Pilobolus

Named after a barnyard fungus that propels its spores with extraordinary speed, accuracy, and strength, audience favorites, Pilobolus, return to Seattle for their eighth appearance on the UW World Series. The company continually forms diverse collaborations that break down barriers between disciplines and challenge the way we think about dance. Pilobolus maintains its own singular style, evolving interplay with shape-shifting, shadow play, and other explorations, and enjoys a fervent and ever-expanding following. The company has been featured on Oprah, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and the Academy Awards, and was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for OK Go’s music video, All Is Not Lost. Please note: program contains partial nudity and strobe-light effects.

Program

On The Nature Of ThingsAll Is Not LostAutomatonThe Inconsistent PedalerSweet Purgatory

The show is expected to last 120 minutes including a 20-minute intermission

NOTES

On the Nature of Things [video]

Performed by three dancers balanced on a two-foot wide column rising above the stage, On The Nature Of Things explores the power of iconic bodies to tell a story about the birth of desire and its intertwined connection to shame and revenge. Set to vocal music inspired by the classical baroque, this trio is both graceful and riveting to watch.

All is not lost [video]

Created by OK Go, Pilobolus and Trish Sie, in collaboration with Pilobolus dancers Shawn Ahern, Winston Dynamite Brown, Matt Del Rosario, Andy Herro, Eriko Jimbo, Jordan Kriston, Jun Kuribayashi and Nile Russell All is not lost is the live companion to Pilobolus' video collaboration with the Grammy-winning band OK Go. Playing with multiple perspectives, gravity, and dimensionality, the piece changes the way we look at dance through a kaleidoscopic view of human connection.

Automaton

A new collaboration with the internationally renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. The result is a cyborg of a dance that questions the difference between human and machine. Somewhere between Tron and Bladerunner, Automaton takes place in a mirrored world that allows us to view multiple angles at the same time. Deep emotions punctuate the intoxicating rhythms of the machine as we experience a journey through a time that seems yet to come.

The Inconsistent Pedaler 

A surrealist fable about a girl who rides a bicycle that has the power to speed up and slow down time, The Inconsistent Pedaler is an absurd, acrobatic, and lyrical collaboration between Pilobolus, fiction writer Etgar Keret, and filmmaker Shira Geffen that opens up a mesmerizing physical world.

Sweet Purgatory

Choreographed by Robby Barnett, Alison Chase, Michael Tracy and Jonathan Wolken in collaboration with Adam Battelstein, Rebecca Jung, Kent Lindemer, Vernon Scott, John-Mario Sevilla and Jude Woodcock, Sweet Purgatory was commissioned by ADF for Pilobolus' 20th anniversary. A response to the music of Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony, the score suggests and the dance explores sequentially a hovering premonitory world, its descent into Hades, and the determined climb back toward Purgatory and finally, out of an ominous post-apocalyptic surroundings toward Hope.

RELATED

Free Student Matinee Fri, May 15 at 11:30am. To register and for more information. 

Pilobolus @ Play Residency May 13-May16, free workshops for all ages throughout the city. For more information.