Paul and I were extremely fortunate to attend the memorial celebration for Jonathan Wolken, Co-Founder of Pilobolus Dance Theater, on Thursday, July 15, at The Joyce Theater in New York City. As we reported on our website, Jonathan passed away on June 13. He had been  suffering from myelofibrosis, a disorder of the bone marrow, and although he had been ill for a long time, his illness was not publicized. As the various speakers at the memorial made clear, he had actually been improving but suddenly took a turn for the worse and died very suddenly. Jonathan's death shocked the Pilobolus company as well as all his friends and family.

The memorial was hugely moving, comprising heartfelt eulogies by long-time friends and company members, slides and a video of Jonathan at work, and performances of two of Jonathan's most memorable works.

Some highlights of this celebration:

Charles Reinhart, Director of the American Dance Festival, spoke about his long relationship with Jonathan. ADF has commissioned numerous works of Pilobolus, and the company has appeared annually at festival for almost its entire existance (Pilobolus was founded at Dartmouth College in 1971 by Jonathan, Moses Pendleton, Robby Barnett and Lee Harris).

Jamey Hampton, Co-Artistic Director of Portland's BodyVox with Ashley Roland, was one of the early members of Pilobolus and gave a wonderfully detailed, extremely funny story about Jonathan's drive for all-out perfection, embodied by his love of good food. It was Jonathan, and his fascination for mushrooms, that led to the naming of the company after the pilobolus mushroom. Jamey remained close to Jonathan even after Jamey left the company; Jamey subsequently joined Moses Pendleton's company MOMIX, then started a company with Ashley and two friends, ISO, before moving back to Portland and founding BodyVox in 1997, the same year we founded White Bird.

The third memorable speaker was Executive Director Itamar Kubovy, who related a hair-raising story of how Jonathan and he were trapped in a traffic jam in Connecticut and had to get to a Pilobolus outreach class, taught by Jonathan's wife JoAnne, within 45 minutes. Jonathan's determination literally drove Itamar to drive in the breakdown lane past the endless line of cars till they arrived at their destination just in time.

Apart from the moving eulogies, the highlights of the memorial consisted of a performance of Jonathan's "Memento Mori" from 2006, a duet for a married couple, tracing their life backwards from old age to youth, with amazing humor and typical Pilobolus athleticism. Two of Pilobolus' best dancers, Renee Jaworski and Andy Herro, were truly magical in conjuring up their marital relationship, both loving and combative. This was a memorable testament to Jonathan Wolken's genius of combining original movement with emotion and humor. 

The memorial ended with the second work that Wolken created with his original Pilobolus company in 1971, "Walklyndon."  Deceptively simple, yet overflowing with remarkable movement,  the dancers walk back and forth across the stage, meeting each other, walking upon each other, moving in every conceivable way. This signature work is still regularly performed, but for this occasion, close to 40 Pilobolus alumni and current dancers participated in the performance--the largest "Walklyndon" ever, as Robby Barnett explained.

Paul and I have always admired the incredible inventiveness and originality of Pilobolus. White Bird has presented the company three times, and the audience response has been the same--ecstatic.  But only at this memorial for Jonathan Wolken did we truly understand and appreciate Jonathan's enormous contribution to Pilobolus.

A final note of thanks. In the slide show on Jonathan Wolken's life, from childhood to the recent times, we were stunned, and touched, to see a photo of the company and Jonathan, in the Schnitzer lobby, during their most recent visit with us on October 24, 2007. The dancers had formed a live pyramid, and with them, sitting on the floor, were Jonathan and Barney, our White Bird. Thank you, Pilobolus, for including White Bird in your memorial for Jonathan.

Here  is the photo: