This past week, we opened our 23rd season at the Joyce Theater in NYC. What a whirlwind week it has been. Like every Joyce season, we have three programs (each with a selection of 4 or 5 pieces from our repertory), and before the first performance of each program, we are in the theater for hours, rehearsing with costumes and lights on the new stage. This is referred to as a “tech” rehearsal – we are making sure that the lights, sound, costume, and staging (the position of the dancers on stage) are checked and double-checked. This makes for a few long days in the theater, often requiring the dancers and stagehands to be in the theater at noon or before for an evening performance. Nevertheless, we made it through the first week!
Some highlights from the first week:
- Photos from the opening night post-show reception:
Post-show reception in the Joyce lobby
Kent Lindemer (Pilobolus '89-'99) with current dancers Jenny Mendez, Nile Russell, and Winston Dynamite Brown
Dancers Eriko Jimbo and Nile Russell with collaborator Dan Zanes
Benjamin Pring (Pilobolus '98-'01) and Pilobolus' Interactive Media Marketing Manager Jeffrey Huang (Dancer '05-'09)
- Our performances garnered a number of favorable reviews, most notably in the New York Times.
- On Thursday, we held a memorial celebration to honor the life and work of Jonathan Wolken, our late co-founder and co-artistic director. It included a special showing of “Memento Mori,” a piece choreographed by Jonathan in 2006, as well as “Walklyndon,” with the largest number of walk-on dancers in Pilobolus’ history.
- In Connecticut, we held the Pilobolus Kids Day Camp this week. (Photos to come soon.) Next week is the Pilobolus Workshop for Serious Movers, which will also be held at our studio in Connecticut.
- We also posted Mailbag #9: Two happy customers. Thanks again to Dana for sharing!
The dancers have today (Sunday) off. We’re back in the theater tomorrow. Mondays’ show will be the NYC-premiere of our collaboration with Dan Zanes, entitled “Contradance.” Stay tuned for more news as we enter our second week at the Joyce!