Stream Pilobolus' classic Gnomen at home

Penn Live Arts Recommends Dance

Pilobolus, fondly known for its humorous, eye-popping and mind-boggling use of the human form, made its Annenberg Center debut on the Inaugural Dance Celebration Series in 1983 with 17 subsequent appearances. Audiences continue to be mesmerized by Pilobolus’ unfathomable athletic prowess and fluidity, sculptural beauty and collaborative weight-sharing techniques. Named after a phototropic fungus, Pilobolus broke rules and created a new dance language. Who else could fit 26 people inside a MINI Cooper (making the 2011 Guinness World Record), create a Hyundai Santa Fe with dancers’ bodies or be featured at the 79th Annual Academy Awards®?

Pilobolus shares with home-viewers its powerful and passionate Gnomen, a work that premiered at the Annenberg Center in 1998 and was to be performed April 16-18, 2020. One of the 115 works in Pilobolus’ world-touring repertory, Gnomen features four world-class male dancer/gymnasts set to music by Paul Stillman. Gnomen explores the interconnectivity of the human spirit – the need to touch, heal, and lift one another in challenging times.