Under the leadership of Artistic Directors Matt Kent and Renée Jaworski since 2011, Pilobolus has flourished as one of America's most unique and engaging cultural institutions. From its humble beginnings as an experimental dance collective at Dartmouth College in 1971, Pilobolus has transformed the landscape of physical expression through its unique blend of modern dance, magical stagecraft, athletic prowess, and acrobatic innovation.
Kent, who joined the company as a performer in 1996, recently spoke with the Bay Area Reporter about his unlikely life path, from the fields of rural Georgia to the helm of one of the world's most innovative and popular performance ensembles.
Philip Mayard: I read that you've had no formal dance training. Can you tell me about your childhood and youth? Were there any clues that you might pursue a career in dance?
Matt Kent: Looking back on it now, at age 52, I had a very unexpected career in dance. I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, which are now more suburban, but I walked through a cow pasture to get to elementary school. I played upright string bass and I was also a preacher's kid. My dad was a Methodist minister.
That was my first exposure to performing. He got up there, no matter how he felt, and told stories he hoped would inspire and affect people's lives in a positive way. He was a very progressive and liberal minister, which was and still is pretty rare in the south. He always invited everyone, including LGBTQ people, to his church.
But even when I was in college, if you'd told me I would be a modern dancer, I would have laughed in your face. It wasn't something I'd ever even considered.
So how did you get interested in dance?
I was studying music therapy at the University of Georgia, and a girl I knew invited me to watch a modern dance class. Those professors were speaking about movement more like martial arts than dance. I thought that was interesting and they needed male performers, so I went into the dance department and I slowly fell in love with it. There were all these powerful, beautiful, creative, talented women. I never took a dance class, but I started creating work for these dancers.
How did you learn about Pilobolus?
I remember going to the university library and checking out VHS tapes of this weird company I'd heard of called Pilobolus. I saw those tapes and thought, "Now that I could do!"
So I went to a Pilobolus workshop. That was the only training I ever had, and I immediately knew I had found my tribe. It was like I won the lottery. I dropped out of school and joined Pilobolus.
Do you still perform with the company?
No, I only perform in our interactive kids show, in which I'm a narrator. I may move around on stage, but I've had some injuries that prevent me from jumping. But I never really had that "retirement moment" when I thought, "Damn, I can't do this anymore." Because we're such a collaborative company, and we are all so huddled around a common purpose, that when others are performing, it feels like there are six of me on stage. They are manifestations of what I envision in my mind.
Tell me more about the company's collaborative creative process. Does that work style influence the kinds of dancers you look for?
Joining Pilobolus is like agreeing to be part of this weird organism. It's really important that when people see the company, they think, "Yes, that looks like Pilobolus." But they also see [company dancers] Sean, Darren, Hannah, and so on. There are many, many dancers out there who can do the moves and there's a type of mover that we are drawn to. But after you get that pool of auditionees, finding performers with a collaborative mindset is more important than their physical technique.
We look for people who are relentlessly curious. I love my dancers but they are rebellious, and sometimes I want to kill them because they question everything. Sometimes it would be easier if they'd just shut up! But I don't want them to shut up. What they are doing is participating in the creation and the re-creation of art.
Speaking of rebellion, the first line of the company bio is "Pilobolus is a rebellious dance company." What's been the key to keeping the company rebellious all these years?
When we're creating, we believe that if something is not serving a story or a narrative, it shouldn't be in our dance. I'm not talking about words. But if what we're experimenting with is not part of the evolution of some idea through time, space, and people's bodies, we need to reconsider it.
Of course, there are "tricks" or feats of strength. For example, when we made a Houdini-inspired escape piece with Penn and Teller, we started with literal tricks. We tied someone up, put them in a bag, and they came out with a different set of clothes on. But even with that, the unfolding of how we got there, it all told a story. It's about how we frame those tricks.
Tell me about the program the company will be performing at Zellerbach Hall this month.
This is called the "re:CREATION" tour, and the title is sort of a pun. We are performing some older works and we're doing new works, and all of those pieces are born again every time they are performed in front of an audience.
One of the attributes I love about our work is that they possess an emergent quality. When you take all the components and put them together, it becomes something none of us — not the dancers, choreographers, or designers — could have ever predicted or imagined.
Are you looking forward to returning to Berkeley?
It's been too long since we've been to Berkeley! It's such a great town to hang. So many tour stops, you're either in the theater or sort of stuck in a hotel. Berkeley is a great walking town and it's still kind of got that '70s vibe, which really aligns with what we do. People in Berkeley are intellectual and will have deep thoughts about what we are doing, but they aren't snobs, they're also going to laugh.
Pilobolus, $31-$96, November 30-December 1, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley. www.calperformances.org
www.pilobolus.org
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