Moses Pendleton

Moses Pendleton has been one of America’s most innovative and widely performed choreographers and directors for over 50 years.  He co-founded the ground-breaking Pilobolus Dance Theater in 1971 while still a student at Dartmouth College. Pilobolus shot to fame in the 1970s. By the end of the decade, he had begun to work outside of Pilobolus, performing in and serving as principal choreographer for the Paris Opera’s Intégrale Erik Satie in 1979 and choreographing the Closing Ceremony of the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980. In that same year he created MOMIX, with Alison Chase, which rapidly established an international reputation for inventive and often illusionistic choreography. The troupe has now been creating new work under his direction and touring worldwide for over four decades. Mr. Pendleton has also been active as a performer and choreographer for other companies. He has worked extensively in film, TV, and opera and as a choreographer for ballet companies and special events. He staged Picabia’s Dadaist ballet Relâche for the Paris Opera Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, and Tutuguri, based on the writings of Artaud, for the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He created the role of the Fool for Yuri Lyubimov’s production of Mussorgsky’s Khovanschina at La Scala, choreographed Rameau’s Platée for the U.S. Spoleto Festival, and contributed choreography to Lina Wertmuller’s production of Carmen at the Munich State Opera. Mr. Pendleton has created new works for the Arizona Ballet and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and he teamed up with Danny Ezralow and David Parsons, both former MOMIX dancers, to choreograph AEROS with the Romanian National Gymnastics Team. Mr. Pendleton choreographed The Doves of Peace, featuring Diana Vishneva and 50 Russian ballerinas, for the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. Film and television work includes the feature film F/X2 with Cynthia Quinn, Moses Pendleton Presents Moses Pendleton for ABC ARTS cable (winner of a CINE Golden Eagle award), and Pictures at an Exhibition with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, which received an International Emmy for Best Performing Arts Special in 1991. He has also made music videos with Prince, Julian Lennon, and Cathy Dennis, among others. Mr. Pendleton is also an avid photographer whose work has been presented in Rome, Milan, Florence, and Aspen. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1977, a recipient of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Governor’s Award in 1998, received the Positano Choreographic Award in 1999, and the 2002 American Choreography Award for his contributions to choreography for film and television. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (HDFA) from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he delivered the commencement address. In 2021, Mr. Pendleton received the degree of Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, from Dartmouth College, for his lifetime contributions to the arts.