Pilobolus founder Wolken '71 dies at 60

Jonathan Wolken '71, one of the co-founders and artis­tic di­rec­tors of Pi­lobo­lus Dance The­ater, died Sun­day at age 60, The Hart­ford Courant re­ported. Wolken died in New York City after suf­fer­ing from myelofi­bro­sis, a bone mar­row dis­or­der, for sev­eral years, ac­cord­ing to The Courant.

Wolken founded the dance troup -- named Pi­lobo­lus after a strain of fun­gus he ob­served in his fa­ther's lab -- in 1971, along with three other Dart­mouth stu­dents. The group has since gained in­ter­na­tional ac­claim for its dis­tinc­tive and un­con­ven­tional style, in­formed by its artis­tic di­rec­tors, who did not have for­mal train­ing in dance while at the Col­lege.

Wolken served as the group's de­vel­op­ment di­rec­tor, fo­cus­ing on fundrais­ing, since 1991, ac­cord­ing to Pi­lobo­lus' web­site. The com­pany also runs the Pi­lobo­lus In­sti­tute, an ed­u­ca­tional pro­gram to in­spire group cre­ativ­ity, and an­other group for Pi­lobo­lus' com­mis­sioned works in ad­ver­tis­ing, film and cor­po­rate events.

The dance troup has re­turned to Dart­mouth sev­eral times to per­form, and will make an­other ap­pear­ance at the Col­lege in the end of June.

Out­side Pi­lobo­lus, Wolken has chore­o­graphed work for the Glyn­de­bourne Fes­ti­val Opera and the Royal Dan­ish Bal­let, ac­cord­ing to Pi­lobo­lus' web­site.

Wolken is sur­vived by his wife, JoAnne Wolken, and four daugh­ters, ac­cord­ing to the web­site.