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The Dartmouth
July 9, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Pilobolus to perform in Moore

The inspiration for the dance theater Pilobolus -- which will perform tonight and tomorrow night in the Moore Theatre -- stemmed from a Dartmouth dance class in 1971.

The group -- which was named after a sun loving fungus that grows in barnyards and pastures -- started out as a men's quartet, wholly composed of Dartmouth men, and right away drew critical acclaim.

"It was rather unusual in those days to have four men as a company," Robby Barnett, one of the group's founding members, who is now one of its artistic directors, told The Dartmouth from the company's Connecticut headquarters.

From its beginnings, the group used a collaborative effort of its dancers and directors to create what they call "physical vocabularies."

When asked to place Pilobolus' work into a category like ballet or modern dance, Barnett said, "Pilobolus' work is not based on anything."

He explained that Pilobolus does not draw from traditions of "codified dance movement," but reached by a process of collective collaboration.

"We work together to generate our material," he emphasized.

Barnett said the group was self sufficient within a year, with its first performance in New York at the end of December in 1971. He said he spent the last half of his senior year on the road.

From those beginnings, the company grew rapidly. It was joined in 1973 by the professor who had started the ball rolling with her dance class two years earlier, and one other woman dancer.

Now, in its thirtieth year, Pilobolus has six dancers and four artistic directors.

It also has a great deal of both national and international acclaim.

The group has performed on Broadway, on television and on other stages around the world.

It has also received several prestigious awards including the Berlin Critic's Prize, the Brandeis Award, the Scotsman Award for performance at the Edinburgh Festival, the New England Theatre Conference Prize, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Award for Excellence, and in 1997 a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding achievement in cultural programming.Pilobolus will perform at 8 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights in the Moor Theater in the Hopkins Center. Tickets cost $5 for Dartmouth students and $20.50 for the general public.