American dance troupe PILOBOLUS is a master of fanfare: “magic tricks, gymnastic stunts, large-scale shadow puppetry, and stripteases” (The New York Times) all belong to the bouquet of their vocabulary. Whimsical athleticism and an endless capacity for new, expressive, non-traditional techniques make them one of the nation’s most celebrated and immediately recognizable companies. In this playful, topsy-turvy evening-length program, limbs will tangle and bodies will morph.
The evening’s program will feature two untitled New York premieres: one commissioned by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and the other commissioned by The American Dance Festival. The latter was created with Abigail Washburn and 16-time GRAMMY-winning banjo legend (and 2017 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival performer) Béla Fleck. Along with these premieres, they will perform two pieces from their core repertory: “On the Nature of Things” and “Rushes.” “On the Nature of Things” is performed by three dancers balanced on a two-foot wide column rising above the stage, set to vocal music and exploring the power of bodies to tell a story about desire and its intertwined connection to shame and revenge. “Rushes” is a collaboration with world-renowned dance-theatre makers Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak that explores an isolated community of broken dreams.