RENÉE JAWORSKI (Executive/Co-Artistic Director) has been an indelible force in Pilobolus’ artistic landscape since joining in 2000. A performer who captivated audiences worldwide, her magnetic stage presence laid the foundation for an expansive creative career. In 2011, she was chosen to lead Pilobolus’ post-succession evolution, becoming Artistic Director, and in 2022 became the first Executive Director with an intimate dance background. Her choreographic experience has been extensive and pioneering, crafting pieces reflecting her innovative dance and theater approach. Her exceptional work spans various platforms, from the 79th Annual Academy Awards to the Grammy-nominated video for OK Go’s “All is Not Lost,” as well as overseeing prestigious projects like Radiolab Live: In the Dark and the World Science Festival’s Time and the Creative Cosmos. The University of the Arts honored her with the Silver Star Alumni Award, and her collaborative work on Round House Theater’s production of The Tempest, directed by Aaron Posner and Teller, earned Pilobolus the Helen Hayes Award for Best Choreography in a Play in 2023. Guiding Pilobolus with vision and creativity, she ensures it remains a vibrant, celebrated arts organization.
MATT KENT (Artistic Director) joined Pilobolus in 1996 without any formal dance training. His unconventional entrance into dance and theater parallels the Founders’. In Pilobolus, he found an outlet for his artistic and creative vision and began a diverse and prolific career. He has performed on prestigious stages around the world and created choreography for colleges, professional dance companies, as well as grand productions involving shadow, horses, acrobats, large-scale Michael Curry puppets, actors, stunt men, Hip Hop dancers, athletes, zombies, and more. His work on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, co-directed by Aaron Posner and Teller, won the Helen Hayes Award for best choreography. He developed the movement vocabulary for The Walking Dead. His work has appeared on the Academy Awards; Conan O’Brien; Penn & Teller’s Fool Us; Wetten, Dass..?; and multiple television commercials. As Artistic Director of Pilobolus, he brings an unconventional approach to innovative theatrical experiences. A powerhouse of creativity, he leads the 50-plus-year-old company, keeping the vintage historic works authentic and relative, while breaking new ground to create transformative experiences to engage, inspire, and leave audiences in awe.
CONNOR CHAPARRO (Dancer) was born in Lakeland, Florida. He eventually found himself at the University of Memphis, where he graduated with a double concentration in dance and dance science. You can find him cooking his mother’s secret salsa recipe and sharing it with people in his spare time. He loves to explore nature, see people’s smiles, and learn about the crazy world we live in. This is Chaparro’s first season with Pilobolus and he is SO excited to be performing for you, the audience! He sends you “Mush” love.
QUINCY ELLIS (Dance Captain) began training as a gymnast and figure skater in his home state of Maine before earning his BFA degree in acting from Emerson College. He has performed and taught for Theatre Raleigh, The MoveShop, DeFunes Dance, and The Neighborhood Playhouse, among others. Ellis has also danced for a variety of NYC drag artists, including Juicy Liu and Miz Cracker. Outside of theater, he’s an avid traveler, evolution enthusiast, and nature lover. Ellis joined Pilobolus in 2017. He does not dye his hair gray…it grows that way.
MARLON FELIZ (Dancer) has danced with Pilobolus since 2014, touring Shadowland productions around the world, and now presenting repertory and artistic programming wherever possible. Additional credits include a Broadway debut in the new West Side Story and other musicals, cruise ships, and NYC based companies. She received her foundational training in ballet and modern dance at New World School of the Arts and completed her BFA in dance at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is originally from Miami, Florida.
HANNAH KLINKMAN (Dancer) was born and raised in Dexter, Michigan, where she was classically trained at Ballet Chelsea. She studied at Grand Valley State University and completed her training with BalletMet Columbus in 2016. She has since danced and created with Festival Ballet Providence and Dance The Yard, co-founded the Rhode Island Women’s Choreography Project, and toured and created new work with MOMIX. She creates costumes and her own choreography when not on the road. Klinkman is a mindfulness meditation teacher, Pilates instructor, dance teacher, and houseplant enthusiast. She joined Pilobolus in 2021.
SEAN LANGFORD (Dancer) is originally from New Jersey. He graduated cum laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2016 under the mentorship of Kim Gibilisco. His performance career includes Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More, MOMIX, Alison Chase Performance, Keith Thompson’s danceTactics, Rock Dance Collective, Moving On, and Erick Montes/Danceable projects as a dancer and creator. As a choreographer/director, he’s presented his work at Gold Coast Dance Festival, The Craft NYC, Spoke the Hub’s Winter Follies, Gowanus Arts Annex, Park Slope BID, and Local Produce. He is passionate about the healing power of movement and shares that through his work as a Pilates instructor and personal trainer.
