Review: Pilobolus’ Trips at The Hanover Theatre
Last night, Pilobolus landed at The Hanover Theatre in Worcester with Trips, the legendary dance company’s new touring show — and the three of us walked out still talking about it over dinner. I went with Adam Leffert and Michael O’Malley, and at intermission we huddled in the lobby and recorded our first reactions on a voice memo. What follows are those reflections, lightly edited.
One note up front: Pilobolus asked that no photos or videos be taken during the performance — and honestly, it made the night better. Everyone just watched.
Our reflections, straight from the lobby
Adam zeroed in on how Pilobolus builds its world. “It gives us an opportunity to see almost new animals created — people combining to become animals,” he said. What struck him most was the company’s method: “Holding enough of reality constant so that we can still connect, while playfully manipulating or varying other ideas.” His example: a regular person throws a paper airplane — but what happens if you hold onto it? And once two dancers fuse into a new four-legged creature, why shouldn’t it waltz?
Michael put it simply: “I felt like I was living in someone’s dream.” The athleticism and muscularity of the dancers impressed him from the first piece. Over dinner afterward, he kept going, and his one-liners deserve to be printed as-is:
- “Someone’s imagination comes alive on stage.”
- “Women presenting alone is beautiful.”
- “Softness and athleticism at the same time.”
- “The freedom to do what you want.”
As for me, the first act was the standout — genuinely beautiful. The formations, especially the duets, were super strong. I’ll admit the yellow creatures confused me a little, but I loved what they were going for: real humor, which you don’t often get in modern dance. People around us were giggling. The show is lighthearted, relatable, slightly awkward and vulnerable in the best way — and as Adam pointed out, it opens by breaking the fourth wall, inviting you to feel like one of the people on stage even while they’re doing things the rest of us plainly cannot.
About Trips — and Pilobolus
Trips is Pilobolus’s newest touring program, which premiered during the company’s summer 2026 residency at The Joyce Theater in New York (June 23 – July 12) before heading out on a national tour. The roughly 100-minute show weaves new work together with company classics into one continuous, dreamlike journey — shape-shifting bodies, impossible lifts, and more laughs than you’d expect from a modern dance company.
Pilobolus was founded in 1971 by a group of Dartmouth College students and is famously named after a barnyard fungus that flings its spores with astonishing force. Fifty-plus years on — now led by artistic directors Renée Jaworski and Matt Kent — the company is still doing exactly what made it famous: combining bodies into creatures, objects and landscapes that shouldn’t be possible, and making it look like play.
Thank you, Hanover
A big shout out to The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts for bringing a company of this caliber to Worcester — and for continuing to program adventurous work alongside the Broadway tours, comedy and holiday staples. Central Mass doesn’t have to drive to New York for world-class modern dance, and that matters.
Disclosure: The Hanover Theatre provided complimentary tickets for this performance. As always, the opinions here are entirely our own.
Catch Trips on tour
If you missed the Worcester stop, Trips continues across the country. The next few dates:
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 6–7, 2026 | Dallas, TX | Moody Performance Hall |
| Jan 26, 2027 | Malibu, CA | Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine |
| Jan 29, 2027 | Lone Tree, CO | Lone Tree Arts Center |
| Feb 27, 2027 | Cleveland, OH | Playhouse Square, Mimi Ohio Theatre |
| Mar 16, 2027 | Greenville, SC | Peace Center |
The full schedule — running through spring 2027 — is at pilobolus.org/tour-dates.
On our radar at The Hanover Theatre
Coming up in Worcester over the next couple of months — all on the Hanover Theatre calendar:
- Whose Live Anyway? — Saturday, October 31, 2026
- The Bodyguard — November 6–8, 2026
- Bert Kreischer — Saturday, November 14, 2026
- The Nutcracker — Thanksgiving weekend, November 27–29, 2026
- A Christmas Carol — December 17–23, 2026, the theatre’s beloved annual production, with a free winter festival before every performance
We’ll see you at the theatre.