The dance company Pilobolus called themselves after a cow dung virus. Forty years later - and despite world-renown - they are still a non-profit organisation.

It started in 1971 when the original members — Moses Pendleton and Jonathan Wolken  — first got together at the dance classes of teacher Alison Chase at Dartmouth College in the state of New Hampshire.

Other classmates joined the group followed by Chase herself. Out of the idealism of the 60’s, a company emerged which was based on collective decision-making and creative collaboration.

At first they toured from one college campus to another, setting up and tearing down their own stages as well as handling all the administrative chores. ‘You travel, you unpack, you set up, you rehearse, you dance, you pack and you go. That’s what our early beginnings were like,’ says Wolken.

‘Collaboration always has meant a great deal to Pilobolus,' explains director Renée Jaworski. 'We believe there's importance in having many people in the kitchen cooking the soup.

‘The directors rely not just on each other in collaboration but also on the dancers and, increasingly, with people on the outside. The more people you bring into your creative circle the more you learn,’ she says.

They continue to work with other choreographers and have added an educational arm, not to offer dance training but to foster group creativity. And they have added community workshops to explore collaboration in everyday life. 

Former Pilobolus dancer and journalist John Job describes the troupe as ‘the most unpretentious, dazzling, original, exhilarating, popular, daring, libido-wrenching dance mothers on earth’ – and they are still non-profit.

Read more from John Job