When phototropic fungus gets brought up, a genus of fungus that grows on dung may come to mind before a world-renowned dance company does. Both are known as pilobolus, but the capitalized dance group is the only one coming to campus Wednesday. Pilobolus Dance Theater, founded in 1971 by four Dartmouth students, has returned to Hanover for a world premier show and the opening of their archives in Rauner Special Collections Library.
Tickets for the Pilobolus world premier at the Moore Theater this Wednesday and Thursday sold out in early October, according to Mary Bashaw, director of marketing at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. On Monday, long lines formed as a limited number of tickets were released at 1:30 p.m. to accommodate students who were not on campus in the fall. Bashaw said that the Hopkins Center on average reserves 25 percent of tickets for the student body and releases some at the beginning of each term.
"We try to make sure that there are always tickets available for students, that is one of our mandates," she said.
Many students, however, were unaware of the second release of tickets, which was largely attended by outside members of the community.
One important aspect of Pilobolus's homecoming is to celebrate the donation of their archives to Rauner. The agreement between Pilobolus and the library was reached last March. Michael Tracy '73 , the artistic director of Pilobolus, said the group met with representatives from the Library of Congress and the New York City Public Library but ultimately decided to donate their collection to Rauner.
"I think Pilobolus could have only come from Dartmouth and only when it did," Tracy said. "It came out of its time and place as much as anything else. We thought it would be appropriate for Dartmouth to house our collection."
Special Collections Librarian Jay Satterfield said that the 64-box collection is currently available for researchers but has yet to be properly ordered. He said the collection contains thousands of documents, hundreds of videos, photographs, playbills, choreographer's notes, and many other artifacts from Pilobolus's history. Satterfield said that he expects the library to receive more materials in future years.
"We will continue to be their archive as long as both parties are happy," he said. "We expect to have a long-term relationship with Pilobolus."
The formation of Pilobolus can be traced back to the only dance class at Dartmouth taught by Alison Chase in 1969. With little dance experience, athletes-turned-artistic directors Robby Barnett '72 and Tracy met in the class and discovered their passion with the help of Chase.
"[Chase] figured 'let them make up their own dances,'" Barnett said. "That one suggestion was enough to spawn Pilobolus."
After graduation, they joined other Dartmouth alumni, including the third Pilobolus artistic director Jonathan Wolken '71, and began touring as a group of six until 1980. Barnett said that their name is appropriate because the group has continued to grow and change as a performance group throughout their three-decade span.
"Being named after a fungus has in a way [made us] become an icon for a belief in biological processes," he said. "We are a small organization, we have grown and we believe in adventures, opportunities."
Tracy admits that the initial group was surprised by their success as dancers and had not planned to enter into this profession coming into college.
"Against all odds that's what we became," he said. "No one came into Dartmouth thinking we would go out as modern dancers."
Pilobolus has gained recent attention in the general public with their shadow-formation performance in a commercial for the Hyundai Santa Fe, which led to their performance in the 79th Academy Awards held last month.
