Pilobus Dance Company Returns to Riverfront Recapture for 7th Annual Performance Tonight, 9/22

The groundbreaking and internationally acclaimed Connecticut-based dance company Pilobolus will be putting on a free, outdoor performance at Riverfront Recapture's stage on the banks of the Connecticut River at the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza in downtown Hartford for the 7th year in a row. The event, which is free of charge and open to the public, will take place at 7:30 pm tonight, September 22, 2012. Unreserved seating is available on grassy terraces that slope to the river from Mortensen Riverfront Plaza. The event will not be ticketed, and seating will be available on a first come, first served basis. Riverfront Recapture is a non-profit organization that is leading the effort to restore public access to the Connecticut River in Hartford and East Hartford.

"The state of Connecticut is so much a part of this company's roots and DNA, and we always relish the opportunity to perform for our home-state crowd," said Pilobolus Executive Director Itamar Kubovy. "The fact that we get to collaborate with Riverfront Recapture on making Hartford a vibrant cultural community is an added bonus."

"Pilobolus dancers appreciate the exuberance of the Riverfront audiences who are known to respond to the performances with cheers, applause, laughter, and standing ovations," explained Joe Marfuggi, President and CEO of Riverfront Recapture. "Watching Pilobolus perform with a moonlit river as a backdrop seems to remove inhibitions that audiences sometimes feel inside a theater."

For this annual event, Pilobolus will be performing the following program:

AUTOMATON – AUTOMATON, a collaboration between Pilobolus and internationally renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, is described as a cyborg of a dance that takes place in a mirrored world somewhere between Tron and Metropolis. Deep emotions punctuate the intoxicating rhythms of the machine as we experience an emotional journey through a time that seems yet to come.

Behind the scenes of AUTOMATON:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYr7terQ9-M&list=UUYl6t1_XXmRbKG9gok0HF6w&index=5&feature=plcp

WALKLYNDON - One of Pilobolus' very first works, WALKLYNDON is a silent dance owing much of its physical humor to slapstick and vaudeville. With six colorfully dressed jocks romping, bumping, kicking, and galumphing, WALKLYNDON is an inimitable classic.

GNOMEN– GNOMEN is one of Pilobolus' classic men's quartets that lyrically explores emerging relationships using an unusual and inventive physical vocabulary.

ALL IS NOT LOST - Created by OK Go, Pilobolus and Trish Sie, ALL IS NOT LOST is the live companion to Pilobolus' 2012 Grammy Award nominated Short Form Music 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.

MEGAWATT - An audience favorite, MEGAWATT is an electrifying experience. A full-throttle, full-company piece, it blends startling energy with an ironic take on the excess and high-voltage state of the world in which we live. Ultra-dynamic moves to the music of Primus, Radiohead, and Squarepusher create a breathtaking display of The company's physical endurance and prowess.

Pilobolus Dance Theater:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZCMb7IQj5U&feature=relmfu

Pilobolus' performance is sponsored by the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation, and Travelers. "It is rare that residents of any community have the chance to see a dance company of Pilobolus' artistic stature free of charge," said Lisa Curran, Executive Director of The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation. "And this is why The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation is delighted to once again fund Pilobolus' Riverfront performance. It is one of the city's most popular events and it is our pleasure to sponsor The company's return to Hartford."

Mortensen Riverfront Plaza was built over I-91 to reunite downtown Hartford with the Connecticut River. It is located at 300 Columbus Boulevard, at the corner of State Street. Handicapped seating areas within the terraces are accessible by elevator.

Pilobolus is based in Washington Depot, Connecticut and has transformed from avant garde dance company into an international entertainment brand, involved in worlds as disparate as advertising, publishing, film, and music videos without ever losing sight of their core mission: to make art that builds community. The company manages to maintain its own singular style while actively collaborating with the best and brightest minds, from all conceivable professions the world over. The results of these collaborations have demonstrated time and time again that movement is indeed a universal language and that, with vision, focus, and hard work, truly amazing feats can be achieved. Pilobolus performs for stage, television, and online audiences all over the world and has received a number of prestigious honors, including the Berlin Critic's Prize, the Scotsman Award, the Brandeis Award, a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding achievement in cultural programming, the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in choreography, and a TED Fellowship for performing a TED Talk in 2005. In 2010, Pilobolus was honored as the first collective to receive the Dance Magazine Award, which recognizes artists who have made lasting contributions to the field. Pilobolus works also appear in the repertories of major American and European dance companies.

For more information visit Riverfront's website at www.riverfront.org and Pilobus at www.pilobolus.org

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