The Science in Dance

Pilobolus really pushes the envelope of modern dance and challenges conceptions of what modern dance is and what it can be. The choreographers and dancers combine athletics, dance, and gymnastics to create shapes and movement beyond what most people could imagine. Every time I watch them move, I never ceased to be amazed at the pictures they create. It seems to me that they defy every law of physics in their dances. It is absolutely incredible.

Pilobolus incorporates science into dance. There is one video in particular that really embodies this marriage of science and dance for me. In this video, the dancers seem to be moving at a microscopic level, as if we are viewing them under a microscope and they are bacteria. The movements are relatively slow and controlled for the most part but are still stunningly interesting. There is incredible weight sharing in this piece and partnering that seems to defy gravity at times. At one point, the male dancer is holding the female dancer off the ground only by grasping the sides of her head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZ6KnVPvIU

Watching Pilobolus is never boring for me and always inspiring. Their style of dance is completely different from my own, but I am always inspired by their creativeness with their bodies. They create movement and shapes individually and together that I have never seen before. Their dances are often very playful, and in a 1994 New York Times review of one of their concerts, writer Jennifer Dunning says, that "play is at the heart of all creation, but Pilobolus tends to wear it on its sleeve as well" (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D8153CF933A05755C0A962958260&fta=y&scp=18&sq=pilobolus%20dance%20theater&st=cse). I want to be able to use the concepts and ideas that Pilobolus uses in my own choreography. Their partnering ability is beyond anything I have ever seen before, and I want to be able to use some of their weight sharing abilities myself. Choreographing partnering is something that has never been a strong point of mine, and I find myself envious of their abilities; I really want to use them to improve my own abilities.