The dancers who said ‘no’ to postmodernism

It all started in 1971, when a group of physically and artistically talented youngsters decided to create a dance company and call it Pilobolus, after a fungus. Not unlike this barnyard micro-organism, which ‘propels its spores with extraordinary speed and accuracy’, the company was soon propelled to international success. But it was not an easy time to make ‘new dance’ in the US. On the one hand, living monuments such as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor were still in full creative mode and dominated modern dance. On the other hand, the innovators of postmodern dance had given new meanings and directions to the art. Pilobolus took something from both. Theirs was the ‘other dance’, which explored the almost infinite possibilities offered by the human body and at times pushed it to the limits of its abilities. This ‘other dance’ drew upon an innovative combination of circus acrobatics, contortionism, mime, gymnastics and diverse choreographic idioms.