25

wednesday

Pilobolus is the name of both an exploding fungus and an explosive dance company. The shooting spores and the athletic modern dance collective out of Connecticut have organic, volatile motion and, of course, unpredictability in common. The dance company Pilobolus was founded in 1971 and, like a naturally occurring growth, its dancers take on unexpected shapes and patterns of movement that seem completely random to the untrained eye but are actually carefully designed. In amazing feats of skill and strength, the artists form big balls of intertwined limbs, structures that take their shape from dancers piled up several bodies high, and clusters of humans balanced on a single performer’s shoulders like Atlas. Yet, unlike the fungus pilobolus, which is often found in pastures and farms because of its love of cow dung, the dance company Pilobolus is nowhere close to shit. Pilobolus sprouts at 8 p.m. at the Warner Theatre, 13th & E Sts. NW. $27–$57. (202) 397-7328. (Sarah Godfrey)