ipl-logo

Case Study: Pilobolus As A Modern Dance Company

1441 Words6 Pages

Pilobolus is a modern dance company that has been taking the art of dance to unfamiliar territories since its establishment. The company is renowned for its unique characteristic of blending modern styles of dance with acrobatics and technology. The company also heavily emphasizes collaboration and engages people around the world through its education services and stunning performances. By breaking down barriers between disciplines and challenging the way we think about dance, the company has received an immense amount of recognition and appreciation. More than forty years later, Pilobolus continues to be a resilient influence in the field of modern dance.
Pilobolus was founded in 1971 when Alison Chase chose a number of Dartmouth students …show more content…

The dance company fuses modern styles of dance with acrobatics (Strauss, Marc, and Myron Howard Nadel). The company’s choreography is characterized by seemingly unrealistic partnering and weight-sharing techniques that demonstrate the plasticity, strength and beauty of the human body. Its pieces are filled with clever visual illusions and humor. The company is also well known for creating both still and moving body structures. Drawing from the principles of balance and counterbalance, the company has produced numerous unbelievable body structures. In fact, the dance company’s style is so unique and divergent from other styles, that Pilobolus has created its own dance vocabulary (“40 years of Pilobolus …show more content…

By taking dance to unfamiliar territories and greatly experimenting with innovative partnering techniques, Pilobolus has created an original style of dance that continues to grow in popularity. The style of the company not only challenges the boundaries of dance, but also the capabilities of the human body. The way the company utilizes technology in the making and showing of its pieces is revolutionary in the realm of modern dance. By mixing acrobatics and drama with different styles of dance, Pilobolus has paved the way for a new branch of dance. For example, after the company’s rise in popularity, groups similar to the company, such as Cirque de Soleil and Elizabeth Streb, emerged (“Ballet-Dance Magazine “Fungi Form”: The Story of Pilobolus”). Not only is the company’s work revolutionary and authentic, but so is the way in which the company produces its work. Pilobolus uses a collaborative process to create pieces. This means that everyone in the company contributes in some way to the creative process and a lot of the movement is produced from collaborating and improvisation. The directors come in only to shape the work. This technique of producing work has become increasingly popular in modern dance companies (“Pilobolus: United in Motion, One Movement at a Time”). There is no doubt that the company will continue to expand its vision and teachings, and possibly make more significant contributions to

Show More
Related
552 Words | 3 Pages

When you are dancing, there are many things you can channel; emotions, memories, people, experiences, stories, the list goes on and on. These properties can be portrayed through movements, facial expressions, and music. Dancing can also portray conflict; such as the conflict between Ponyboy Curtis and Darry Curtis in S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel, The Outsiders. In our dance piece, titled, Hard to See, both the music and movements work in harmony to illustrate Darry and Ponyboy’s maturing relationship.

Read More
1924 Words | 8 Pages

This was in line with the societal idea of “playing” and finding ways to experiment with norms or popular beliefs. To prevent conforming to the pre-established rules of dance, Tharp tested the limitations and experimented with a range of new possibilities such as combining genres and creating pieces with diverse sets of

Read More
1282 Words | 6 Pages

When looking at the periods of dance it can be separated into Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Pre-Romantic, Romantic, Russian Classic, and Ballet Russes before we reach the Twentieth Century. Ballet began during what is known as the Italian Renaissance, and permeated French culture by Catherine de Medici’s marriage to the King of France. The very first endorsed “ballet”, Le Ballet Comique de la Reine performed on October 15, 1581, marked the beginning of theatrical and technical dance performances. During this time our first prominent ballet masters came about, including; Balthasar Beaujoyeaux, Pierre Beauchamp, Domenico of Ferrara, and Guglielmo Ebreo, to name a few. These early ballet masters created and built upon social dance and turned it into a technical spectacle.

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

Since the choreography is viewed from a wide angle, it’s important for all dancers to embody the vision for the piece, without the aesthics that camera work can provide. Regardless of their differences, whether they are working for the camera or for the stage, dancers must strive to communicate the aesthetic, or director’s vision of a

Read More
1352 Words | 6 Pages

The Alvin Ailey modern dance company is known internationally for their works and dancers but how they began is a very interesting story. The company formed in 1958 and just two years later one of the most memorable and notable performances of the company was created, “.Revelations”. Although Alvin Ailey was the creator and director of this company, Ailey’s style and the technique he used and that the company still uses stems from Lester Horton. Horton was a pivotal teacher for Ailey and inspired him to create a company and carry on this technique from Horton. This paper will illustrate the beginning influence Horton had on Ailey and how the company has grown overtime.

