Pilobolus: Other Worlds Collection
Shubert Theatre
June 18, 2026
Bodies tumbling, twirling, taking flight, seemingly otherworldly yet grounded, gasp-inducing but also quietly comforting: This was Pilobolus, the dance company performing “The Other Worlds Collection” at the Shubert Thursday night as part of this year’s International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
The theme of the festival’s 2026 season is “Home and Belonging.” Pilobolus is indeed basedhere in Connecticut. This is not their first time performing in New Haven nor at the Shubert, but it was their first time being part of the festival. From the response they received from the enraptured audience, it may not be their last.
Pilobolus characterizes itself as a “rebellious dance company” that has been “testing the limits of human physicality to explore the beauty and the power of connected bodies” since 1971. Connection was key to the performance last night, as were beauty and power. Six dancers made their way through five pieces titled Bloodlines, Walklyndon, Flight, Pseudopodia, and Particle Zoo. Each one offered a beguiling display of dance that was thought-provoking, breath stopping, and yes, even laugh-out-loud funny at times.
The dancers were on stage stretching and warming up as the audience filed in and took their seats. The handstands, twirls, and tumbles gave everyone a taste of what was to come. As the company gathered in a circle to embrace and cheer in unison, the audience cheered as well. The company had already captivated them.
Artistic Directors Renee Jaworski and Matt Kent came onstage to welcome everyone and thank them, also inviting them to take out their phones and turn them off, telling them it was not required, but walking them through it in a way that was fun and even respectful of the phone.
“Were going to go on this fantastic journey together,” they said. “And this trip starts now.”
Fantastic it was. One act saw a solo dancer in Pseudopodia bathed in red light gliding singularly across the stage through leaps, tumbles and other feats of strength and grace. At another point all six of the dancers dressed in shiny yellow bodysuits and boxer’s shorts walked across the stage from left to right trying not to get in each other’s way, then, when they did, lifted each other, dived out of each other’s way, swirled, and twirled, quite humorously so. There wasn’t a phone in sight in the audience for any of it. People were mesmerized .
Though each dance had its distinct differences, common denominators ran through all of them. One was the idea of flying, of a body being carried through the air and through the world itself, whether it be by its own strength and agility or by the assistance of others. The fascination of having a seemingly weightless body, to be able to move unencumbered, seems to be easily relatable as the daily grind, and gravity of course, keep all of us in check on the regular. Pilobolus excelled at making the audience members feel that freedom, even if their own bodies were not the ones being carried on the shoulder of another across the stage. It was both resplendent and reenergizing.
The other common denominator was the sense of otherness as what makes us the same. Each body and dancer were distinct, each move surprising yet smooth and even at times silly, and yet there was something that made it all seem familiar. We are all bodies moving through a world that is both familiar and strange at the same time. Even our bodies themselves, which should be the most familiar thing to us as we live in it from birth to death, at times can feel odd and somewhat new. The dances of Pilobolus show us not just who and what we are, but who and what we can be, and that being that with others is what it is all about.
Movement through every aspect of the world, not just singularly but as a group, is at the core of what Pilobolus is and does. Our bodies are beautiful. To move them through space among others is also beautiful. There really isn’t a better example of home and belonging that I can think of.
Please see the Pilobolus website for more information about their performances and programs. Please see the Arts and Ideas website for a calendar of their programs that are being held throughout the rest of June.