DERION LOMAN (Collaborator and Dancer) is a multimedia artist/dancer based in Los Angeles. He holds a BA in psychology and BFA in dance, both from the University of California Santa Barbara. He began his career in Ballet Hispanico’s Second Company, then joined Pilobolus, touring internationally and domestically from 2013–2017. In 2017 he joined the cast of DIAVOLO: Architecture in Motion, competing on America’s Got Talent and touring. He was a finalist on NBC’s World of Dance season 3 and now is a freelance choreographer with organizations including Portland Opera, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and the Los Angeles Dance Film Festival. Recently, he was awarded two wins for films in the Pacific Northwest Ballet Film Festival.
ZACHARY WEISS (Dancer) grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and began his formal dance training at age eight. He has always been a performer, whether it be playing the saxophone, singing, acting, or dancing. Weiss studied contemporary dance at UNC School of the Arts for a year before transferring to Swarthmore College. He graduated in 2020 with a major in engineering and a minor in dance. After working as a data engineer in DC for a year, Weiss joined Pilobolus in 2021. Outside the studio, Weiss can be found riding and fixing bikes, finding high places to climb, and reading science fiction (but not all at the same time).
ROBBY BARNETT (Co-Founder, Choreographer) was born and raised in the Adirondack Mountains and attended Dartmouth College. He joined Pilobolus in 1971.
MICHAEL TRACY (Co-Founder, Choreographer) was born in Florence and raised in New England. He met the other Pilobolus founders at Dartmouth in 1969 and became an artistic director after graduating magna cum laude in 1973. Tracy toured with Pilobolus for 14 years and choreographed and directed the company until his retirement. He has set his work on the Joffrey, Ohio, Hartford, Nancy, and Verona Ballets, and with Pilobolus choreographed a production of Mozart’s Magic Flute. Tracy taught at Yale University for two decades and lives in northwestern Connecticut.
JONATHAN WOLKEN (1949–2010) (Co-Founder, Choreographer) co founded Pilobolus and remained an artistic director until his death, creating 46 Pilobolus works in collaboration with co-artistic directors and guest artists, and as sole choreographer. He also choreographed Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and the Royal Danish Ballet’s Oneiric. Mr. Wolken taught many workshops and was dedicated to the furtherance of Pilobolus technique in dance and as a model for creative thinking.
MADISON OLANDT (Collaborator) is a movement artist graduating from UCLA with a BA in WAC/Dance and a BS in Psychology. Olandt has worked with DIAVOLO: Architecture in Motion, Whim W’HIM Seattle Contemporary Dance Company, Jacob Jonas The Company, Dallas Black Dance Theater, UCSB Dance Company, Peridance Company, Springboard Montreal, GOOGLE, Pilobolus Dance Theater, Marriott Bonvoy, Coachella, K-pop star Jackson Wang, Kanye West, NBC’s World of Dance, and America’s Got Talent. Play is Olandt’s greatest source of power and part of her mission as a creator is to nurture a process that stems from embodiment, discovery, and soul expansion.
INBAL PINTO (Choreographer) attended the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design before establishing the Inbal Pinto Dance Company in 1992. In 2002, she founded the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company. Pinto and Pollack collaborated on a number of works in the world of dance and opera including Boobies, Shaker, Wallflower, Bombyx Mori, Icetree, and Trout. Pinto and Pollack’s directing credits include Willibald Gluck’s Armide, The Cat Who Lived a Million Times, and original collaboration Fugue.
AVSHALOM POLLAK (Choreographer) initially trained as an actor and performed in many films, TV programs, and theatrical productions. In 1992, Pollak began working with Inbal Pinto, with whom he founded the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company. Together, they created, choreographed, and designed multiple works to be performed by the Company. Pollak has directed, designed, and choreographed opera productions globally as well as directing musical productions in Japan. In 2018, he founded Avshalom Pollak Dance Theatre.
JAD ABUMRAD (Composer) has created a few shows—Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America—which are downloaded about 110 million times a year, all produced by WNYC Studios. He makes audio stories for a living, and he’s a musician. He’s won three Peabody Awards, and in 2011 he was named a MacArthur Fellow. PAUL SULLIVAN (Composer) has composed 14 scores for Pilobolus since 1980. He has appeared as a conductor, performer, and composer on and off Broadway several times. Sullivan currently lives on the coast of Maine, where he composes music for his own record label, River Music. His award-winning piano albums include Sketches of Maine, A Visit to the Rockies, Folk Art, Nights in the Gardens of Maine, and Christmas in Maine. His most recent albums are Circle ‘Round the Seasons and the Memory Lane collection.