Read More
1151 Words | 5 Pages

The dance movements such as turning, jumping across large distances, muscle contraction and relaxation, and expressive hand movements all indicated the passion he has for dance. The Moreover, the way he staged the theater was proficient and beautiful that caught the eyes of audiences. The animal quality of movements in Blue Suite drew an instant success in Ailey’s

Read More
733 Words | 3 Pages

5. How has Australian Dance Theatre changed as a company since its foundation in 1965? Australian Dance Theatre, established in 1965 by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, is the longest standing contemporary dance company in Australia, recently celebrating 50 years. Whilst the company has created a remarkable 50 years of innovative and original work, many state that the concepts and ideas have vastly changed from the company Dalman established. Over the last five decades, Australian Dance Theatre has continued to develop, with the evolution of six individual artistic directors, who produced work in their distinct style, developing unique aesthetics.

Read More
1098 Words | 5 Pages

In her article, Embodying Difference, Jane Desmond argues that dance offers important insights into the ways moving bodies articulate cultural meanings and social identities. In other words, she explains the importance of studying the body’s movement as a way of understanding culture and society. She has two main arguments. First, she argues for the importance of the continually changing relational constitutions of cultural forms. Desmond further explains that the key to shedding light on the unequal distribution of power and goods that shape social relations are the concepts of cultural resistance, appropriation, and cultural imperialism (49).

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

Hula dancing, a Polynesian dance that in traditional form dramatizes a song specifically through arm movements and hand gestures, has expanded beyond Hawaiian shores and has introduced island movements to the world. Since the early 1970’s traditional Hula dancing has provided islander communities with the ability to tie together body movements with homeland recollections and personal experiences. Originally, Hula was seen as a ritual and cultural dance which was developed by polynesians who settled in the islands of Hawaii. “Through hula dances and songs, memories of people and events endure long after they have passed” (Stillman 2001). As time passes Hula dancing has had a dramatic impact on Western cultures and as a result Hula dancing has

Read More
1552 Words | 7 Pages

The Cecchetti method is internationally recognized by many dance educators as one of the top, if not the preeminent method of teaching ballet. This is a result of the extraordinary brilliance and influence Enrico Cecchetti had during his life time as a dancer, mime and teacher. His career, which spanned 78 years (1850-1928) and extended all over Europe, influenced various major ballet teaching methods and performing styles which can be seen today. Cecchetti developed and established a method of teaching, which followed a weekly lesson plan, sound placement of movement and steps carefully defined by anatomic principals. Cecchetti's development in teaching with due care and attention to the musical, anatomical, mathematical and artistic aspects of ballet.

Read More
1643 Words | 7 Pages

Mambo Girl (1957), a movie musical, follows Kailing, a talented young woman widely admired for her singing and dancing capabilities, as she searches for acceptance after learning the truth about her background. Shall We Dansu? (1996) follows Mr. Sugiyama, a Japanese accountant who goes on a secretive and intimate journey into the world of ballroom dance. Both Mambo Girl and Shall We Dansu? emphasize the close relationship between intimacy and Latin dance by linking Kailing and Mr. Sugiyama’s manners of dancing Latin to the emotional connection each has with other characters.

Read More
695 Words | 3 Pages

“What is going on in these pictures in my mind?” (Didion 2). Joan Didion’s “Why I Write” provides an explanation to her perspective om writing and why she writes. Later on, she states that she writes as a way to discover the meaning behind what she is seeing. During this past semester as we wrote about dance, a heavy focus was on description and interpretation rather than contextualization and evaluation.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

The dancers were observed to be full of energy which showed through their movements and dancing. Every movement was sharp and clean. Furthermore, the action portion of the basic dance elements was seen through the dancer’s basic movements that turned into dancing. For example, in one scene, the actor jumped off the table and broke into a little skip-glide dancing movement.

Read More
907 Words | 4 Pages

Within this Essay, I will be focusing on the work of Jerzy Grotowski, and his approach to Theatre, giving my opinion on how his training compares to others. I will then look to more contemporary artists, mainly Pina Bausch, and Frantic assembly to show how Grotowski’s work is still relevant in today’s theatre. This man was one of the most influential practitioners for the Physical Theatre movement. One of his most prominent set of techniques is ‘the Plastiques’, these were developed by Grotowski, where the actor must train the body, as a pianist does to a piano. They start with a set movement (i.e. Flick of the wrist), and from here, they start to deviate from that movement to see what moments of impulse they gather, and what it might evoke.

Read More
1720 Words | 7 Pages

According to Ramamurthy, “The stereotypical and highly coded representations of women in popular culture have been given attention by many critics” (846), which remains true for both men and women in ballet. Women must have a slender body, dainty arms, and a look of poise and grace. Men look almost similar, in that they must have a slender masculine physique but also a gentle appearance. Although male dancers can appear masculine, they often receive criticism for appearing too feminine and not manly. This judgment occurs often, no matter if dancers appear different from the stereotypical view, they will endure endless criticism.

Read More

More about Case Study: Pilobolus As A Modern Dance Company

Related Topics

Open Document