Pilobolus will prove it has all the right moves

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www.pilobolus.com

Two performances by Pilobolus will open La Jolla Music Society’s Dance Series 2012 at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14 at the Birch North Park Theatre, 2891 University Ave. The program will feature the works “Megawatt,” “The Transformation,” and the newly choreographed, “Korokoro.”

Prior to the shows at 1 and 7 p.m., Peter Kalivas, artistic director of the PGK Project, a contemporary dance company in San Diego, will interview Pilobolus artistic director Robby Barnett.

Founded in a Dartmouth College dance class in 1971, Pilobolus is based in Washington Depot, Connecticut and performs for stage and television audiences all over the world. Their works appear in the repertories of dance companies like The Joffrey and Feld Ballets, the National Ballet of Nancy and Lorraine in France, and Italy’s Verona Ballet.

Pilobolus’ ideas of a collaborative choreographic process, and a unique weight-sharing approach to partnering, gave it a powerful new set of skills with which to create dance.

Pilobolus has received a number of honors, including the New England Theatre Conference Prize and the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in choreography.

The physical vocabularies of Pilobolus’ works are not drawn from traditions of codified dance movement but are invented — emerging from intense periods of improvisation and creative play. This process has been the source of much interest, in response to which the company inaugurated the Pilobolus Institute, an educational outreach program using the art of choreography as a model for creative thinking in any field.

Tickets are $30-$65 and are available through the La Jolla Music Society box office, (858) 459-3728 and online at www.LJMS.org.