For 35 years, the dance troupe known as Pilobolus—which is actually named after a sun-loving fungus—has entertained hundreds of thousands of people around the world with its uniquely athletic approach to dance. ( The troupe has grown considerably over the years, founding the educational outreach program The Pilobolus Institute, the two-person performing company Pilobolus TOO and Pilobolus Creative Services. ) Windy City Times recently held separate conversations with Co-Artistic Director/Co-Founder Robby Barnett and Dance Captain Renee Jaworski to find out what makes this dance company so fascinating.
Windy City Times: So how does dancing for 35 years feel?
Robby Barnett: Well, it's hard on the back. [ Pauses. ] Actually, it feels great. We do periodically go through periods of bemusement where we say, 'We still can't believe we're doing this.' But there was a point where Pilobolus evolved from a modern dance company into a particularly adaptable small arts organization, and I think we [ then ] realized that we had a substance and a mission that went beyond working out of our own psyches through art. It became easier to look at the company as something that was bigger than ourselves. We can't see why it can't go on for another 35 years.
WCT: How long did it take [ Co-Artistic Director/Co-Founder ] Jonathan Wolken to convince you all to name yourselves Pilobolus?
RB: Well, it didn't take much time at all. The alternative was The Vermont Natural Theater, and Pilobolus sounded more interesting.
WCT: How do you all settle creative differences?
RB: Well, I don't know if we have creative differences, but we've had differences about the direction the company should go. But Pilobolus has never been a hard-shelled organism; it's been more of a soft-bellied, protoplasmic creature. When we saw some piece of nourishment that lied outside the border of what we thought our company should be, we would throw out a pseudopod and absorb the new information. We've always been able to adapt our shape to conform to new environmental conditions.
WCT: I feel like I'm in biology class.
RB: Well, dynamic systems tend to reflect certain fundamental truths, and we're nothing but an arts organism. We're subject to environmental factors and I think that our ability to adapt, evolve and survive is not all that different from a beehive or terrarium.
WCT: How do you all find inspiration? How do you stay edgy?
RB: The challenge is to interest yourself. All of our work here is a process of self-analysis. You find your mysteries by staying interested in the world around you.
To some degree, the search for edginess is a personal one and it comes from processing the information we have.
As an organization, we're interested in our core values and what we can do to infuse our system with new energy and ideas. We look for new people to talk to and new organizations to work with.
WCT: What will Chicagoans see this time around?
RB: We'll have a mixture of new and old. We'll open with 'Prism,' which premiered this summer and has music by Coldplay. Then, we'll have 'The Solo From the Empty Suitor,' which is an excerpt from a longer work from 1981. We close the first act with 'Gnomen' from 1997; it's a men's quartet and an elegiac meditation on life and death.
The second act opens with 'Memento Mori,' a reflection on age; we close with 'Sweet Purgatory,' which is a Pilobolus classic.
WCT: How do you decide which dancers to take from an audition?
RB: We're looking for family members, basically. We work very intensely. We do what we can to figure out who's going to be interesting and talented—and who's going to like it.
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WCT: What drew you to Pilobolus?
Renee Jaworski: I was with [ dance troupe ] Momix. [ In 1997, ] I took a brief hiatus to have my daughter. I then worked with Carolyn Dorfman [ who has her own dance company ] and worked part-time with Momix. Then, I wanted to work full-time; Momix didn't have a full-time position and I saw that Pilobolus was auditioning. I had seen Pilobolus before and was drawn to it then.
I was attracted to Pilobolus' athletic approach to movement and their humanity that came across on stage. It wasn't ethereal like the ballet, but was very touching. It made me see the world in a different way.
WCT: Take me through a typical rehearsal day.
RJ: A typical day is from nine to five, with a one-hour lunch break. We do our own personal warm-ups, whether by yoga, stretching, jogging or something else. Most dance companies take company class; however, since Pilobolus encourages their dancers to be unique individuals, they prefer that they use their own warm-ups to gear them towards their uniqueness.
WCT: And what does a dance captain do?
RJ: On the road, the dance captain becomes the liaison between artistic directors and the dancers as well as the technicians and the dancers. Any information that needs to be passed through to the dancers goes through the dance captain. Historically, with this company, the dance captain deals with [ everything from ] interviews with the dancers to making sure they get to the plane on time.
WCT: What's the most rewarding part of being part of Pilobolus?
RJ: They allow you to explore yourself as an artist and as a person. They view you not just as a dancer, but as a contributing part of the company. It gives you support to dig in and find out what you're capable of.
WCT: And what's been your favorite city to visit?
RJ: I think my all-time favorite city was Sydney. But, most of the time, any city in Italy is my favorite, because the food and wine are so good.
WCT: What's your definition of dance?
RJ: I think that dance is the physical response to an emotional or psychological impulse.
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Pilobolus will perform at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, on Oct. 6-7. See www.thechicagotheatre.com or see www.pilobolus.org .
