Review: PILOBOLUS AT WOLF TRAP'S FILENE CENTER at Wolf Trap

DMV audiences were energetic and engaged for Wednesday evening’s performance of modern-dance company Pilobolus at Wolf Trap, despite the downpour and soggy lawn. After a late start, the show kicked off with a brief welcome from Artistic Director Matt Kent who outlined programmatic changes.

Due to the pervasive heat the company edited the program to ensure the safety of the dancers and integrity of the choreography shown. According to Kent, one of the planned works included what is typically elegant sliding across the floor that was rendered sticky and clunky in the humid air, so it was replaced on the program.

Pilobolus’ commitment to highly-physical, collaborative dancing making remains at the center of its work. It’s always pushed the needle on innovative partnering and remains unique in steadfastly including dancers in the choreographic process. Named after a fungus that throws spores, the company strives to be, according to its mission, “adventurous, adaptive, athletic, surprising and revealing of beauty in unexpected places” and views itself as a living organism. 

Full of stunning imagery and how-did-they-do-that moments, Pilobolus enjoys a devoted following among many who do not regularly attend other dance performances. It’s this ability to transcend expectations and draw in a broader audience that makes the company truly special. 

Having not seen the company in many years, I was surprised by how familiar it felt, and how disappointing that was, at least for me. A Pilobolus work looks like a Pilobolus work. This continuity felt more like sameness, unfortunately, especially as each piece felt similarly languid and sensuous, relying on occasional musical cues for levity. 

Languid and sensuous are not necessarily bad or boring things to be; the dancers moved as if traversing through honey, luxuriating in each step and showing off their incredible physiques. But the evening lacked surprises and even much variation from piece to piece. 

Structurally, Gnomen, from 1998 was the strongest work on the program. This men’s quartet includes the sinuous partnering and bravura strength that is a hallmark of the company, and each man is given a solo opportunity. One moves stiffly, showing off his muscles like a preening body builder while another assumes a deep crouch, moving like a bug. Are these meant to be dimensions of one man, all men, or distinct personalities on display? It’s mysterious and concludes with a simple, reverent bow to the audience, one of the few unison movements in the work. 

Still, Gnomen, like other works on the program, felt repetitive in its approach and use of music in particular. Humorous moments were cued off the music (the clash of the gongs, the scamper of a bug-like walk), and the musical choices were largely simplistic, almost predictable tunes there to provide atmosphere and nothing more. 

I left wondering whether the collaborative dancemaking approach, to the extent it results in sameness, is still serving the company and its talented dancers. This organism could benefit from some shocks to its tissue.

Runtime: 1 hour and 45 minutes, with one ten-minute intermission

Photo Credit: Thresh|Hold, photo by Grant Halverson.

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