M&T Bank Dance Series to Feature Pilobolus

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Pilobolus at 8 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The performance is sponsored by M&T Bank. This tour of Pilobolus is also made possible by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program.

Pilobolus, the arts organism, germinated in the fertile soil of a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971. What emerged was a collaborative choreographic process and unique weight-sharing approach to partnering that gave the young company a nontraditional but powerful new set of skills with which to make dances.

Today Pilobolus is a unique American arts organization of international influence. It has not, however, forsaken its original impetus and remains a deeply committed collaborative effort with three artistic directors and more than 25 full- and part-time dancers contributing to one of the most popular and varied bodies of work in the history of the field. Nearly four decades of creative production testify to the company's position as an arts collective of remarkable fruitfulness and longevity.

Pilobolus is based in Washington Depot, Conn., and performs for stage and television audiences all over the world. Pilobolus works appear in the repertories of major dance companies – the Joffrey, Feld, Ohio, Arizona and Aspen/Santa Fe Ballets in the U.S., the Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine and the Ballet du Rhin in France and Italy's Verona Ballet -- and the company has recently begun a series of major creative collaborations, including new productions with the famed writer and illustrator, Maurice Sendak; the Israeli choreographic team, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak; and the remarkable American puppeteer, Basil Twist.

Pilobolus has received a number of prestigious honors, including the Berlin Critic's Prize, the Brandeis Award, the New England Theatre Conference Prize and a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding achievement in cultural programming. In June 2000 Pilobolus received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in choreography and in 2004 the company was featured on CBS 60 Minutes. In 2007 Robby Barnett, Michael Tracy and Jonathan Wolken received the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Endowment Fellowship from Dartmouth College.

Tickets for Pilobolus are $25 general admission and $15 for students. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations including ticketmaster.com. To charge tickets call 716-852-5000; in Canada, call 416-870-8000. For group sales, call 716-645-6771. For more information call 716-645-2787. Students (of any school) must present valid student ID at the Center Box Office to receive discount.