Before it’s seen anywhere else in the world, The Joyce Theater is presenting the return of Pilobolus for the launch of its Other Worlds Collection tour for three weeks through July 13, in two separate programs featuring a collection of favorites from the company’s repertory, collaborations, and new works, including two NYC premieres. In their signature visionary abstract style, the dancers explore the universe, its life forms, humanity, and the power of connections with playfulness and whimsy, grace and sensuality, humor and artistry, acrobatic prowess and physical power. Program A consists of Tales from the Underworld (inspired by the ancient story of Orpheus and Eurydice), Awaken Heart (exploring the eternal cycle of love), Lamentation Variations (the NY premiere of the company’s interpretation of the Martha Graham classic), and Sweet Purgatory (a response in dance to the music of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor), alternating on different dates with Program B, which I attended.
Program B opens with Particle Zoo, with the quartet of male dancers – Connor Chaparro, Ryan Hayes, Isaac Huerta, and Darren Robinson – embodying the essence, endurance, and connection of sub-atomic particles, while exploring both their individuality and inter-relatedness in the ever-evolving cosmos. Choreographed by Robby Barnett, Michael Tracy, and Jonathan Wolken, in collaboration with Jack Arnold, Adam Battelstein, Kent Lindemer, and John-Mario Sevilla, the synchronized actions, singular moves, and dangerous jumps are delivered with smooth elegance, acrobatic mastery, exhilarating energy, comical touches (e.g., Robinson enters in a shirt, which he removes to fit in with the other shirtless men), and a surprise ending (prop by Rob Faust and Eoin Sprott), all enhanced with lighting and special effects (by David M. Chapman), and music editing (by Barbara Hyde), that suit the changing dynamics.
Next up is Bloodlines, a rare women’s duet performed by Hannah Klinkman and Jessica Robling (see the show’s promotional image below), created by Renée Jaworski (with Matt Kent, in collaboration with Marlon Feliz and Klinkman) and inspired by the hospitalization of a member of her family – a personal experience that illuminated the cycle of life, its natural progression, and ultimate role reversal of the younger generation of children, given life and nurtured by their elders, then coming to care for them. With extraordinary strength, balance, and emotional expressiveness, underscored by dramatic shifts in sound (by Matt Kent) and lighting (by Diane Ferry Williams), the women, in costumes (by Márion Talán de la Rosa) that accentuate the basic human form, poignantly capture the sequence of their dependency and support, rebellion and independence, love and gratitude, loss and grief, and the eternal bonds between them.
That journey through life and the feelings and commitments it engenders is followed by the New York debut of Flight, also devised by Jaworski and Kent, in collaboration with the featured dancers Chapparo, Klinkman, Robinson, and Robling, which takes us soaring from our earthbound reality to the heights of our aspirations, desires, and fascination with the sky. Propelled by original Pilobolus dancer and pilot Lee Harris’s passion for flying and his memories of the company’s beginnings, the ebullient and agile cast – three in aviator costumes and Klinkman dressed in the blue and white of the firmament (costumes again by Talán de la Rosa) nonsensically chattering with, repositioning, and reclining on the clouds (represented by puffy mounds of fabric), and flying paper airplanes around the stage – learn to elevate themselves, transcend our mundane circumstances (at one point, Robling not just flying but even swimming through the sky), and generate joy, with a transportive score by long-time music collaborator Paul Sullivan and lighting by Thom Weaver.
The program closes with Rushes, a collaboration with world-renowned dance and theater artists Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak, based on original material developed from a series of conversations and a laboratory workshop with Jaworski and Kent, Talia Beck, Otis Cook, Josie M Coyoc, and Andreas Merk, and created in collaboration with Jaworski, Andy Herro, Jeffrey Huang, Jun Kuribayashi, Jenny Mendez, Manelich Minniefee, Edwin Olvera, and Annika Sheaff. Choreographed by Pinto, Pollak, and Robby Barnett with a stylistic mix of genres, the unconventional piece, performed by the full company of six in a circle, row, cage, and unending line of movable wooden chairs, with the pendant light of an Edison bulb dangling at the center, employs surreal humor and meaningful absurdism to delve into a broken community navigating desperation, isolation, belonging, and solace. As with the previous segments, the dancers impress with their physical feats of daring lifts, holds, and jumps, perfect balance, affecting emotional intensity, and touches of comic relief, here recalling Vaudeville and the circus. Period-style costumes (by Pollak and Pinto), abstract background film animations (by Peter Sluszka), lighting by Yoann Tivoli, and a soundscape of Dixieland jazz contribute to setting the tone of the characters and the era.
Since 1971, Pilobolus, founded by a group of students at Dartmouth College and self-described as “a rebellious dance company,” has tested the limits of the body and mind through astonishing physical feats and non-verbal communication, and has been recognized with many prestigious honors, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cultural Programming. If you appreciate challenging work that will have you gasping, laughing, and pondering, be sure to see Other Worlds; it will make you want to go again to see and to contemplate the other program.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 40 minutes, including an intermission.
Pilobolus, Other Worlds Collection plays through Sunday, July 13, 2025, at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, NYC. For tickets (priced at $12-82, including fees), call (212) 242-0800, or go online.
