Pilobolus sees things differently than others do.
When the internationally renowned dance/movement troupe decided to start an arts festival in its Connecticut hometown of Washington, it wasn’t about attracting tourism and crowds and noise.
Instead, the Five Senses Festival — which spans three weekends from July 27 through Aug. 11 on farmland at 292 Bee Brook Road in Washington — is defined by words like community, meditative and peaceful. Daytime events include yoga, exercises, meditations and talks about the nature of time or the concept of happiness. Performances take place at night, under the stars.
“This is world-class entertainment in pajamas, so to speak,” says Itamar Kubovy, Pilobolus’ executive director and one of the motivating forces behind the festival. “It’s super informal. We’re really feeling the summer in that way.”
None of the dozens of festival events — including concerts by classical pianist Jeremy Denk, Broadway composer Tom Kitt and bluegrass superstar Bela Fleck; and talks by novelist Pseudonymous Bosch, psychologist Laurie Santos and others — will have seating for more than 300 people.
But Kubovy expects that some of the events, including the 5:30 a.m. sunrise meditation events, will be for a hardy few.
“It’s not about numbers,” he says. “It’s about the quality of the experience.”
Key to that experience is sharing the peaceful vibe of Washington: “This is part of a deep emerging belief in our commitment to being a rural arts organization,” Kubovy says. “Being in the country and in nature is part of our DNA.”
Pilobolus was formed by students at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1971 and set up shop in Washington Depot shortly after that. The troupe tours internationally.
“We can perform anywhere,” Kubovy says, “but this is where we live. We realized that if we could make the summers our home time, invite other artists here, really get it bubbling, then that would be good for our lives. This is a deeply pro-Connecticut move for us, an experiment in how culture happens in a community.”
To create the festival, Pilobolus joined with Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia, a well-known power couple in New York (where she is on the board of the Brooklyn Museum and he is an executive at Goldman Sachs) who now, Kubovy says, “are committed to moving their lives to Washington.”
The Ingrassias had farmland they wanted to share as a space for arts and culture. There was talk of Pilobolus creating a permanent rehearsal space there, but the dialogue changed when a festival was proposed.
“The tent concept,” as Kubovy puts it, won out. “With this festival, there’s a whole range of ways in which we take a field and make it have meaning.”
The Five Senses Festival, Kubovy says, “aligns with a legacy of the Washington area as a place where a lot of artists have run off to.There are old farms here, but also the homes of Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Alexander Calder, Philip Roth… That was the spirit of northwestern Connecticut that Pilobolus arrived in 45 years ago.”
“That idea of communing with time and nature is at the core of ’70s ideals,” Kubovy says, which led to Pilobolus settling in Washington in the first place.
But now “it doesn’t feel like a hippie-ish vibe at all. We live in a world where we are constantly being interrupted. There is a corrosive effect that technology has had for 20 years on our culture. The role of art is changing right now. We need to heal, retell stories, focus. There’s something deeply calming about a gathering of people in a live space.”
Most of the artists and writers in the festival have collaborated on projects with Pilobolus before: “We have been so devoted to collaboration over the years,” Kubovy says. “Now we have an opportunity to share that with our neighbors.”
The Five Senses Festival is meant as a place for “diversity and new ideas, where stuff can flourish,” says Kubovy. Its themes of sensory awareness have already affected the troupe’s conceptual movement work; the company’s next tour will be titled “Come To Your Senses.”
Highlights
The festival’s first weekend, July 27 to 29, will feature an opening-night performance by New York cabaret artists Julian Fleisher and Lady Rizo at 8 p.m.
On July 28, there’s a 2 p.m. talk by Young Adult novelist Pseudonymous Bosch (“The Secret Series”); a 5 p.m. panel discussion on “Time and Mindfulness” with novelist Dani Shapiro, mediation teacher Sylvia Boorstein and poet Major Jackson; a 7:15 conversation with musical theater composer Tom Kitt (“Next to Normal”) and author Abigail Pogrebin (“My Jewish Year”), followed at 8 p.m. by Kitt performing some of his recent works with vocalist Heidi Blickenstaff. There’s also a 10 p.m. Saturday “soul music under the stars” concert with Joshuah Campbell & Friends.
July 29 brings a 12:30 p.m. talk by memoirist Alexandra Styron (“Reading My Father”), a 4 p.m. discussion of international travel (titled “On the Detour” with journalist Marcia DeSanctis, actor Andrew McCarthy and writer Lavinia Spalding; then concerts by singers and songwriters David Poe and C.C. White at 7:30 p.m.; and violinist Sumire Hirotsuru at 9 p.m.
The festival has some midweek activities, including a screening of the film “Far From the Tree” Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. and a performance of “Pilobolus at Steep Rock” Aug. 2 at 6 p.m.
On Aug. 3 there’s a talk by Mark Mennin and Peter Drake titled “On the Human Body” at 2 p.m.; a talk “On Sense Memory” by novelist Andre Aciman (“Call Me By Your Name”) and Michael Barker (whose company Sony Pictures Classics turned Aciman’s book into a movie) at 5:30 p.m.; and performances by banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck (8 p.m.) and the Brazilian band A Lua Alicia at 9:30 p.m.
Aug. 4 offers a 10:30 a.m. symposium on “Tech, Nature and the Future of the Small Town” and an 8 p.m. performance by New Zealand pop singer Kimbra. On Sunday Aug. 5 there is another public workshop performance by Pilobolus at 2 p.m., renowned classical pianist Jeremy Denk in concert at 7:30 p.m. and a 9:30 p.m. performance by cellist Ben Sollee.
The concluding days of the festival, Aug. 10 and 11, offer two separate Saturday performances by Pilobolus — the kid-friendly “Pilobolus Is a Fungus” at noon and the new “Come to Your Senses” at 8 p.m., plus a 3 p.m. Saturday talk “On Happiness” by Yale psychologist Laurie Santos.
The weekends also offer yoga and “field exercise” gatherings, a sunrise meditation, a kid’s art studio, and Saturday night DJ dance parties. There are also special food events as well as an outdoor cafe and an evening speakeasy.
The performances will take place at two main performance spaces, plus what Kubovy calls “an amazing silo in the middle that serves as a sort of piazza.” If it rains, the outdoor events will take place in the 300-seat walled tent.
“Seeing Jeremy Denk playing a Steinway in the middle of a field — and Steinway is making that happen for us — makes you think about Bach in a different way.”
“It seems like a crazy approach to having a lot of land,” Kubovy says, “and it may be a quixotic attempt. But I think that the small town of the future will be something like this.”
THE FIVE SENSES FESTIVAL runs July 27 through Aug. 11 on farmland at 292 Bee Brook Road in Washington. Ticketed events range from $15 to $40. The many free events require reservations due to limited seating. Tickets are best purchased online, but will be available at the festival if space remains. A full schedule, tickets and other details of the Five Senses Festival can be found at fivesensesfestival.com.
