By Raphael Harris
The Pilobolus troop continue their ongoing tour with their new program entitled “Trips.” Artistic director Renée Jaworski who started with the team as a dancer, has put together a double program, one for families and children and a second more adult oriented. Jaworski has won numerous awards including the Silver Star honor by the University of the Arts.
The program included the pieces “Bloodlines” and “Particle Zoo” which were particularly entertaining, combining numerous disciplines including dance, object manipulation, acrobatics, comedy and clowning, and gymnastics.
The performers are Issac Huerta, Anouk Otsea, Ryan Hayes, Connor Chaparro, Alexis Cruz-Castro, and Hannah Klinkman as team captain. In one routine they each take control of a stick with paper dove and create a flock in motion while they tumble and fall over each other seemingly effortlessly and with precision timing.
In another set piece a ball of fluff meets another and another and pretty soon the stage is covered with cumulus and nimbus clouds while the acrobats dodge the storm.
Next a trip down memory lane on an autumn morning with leaves falling incessantly to the dismay of the clumsy sweeper-upper who can’t get his broom to cooperate.
There is some audience participation and calling up on stage of parents, children and children’s children.
Pilobolus describe themselves as a “rebellious company”. They present new works each year and offer classes in “non-verbal communication” and problem solving to students on all levels of skill and ability from the physicaly challenged to men and women on the highest level of skill in dance and acrobatics. Are they goal oriented? Yes, with the goals being to “create surprise” and “generate joy.”
The artistic director, Matt Kent, joined in 1996 and has created ground breaking shows using large puppets, stunt performers, horses, and athletes. His work appeared on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us, Conan O’Brien, and the Academy Awards. Each of the performers is multi-talented as well, for example Anouk Otsea from Juneau, Alaska is a top snow skier. She is also a level 2 Gyrotonic instructor using pulley towers and weighted apparatus to increase flexibility and strength.
Pilobolus brings Matt Kent’s concept to fruition namely preserving the authenticity of vintage works while creating experiences that leave the audience in awe.
Raphael Harris
Raphael Harris was the proprietor of the Jerusalem Circus School for Children for over ten years. He has performed "Sir Juggley's One Man Circus" over a thousand times. He appeared in the Guiness Book of World Records twice and the Record Setters Book of World Records three times. He lives in New York.