University of Florida Performing Arts

There will be a post-performance discussion with the company immediately following the show.

Program (subject to change)
Day Two
Pseudopodia
Lanterna Magica
Razor: Mirror 
Ocellus

To see Pilobolus on the Conan O’Brien show, click here.
To see Pilobolus on the Academy Awards, click here.
To see Pilobolus on the Oprah Winfrey Show, click here.

What is Pilobolus?
Pilobolus (crystallninus) is a phototropic zygomote – a sun-loving fungus that grows in barnyards and pastures.  It’s a feisty thing – only ¼ inch tall – that can throw its spores nearly eight feet.  Right over a cow.  It is also a highly unusual dance company, now in its 37th year of evolution.

Pilobolus, the arts organism, germinated in the fertile soil of a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971.  What emerged was a collaborative choreographic process and a unique weight-sharing approach to partnering that gave the young company a non-traditional but powerful new set of skills with which to make dances.

Today Pilobolus is recognized as a major American dance company of international influence. It has not, however, forsaken its original impetus. The company remains a deeply collaborative effort with an executive director, three artistic directors and seven dancers contributing to one of the most popular and varied repertoires in the field. Its many decades of consistent artistic activity now stand as a testament to the group’s remarkable fruitfulness and longevity.

Pilobolus is based in Washington Depot, Connecticut and performs for stage and television audiences worldwide.  Its works are in the repertoires of major dance companies – the Joffrey, Feld, Ohio, Arizona and Aspen/Santa Fe Ballets in the United States; the Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine and the Ballet du Rhin in France; and the Verona Ballet in Italy.  Pilobolus also collaborates with other organizations including the National Theater of the Deaf, John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

The company has received many honors including the Berlin Critic’s Prize, the Brandeis Award, the New England Theatre Conference Prize, and a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding achievement in cultural programming.  In June 2000 Pilobolus received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in choreography, and in 2004 the company was featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes.  In 2006 Robby Barnett, Michael Tracy and Jonathan Wolken received the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Award from Dartmouth College.

The physical vocabularies of Pilobolus works are not drawn from traditions of codified dance movements but are invented – emerging from intense periods of improvisation and creative play.  This process has been the source of much interest; in response, the Pilobolus Institute was inaugurated in 1991.  It is an educational outreach arm of the company which uses choreography as a model for creative thinking in any field.  The Institute offers sustained programs for both children and adults throughout the country including projects for the Lincoln Center Institute, the Los Angeles Music Center, The Juilliard School and the Joyce Theater Arts in Education Program.  The Institute also offers leadership workshops for corporations and business schools.

The company’s third arm is Pilobolus Creative Services.  PCS has made television commercials for companies such as Mobil, Toyota, Bloomingdale’s, and Hyundai; has created live events for corporations including IBM, United Technologies, Dupont, Merck, Procter & Gamble, Genzyme, TAP Pharmaceuticals, Phillips, TASTE and the TED Conference; and has presented gala performances for Joe Boxer, Marithe Girbaud, MAC Cosmetics and Krizia.  Pilobolus has choreographed for and performed in Brian Boitano’s Skating Spectacular on NBC, collaborated with the Rockettes, and choreographed a work commissioned by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.  In 2007, Pilobolus gave six acclaimed performances during the 79th Annual Academy Awards and was featured in a special segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show.