Christina Dulude

This is Jeff’s dog, Emma, whom I took care of last weekend. She gets a little overwhelmed by Luna sometimes, and tries to hide. Usually under the coffee table, but in this case, on top of the air handling unit.

We saw Pilobolus last weekend as part of the American Dance Festival at Duke (here’s a review). My favorite piece of the evening was Rushes, which was a world premiere and was simply incredible.

There was an audience Q&A session with the dancers afterwards. One of the first questions asked what the rehearsal schedule was like. Pilobolus said they got together for rehearsals several times a week, but they didn’t have a regular technique class; it was up to each person to stay in shape in whatever way suits them best. This is an interesting contrast to ballet, where daily class is usually an integral part of the company experience.

Someone else asked if pieces in the repertoire change or evolve over time, and the dancers said that this was indeed the case, and was usually guided by the skill set and abilities of the particular dancers performing the piece. For example, that evening’s performance of Pseudopodia looked a lot different from the version that premiered in 1973, and even from one performed last year.

This was another contrast to ballet — with the exception of a few ballets (The Nutcracker being the first to come to mind), the choreography of most ballets usually changes very little over time, even across companies. And while subtle nuances of each dancer’s interpretation may vary, the overall intent is to keep the piece as true to the original choreographer’s vision as possible.

I have very little experience with modern dance, so I don’t know if the democratic approach is common to most modern companies, or just Pilobolus specifically, but I did think it was an interesting comparison to the more top-down management style of many ballet companies, at least traditionally.

So I’ve decided to get back into blogging again. I’m in the process of porting over most of my old entries, just for fun. Stay tuned.