Anna, "Dance: New Group from Dartmouth," The New York Times, 31 December 1971. ______, "Dance: A Blending of Humor and Guts," The New York Times, 29 July 1973. , "Pilobolus Dancing Its Way to Togetherness," The New York Times, 5 March 1976. , "Not Ballet, Not Acrobatics, But Pilobolus!" The New York Times, 20 November 1977. , "Dance: Pilobolus Climbs High," The New York Times, 25 November 197 7. , "Dance: Pilobolus 6 Show More Topsy-Turvy Skill," The New York Times, 28 November 1977. Kriegsman, Alan M., "...But What Ts Art?" The Washington Post, 16 March 1969, p. E 4. ______, "Twirling, Trampling with Daredevil Abandon," The Wash ington Post, 2 May 1974, p. G 3. , "Pilobolus; The Merging of Muscles," The Washington Post, 23 April 1976. , "A Rare Dance Hybrid," The Washington Post, 24 April 1976. _, "Unusual, Provocative Dance Troupe," The Washington Post, 12 April 1977, p. 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Other Coe, Douglas, International Communications Agency. Correspondence and Translation for foreign tours of Pilobolus in Portugal, Bangladesh and India: Ozdemir Nutku: "A Unique Group Which Impresses Spectators from Both Esthetic and Conceptual Angles," Milliyet (Ankara). Mandler, Susan, Business Manager, Pilobolus Dance Theater. Reprints of concert reviews: Allen Robertson, "Pilobolus Dance Theater." 116 Prévôts, Naima. Lecture given October 20, 1976, at The American Uni versity, Washington, D.C.: Jean Battey, "Art is Motion, Not Emotion." Walsh, Ann Marie, Dance critic for the Washington Star. Lecture series at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 17 October 1979: "Modern Dance with Pilobolus."