When picturing a dance performance, the mind is often flooded with images of prima ballerinas, classical ballet performances full of tutus and twirls, even tap numbers performed by bright-eyed Shirley Temples. This is not what is found, however, when seeing a performance by Pilobolus Dance Theatre.

Pilobolus, who takes their name from a sun-loving fungus that grows on farms, is a 33-year-old dance company that began at Dartmouth College when four athletic men, without any formal dance training, decided to create movement. “They were just inventing movement,” said Renée Jaworski, dance captain of the group. “They always had partners.”

Founded in 1971, Pilobolus consists of four artistic directors and six dancers. The company now hails from Washington Depot, Conn., and travels across the nation and internationally, performing for stage and television audiences alike. This past Wednesday, the group traveled to Madison to perform at the Union Theater.

As the performance began, the stage was filled with smoke and the stage lights were low. Three sets of dancers stood near the center of the stage in an odd shape — three dancers were bases and each had a partner held in the air at a 45 degree angle; Pilobolus was already utilizing the weight-balance and partnering they are so well-known for.

While each of the four pieces in the one hour and 45 minute show was unique in its own right, the two most engaging were the pieces “Star-Cross’d” and “Megawatt.”

Performed by all six dancers, “Star-Cross’d” used a combination of partner dancing and Lycra strips, their “silks,” to glide through the air. The piece began with the six strips hanging from the ceiling of the stage, each dancer at the top of his or her strip in a unique shape. As the music continued, they slid down the strips, made shapes on them or used them to move across the stage. All of it was very reminiscent of Tarzan on his rope — at least a graceful Tarzan. In addition, the dancers used the Lycra to build and carry their momentum as they slid in circles on the floor of the stage, or from wing to wing. Each movement had an elegant style and every shape was beautifully executed with the strips.

“Megawatt” was the most brutal, especially juxtaposed against “Star- Cross’d.” The five-dancer piece was executed on a large black mat lying flat on the stage. Green lights flanked the mat and the stage lights were low as the dancers, all on their backs, slowly entered on the floor of stage left, jerking their bodies to the beat of a Radiohead song. The entire piece consisted of body slamming, jumps, throws and body convulsions.

“We had to learn a slam technique for ‘Megawatt’,” said Jaworski. “We couldn’t just go out there and throw ourselves around. That would have caused a lot of injuries.” The idea of the dance was that the dancers were being plugged into a wall. Indeed, many of their movements were clear images of electricity lighting up the human body.

“There was the idea of being plugged into a wall and then it developed. There was a sense of evolution. There were emotional ups and downs.”

Pilobolus created a storyline in every piece they presented throughout the evening; however, no single storyline carried the piece, small ones were developed within each. “We use a lot of theater and theatrical movement, and inevitably there is a thru-line. If there’s no thru-line, there’s nothing to connect one thing to another,” Jaworski said.

In addition to their thru-lines, the artistic directors utilize movement improvisation, body contact and music in their creative process. Pilobolus dancers begin every idea with improv, playing with body weight and shape. From that starting point, the artistic directors mold them — changing the dancer’s timing, force and working with repetition. When a piece is finally complete, the directors work with music. “We like music to be another landscape to the movement,” said Jaworski. “Sometimes we have music and sometimes we have moods that create the music.”

The extensive collaborative and creative process Pilobolus was not lost on their audience Wednesday night.

Every year the Wisconsin Union Theater brings performers of all genres to the stage. On Friday, March 11, the Israel Contemporary Dance Theater will be coming to the Union Theater. Tickets can be purchased at the Union Theater Box Office and are $10 for students.