DAVID M. CHAPMAN (Lighting Designer) was Director of Production for Pilobolus from 1978 to 1997. A native of the Berkshires, his early credits include many summers with the Berkshire Theatre Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and winters on the road with rock, mime, and dance tours. Chapman has designed the lighting for numerous Pilobolus works, including Day Two, Bonsai, Particle Zoo, and Axons. Other work includes positions as Assistant Lighting Designer for the 1978 Spoleto Festival USA and Production Manager of the 1981 American Dance Festival. In his most recent New York project, he served as Lighting Coordinator for the Japanese singer Tokiko at Carnegie Hall. His lighting designs can also be seen in the repertory of Peter Pucci Plus Dancers. Until May 2006, he was Director of Production for Jacob’s Pillow and until 2008 was Director of Facilities and Production at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
DIANE FERRY WILLIAMS (Lighting Designer) is a freelance lighting designer who has lit well over 300 productions of theatre, dance, dance festivals, and opera in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Awards include a Jeff Award, After Dark Award, Carbonelle Award, six Drammy awards, and six Jeff nominations. Williams has a BA in theatre from Ashland University in Ohio and a MFA in theatrical design from Northwestern University.
STEPHEN STRAWBRIDGE (Lighting Designer) has designed more than 200 productions on and off Broadway, at most leading regional theaters and opera houses across the US and internationally. Awards and nominations include American Theatre Wing, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, Connecticut Critics Circle, Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum, Drama Desk, Helen Hayes, Henry Hewes Design, and Lucille Lortel. He is co-chair of the design department at Yale School of Drama and Resident Lighting Designer at Yale Repertory Theatre.
YOANN TIVOLI (Lighting Designer) was born in France in 1974 and resides in Lyon. After a BTS in Lighting Design and Sound Engineering and four years as Lighting Manager, he signed his first lighting designs in 1994 in all areas of performing arts in France and abroad. He produced numerous lighting designs for dance, theater, music, and opera. He also creates set lights for exhibitions and designs scenography sets for theater.
THOM WEAVER (Lighting Designer) studied at Carnegie Mellon and Yale and first worked with Pilobolus on Teller and Aaron Posner’s The Tempest at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. In New York, his work has been seen at NYSF/Public Theatre, Primary Stages, Signature Theatre, Player’s Theatre (Play Dead with Teller), 37ARTS, Cherry Lane, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Institute, and SPF. Weaver has worked regionally at CenterStage, Syracuse Stage, Huntington, Milwaukee Rep, Shakespeare Theatre, Asolo, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Williamstown, Folger Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Hangar, Spoleto Festival USA, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and Yale Rep. Weaver has received three Barrymore Awards (21 nominations), one Helen Hayes Award (four nominations), and two AUDELCO Awards.
ANGELINA AVALLONE (Costume Designer) has collaborated with Pilobolus on over 18 productions. She has designed for The Public, Joe’s Pub, the Kennedy Center, and more. Her work was seen at the Kennedy Center, The Joyce, ADF, Wolf Trap, and worldwide. Broadway credits include The Scarlet Pimpernel and Once Upon a Mattress. She studied fashion design in Florence, Italy, received her MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and won the Leo Lerman Design Award at Condé Nast.
VALERIE ST. PIERRE SMITH (Costume Designer) is a White Earth Ojibwe-kwe, mischief maker, scholar, and author. She has an eclectic design background including stage, fashion, dance, film, opera, and themed entertainment. Her designs have been seen at the Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Sea World: San Diego, the National Museum of the American Indian, and more. Smith’s scholarly work on cultural appropriation, inspiration, and representation in design has her presenting for a variety of institutions and conferences, including Central Saint-Martins Fashion Programme in London, England, and writing for a variety of publications.
MÁRION TALÁN DE LA ROSA (Costume Designer) Dance collaborators include choreographers Caleb Teicher, Hope Boykin, Sonya Tayeh, Jennifer Freedman, Matthew Neenan, Raja Feather Kelly, Chanel DaSilva, Spencer Theberge, Jermaine Spivey, Antonio Brown, Norbert De La Cruz, Cindy Salgado, and Bryan Arias, among many others. Some of her work has been featured with many companies, notably Bodytraffic, AMP Dance, Ballet X, Gibney Dance Company, Limón Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theater, Parsons Dance, and The Juilliard School. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.
DANIELLE DEVITO (Stage Manager) grew up just outside of NYC and was introduced to the production side of the performing arts at her high school’s performing arts curriculum program, PACE. She continued her studies at The American University in Washington, DC, majoring in both film and dance production. Devito has worked summers at the American Dance Festival and with dance companies such as Parsons Dance, Dorrance Dance, and Passion Fruit Dance Company. Devito has also worked for the Broadway Education Alliance, putting together kids ensemble programs at locations such as Carnegie Hall and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
YANNICK GODTS (Lighting Supervisor) joined Pilobolus as a production intern in 2013 and has since toured with the company to 18 countries across four continents, in addition to designing multiple works for the company. He received his BA from Vassar College in 2013 and now resides in Washington, DC, where he designs lighting for several theater and dance companies. When not on the road, he draws, hikes, bakes, and enjoys the company of his 30 or 40 houseplants.
MAXWELL JABARA (Deck Manager) hails from southeastern Michigan and went on to study Technical Theatre at Kent State University in Ohio. Just out of college, Jabara worked with Pilobolus as a production intern and after completing his internship joined the crew of Blue Man Group. He returned to Pilobolus in 2021.