Pilobolus

Dear reader, do not expect anything informed or intelligent to be said here. Most of my knowledge of the dance world comes from So You Think You Can Dance and repeated viewings of that contemporary classic, Center Stage. Which is not to say I wouldn't LIKE to know more about dance. I just don't. So buying tickets to see Pilobolus in repertory at the Joyce Theater was a random shot in the dark. First of all, it's about a ten block walk from my apartment. Second, there were seats for $10. And third, the ads were just really pretty.

In other words, I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a small dance troupe whose performances felt almost gymnastic. The opening piece, "The Particle Zoo," was a delight--the movement was dynamic, and while I didn't follow a throughline for the whole piece, I don't know that there was necessarily one I was SUPPOSED to follow. More or less, four men danced in rotating pairs while a fifth continually tried to insinuate himself into the action. Was I supposed to be reading messages about the intersection of male friendship and showmanship? I thought maybe I was. But I also felt like maybe I was forcing it and that, in fact, I was just supposed to calm the fuck down and enjoy what was happening. Which is what I did for the second number (number? piece?), "Pseudopodia," an incredibly brief solo performed mostly on the ground with a ton of tumbling, sliding, and crawling. It was incredibly beautiful and slightly disturbing. It felt incredibly personal and somehow almost...confrontational?

"Rushes" was pretty obviously a dream piece, and knowing it was supposed to be a bit surreal let me open up further and just take it all in. Two images stood out most: the first, a woman climbing a man's back and looking wholly dependent on him not only for support, but apparently for any ability to move, was rather haunting but also seemed to drive how just how much the company's dances (at least those that I saw) seemed to favor its male dancers. Beyond "Pseudopodia," every number seemed choreographed to highlight the strength and bulk of the male dancers. This isn't an attempt to suggest sexism--just an observation that stylistically, the female dancers weren't as well-served by the material.The second, in which the dozen or so chairs on stage were hurled back and forth to continue to create a path for a dancer walking along them to follow, was incredibly beautiful, and frankly could have gone on forever as far as I was concerned. A simple image that looked incredibly difficult to execute and was sweet, sad, and a bit haunting.

I was excited about "All Is Not Lost," because I love the fun OKGo! music videos and wondered what a collaboration with that band would result in. Answer: a music video. A movie screen dominated half the stage as the dancers performed on a glass platform stage right, filmed from below. It was like an incredibly entertaining explanation of how the video for "All Is Not Lost" was filmed. But it wasn't much more than that. Insubstantial, but fun.

And we closed with "Day Two," a dance about the second day of creation. Apparently in the company's repertory since 1980, it's easy to see why it has staying power--a dynamic, celebratory, propulsive collection of movement that ended with a curtain call performed on slip and slides! I don't have much to say about it, but frankly: what's not to love?

In the end, I walked out happy to have seen the group and interested in seeing more contemporary dance. All in all, that's a win!