Pilobolus Dance Theatre Makes Rare Chicago Appearance 1/28-29

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is thrilled to present a rare Chicago appearance by Pilobolus Dance Theatre, heralded as "one of the world's most popular modern dance troupes" by The New York Times. A company of acrobats and athletes, Pilobolus will dazzle with their superhuman flexibility and fascinating forms that challenge the limits of the human body. Renowned for their imaginative and athletic expression of modern dance, this visionary troupe celebrates 40 years of defying gravity with a limited engagement at the Harris Theater, Friday, January 28, 2011 and Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 7:30 pm. Tickets for Pilobolus, which range from $25 - $55 are on sale now at the Harris Theater box office located in Millennium Park at 205 E. Randolph Dr., by calling 312-334-7777 or by visiting www.HarrisTheaterChicago.org.

The program for Pilobolus' Harris Theater debut will celebrate the 40 year history of the ensemble, featuring the full scope of their vibrant and innovative work, including:

Accompanied by driving and seductive score by Battles and Autechre, Jonathan Wolken's Redline (2009) examines the beauty and futility of physical battle. This full company work is full of tremulous energy balanced by a graceful discipline.

Created in collaboration with Steven Banks, lead writer for the brilliant animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, The Transformation (2009), is one of Pilobolus' popular shadow pieces in which a young woman is transformed.

Considered a Pilobolus classic for a quartet of men, Gnomen (1997), is an unusually inventive physical and lyrical exploration of relationships. The work is dedicated to the memory of Pilobolus friend and colleague, Jim Blanc.

Duet (1992), a classic work that has not been performed in almost a decade, is revived for the company's 40th anniversary. A tender, loving, and intense physical relationship is portrayed on stage, as two women's intense attraction and affection becomes a struggle for power and domination. Duet explores themes of intimacy, misunderstanding, and the hope of successful union.

One of Pilobolus' very first works, Walklyndon (1971) is a silent dance owing much of its physical humor to slapstick and vaudeville. Six colorfully dressed jocks romp, bump, kick and galumph in this classic work.

The first in a series of collaborations with a diverse group of artists, Pilobolus Co-Artistic Director Robby Barnett teams up with the world-renowned dance-theatre makers Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak to create Rushes (2007), a full-company work. A mix of movement languages born out of a series of conversations and a laboratory workshop, Pilobolus/Pinto/Pollak discovers hybrid terrain in a remarkable exploration of the range and intensity of deep collaboration.

About Pilobolus

Founded in 1971 as an outsider dance company by students in a Dartmouth College modern dance class, Pilobolus Dance Theatre revolutionized the dance world by incorporating elements of acrobatics, gymnastics, wit and intense physicality to form its own innovative form of modern dance. Now celebrating their 40th anniversary season, the company is acclaimed for its startling mix of humor, invention and improvisation as it plays with illusion and reality in its radically innovative productions. Pilobolus is deeply committed to a collaborative effort with three artistic directors and over twenty-five full and part-time dancers contributing to one of the most popular and varied bodies of work in the history of the field.

With a full repertory of more than 100 works, Pilobolus performs across the globe and is acclaimed for the surprising and precarious exaggerations and contortions of the human form its dancer are able to create. Their works appear in the repertories of the world's major dance companies including the Joffrey, the Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine of France, Italy's Verona Ballet and many more. The company also recently began a series of major creative collaborations, including new productions with the famed writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak; the Israeli choreographic team, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak; the remarkable American puppeteer, Basil Twist; and head writer for SpongeBob SquarePants, Stephen Banks.

Pilobolus has received a number of prestigious 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.

Based in Washington Depot, Connecticut, Pilobolus performs for stage and television audiences all over the world. Millions were able to experience Pilobolus when it performed for a worldwide audience on the 2007 Academy Awards telecast and produced a series of original segments for the Oprah Winfrey Show; in 2008, it was featured on the Conan O'Brien show; and in 2009 it was nominated for a Sports Emmy for its work for the NFL Network. Pilobolus has been seen on television by 120 million domestic viewers, broadcast in 200 countries, and has performed live in 64 countries for over 4 million people.

The Pilobolus engagement at the Harris is one of the offerings included in the Theater's Teen Arts Exploration Project; the Project has allowed the Theater to offer more in-depth and diverse arts experiences to its arts education partners and also to local community based organizations providing arts-based programming to underserved constituencies. Through the project, the Harris has also developed new relationships with local schools and made it possible for students focusing in the performing arts to attend Harris Theater Presents performances by world class artists. The Theater has developEd Strong relationships with the Chicago Academy for the Arts, the new Chicago High School for the Arts, and the Music Institute of Chicago among many others.
The Teen Arts Exploration Project is an expansion of the Theater's Access Tickets Program, which offers a minimum of 10% of family programming tickets free of charge to children and families through local social service and health agencies.

* * * All programs, prices and dates are subject to change. * * *

Opened in 2003, the Harris Theater's mission is to partner and collaborate with an array of Chicago's emerging and mid-sized performing arts organizations to help them build the resources and infrastructure necessary to achieve artistic growth and long-term organizational sustainability. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance was the first multi-use performing arts venue to be built in the Chicago downtown area since 1929 and today the Theater continues to host the most diverse offerings of any venue in Chicago, featuring the city's world-renowned music and dance institutions and the Harris Theater Presents series of acclaimed national and International Artists and ensembles. To learn more about the season at the Harris Theater, visit www.harristheaterchicago.org or call the box office at 312-334-7777 to request a brochure.

For additional information about the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago's state-of-the art 1,470 seat performance venue, please visit www.harristheaterchicago.org.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.