In 1971, three Dartmouth students — a cross-country skier majoring in English, a fencer majoring in philosophy, and a pole vaulter on the pre-med track — enrolled in a dance composition class. They had no dance experience, and their teacher had no faith in their technique. For an assignment, they created a comedic dance, themed around walking, on a squash court. Today, that dance, titled “Walklyndon,” is the oldest dance in the repertoire of Pilobolus, the dance company that formed out of this moment of exploratory movement.
Decades later, Pilobolus still performs this dance, and will perform it this weekend at Germantown Performing Arts Center, along with selections from performances throughout its 50 years. “We’re like a TARDIS [from Doctor Who] in a way,” says Matt Kent, the group’s artistic director. Indeed, the pieces, ranging in length, take audiences through different times, taking inspiration from antiquity, to the Elizabethan era, to the present day.
The style is experimental, holding no rule of dance too high. After all, as Kent says, “[The original students] didn’t know what to do; they also didn’t know what not to do. And so they created a vibe of collaborative improvisation that yields non-traditional dance vocabulary.”
For one of the pieces in this tour, Pilobolus has collaborated with Indigenous storyteller Darlene Kascak from the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. “The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation,” Kent explains, “are the people who have belonged to and cared for and lived and worked on the land that Pilobolus lives and works on now in Washington, Connecticut.”
The piece explores an Indigenous myth about the Wendigo, a cannibalistic monster created from greed. “It’s become a symbol of colonial greed and more recently corporate greed,” Kent says.
And while there are heavy moments like this in the show, there is also laughter. “The world doesn’t need artists at this moment to tell everyone how shitty everything is — we already know that,” Kent says. “I hope that people leave our show feeling restored, that they’ve been able to laugh, that they’ve been able to feel that they’ve let something wash over them. That it gives them something to think about, but also that they can just kind of enjoy for the beauty that it is.”
Plus, for those looking to embrace the Pilobolus experience even further, the company is offering a free class, open to anyone, dancers and non-dancers alike, ages 14 and up. “It’s so much fun,” Kent says. “And it is not a class where anyone is asked to do movement that they’re gonna fail at. It’s a no-fail zone. … Like I said, we came out of non-dancers, so we know a thing or two about having people be comfortably out of their comfort zone and find ways to express themselves.”
To register for the class or purchase tickets to the performance, visit the links below.
Pilobolus Master Class, University of Memphis, Saturday, February 11, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., free.
Pilobolus, Germantown Performing Arts Center, Saturday, February 11, 8-10 p.m., $25-$75.