Jacob's Pillow Tickets Now on Sale
Highlights of 80th Anniversary Festival
By: Pillow - Apr 27, 2012
Tickets for the Jacob’s Pillow 80th Anniversary Festival are on sale now online at jacobspillow.org and via phone at 413.243.0745. Founded in the early 1930s by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn as a retreat for his company of Men Dancers, Jacob’s Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts honoree, and America’s longest-running international dance festival. Nestled in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, “the Pillow” is acclaimed for its rich history, unique and beautiful location, and forward-thinking international programming of the highest quality. The international celebration of dance, music, the visual arts, and culture begins June 16 with the 80th Anniversary Season Opening Gala and continues through August 26.
The 80th Anniversary Season includes an impressive blend of world premieres, U.S. premieres, live music, company debuts, legendary dance companies, emerging choreographers, and more than 300 ticketed and free events, talks, performances, classes, exhibits, and tours hosted at the Pillow’s 163-acre National Historic Landmark site.
Executive and Artistic Director Ella Baff comments, “The 80th Anniversary Season celebrates Jacob’s Pillow’s history-making contributions to dance over eight decades, beginning with early 20th century pioneers Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and the Men Dancers. This year’s Festival also affirms the Pillow’s steadfast commitment to new and important dance-makers and performers, as well as unique presentations that give artists and audiences opportunities to discover new things about dance. There is no other place like Jacob’s Pillow; it is truly unique. It is a destination — a nexus for dance that generates inspiration and is enjoyed by people from all over the world as well as right down the road. We look forward to welcoming everyone to this year’s particularly special Festival.”
Baff affirms her dedication to presenting dance of many forms and styles from around the world with an 80th Anniversary Festival that features companies spanning nine countries and five continents: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, and the United States. The Hong Kong Ballet, Morphoses, and Vertigo Dance Company are among many troupes that will make their Jacob’s Pillow debuts. Morphoses, The Joffrey Ballet, and Trey McIntyre Project will present world premieres during the Festival. Companies with historical connections to Jacob’s Pillow include The Joffrey Ballet, returning for the first time in nearly 50 years, and Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, which made its 1964 U.S. debut at the Pillow.
Once-in-a-lifetime engagements will also be presented. A weeklong homage to Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers will feature a 20-member cast of some of the greatest male dancers and choreographers of today including Lar Lubovitch, Jason Samuels Smith, Arthur Mitchell, Trent Kowalik, Cartier Williams, and Jock Soto, among many others.
Three specially selected “Back by Popular Demand” productions will be discovered anew by audiences. Ella Baff comments, “I hope to encourage the public to consider more contemporary dance works as classics, to be revisited in the same way that we enjoy and deepen our appreciation for classic works of music, theatre, and the visual arts.” This series includes Tero Saarinen’s powerful Shaker-inspired Borrowed Light, which premiered in the U.S. at the Pillow in 2006; 2011Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient Crystal Pite’s stunningly accomplished work Dark Matters; and Doug Elkins’ insightful and hilarious Fräulein Maria, first performed at the Pillow in 2009.
The 2012 Festival also offers more than 200 free performances, talks, exhibits, and community events. Free outdoor Inside/Out performances take place Wednesdays through Saturdays during the Festival, 6:15-7pm. Free PillowTalks feature directors, choreographers, visual artists, authors and filmmakers Fridays at 5pm and Saturdays at 4pm; Pre-Show Briefings are given by Pillow Scholars 30 minutes before every performance; Post-Show Talks are held Thursdays in the Doris Duke Theatre and Fridays in the Ted Shawn Theatre; and public tours are held Thursdays and Saturdays at 5:30pm. Five free photography and art exhibits are open to the public throughout the Festival, including Decades of Dance, a commemorative exhibit highlighting images from each decade; Old / Pillow, the work of accomplished photographer Toby Old; and Ivan Chermayeff Designs, a look back at the iconic Jacob’s Pillow illustrations and materials created by noted artist and graphic design icon Ivan Chermayeff from the 1980s and 90s. Community Dance Day, the annual community-wide celebration, will be held July 1 and focuses on encouraging participation in dance for people of all ages. Arts Educators will be welcomed July 27-29 for the second annual Arts Educator Weekend, and Weekend OUT will take place August 10-12. A full schedule of free events will be announced in May.
At The School at Jacob’s Pillow, faculty includes an extraordinary range of master artists: Michael Corder formerly of the Royal Ballet; Judith Jamison, Artistic Director Emerita, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Ariel Freedman, formerly of Batsheva Dance Company, setting the work of Ohad Naharin; Jose Manuel Carreño, recently retired from American Ballet Theatre; Cynthia Harvey, former star of The Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre; tap legend Dianne Walker; and many others.
While the Festival is a centerpiece of the 80th Anniversary, programming takes place year-round. Throughout the year, new additions are constantly contributed to Virtual Pillow, an ever-growing online collection including PillowTalks, educational resources, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, and contemporary and archival dance videos, which have amassed more than 800,000 views to date worldwide. Artist residencies bring the innovative Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion® program to schools, using movement to advance and enhance classroom learning for students and teachers. Visiting scholars and fellows from around the world use the Jacob’s Pillow Archives as a vast and unique resource for significant dance research. Year-round Creative Development Residencies support artists as they create new work in the Pillow’s retreat-like setting; these new works often premiere at the Pillow.
A signal Anniversary celebration includes the release of Never Stand Still, a feature-length documentary about dance, dancers, and Jacob’s Pillow by award-winning director Ron Honsa, narrated by Bill T. Jones. The film was awarded “Best Documentary” at Dance Camera West and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and will have its U.S. theatrical premiere in New York City at The Quad Cinema on May 18. Never Stand Still will also screen at Jacob’s Pillow this summer as part of the new Sunday Film series.
80TH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL 2012 FREE EXHIBITS
Decades of Dance
Blake's Barn
Open Tues-Sun, noon to approx 9pm
From its inception in 1933 to the present day, Jacob's Pillow has been home to extraordinary dance from around the world. In celebration of the Pillow's 80th Anniversary Season, remarkable images from each decade are grouped thematically in a unique commemorative exhibition. Mostly culled from the extensive Jacob's Pillow Archives, this cornucopia of treasures includes a virtual Who's Who of the dance world and features rare materials never before exhibited. FREE
Old / Pillow
Ted Shawn Theatre Lobby
Open 60 minutes before every Ted Shawn Theatre performance
New York photographer Toby Old has focused his lens on specific locations like Coney Island and Times Square, and explored themes such as fashion shows, nightclubs, and boxing matches. His Pillow visits over the past five years have yielded images that capture both the place and the people who enliven it. Some of these photographs were recently featured in a Paris gallery exhibition, while this marks the first time they have been shown in the U.S. FREE
Ivan Chermayeff Designs
Doris Duke Theatre Lobby
Open 60 minutes before every Doris Duke Theatre performance
A celebrated designer, illustrator, and artist, Ivan Chermayeff has created familiarly iconic images for hundreds of prominent clients such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian, and won numerous awards. With Tom Geismar, he co-founded the internationally-known New York City design firm of Chermayeff & Geismar in 1955. Chermayeff's designs for Jacob's Pillow in the 1980s and 90s are still remembered for their bold vision and originality, and many are collected here for the first time. FREE
Precious Medals
Blake's Barn
Open Tues-Sun, noon to approx 9pm
When President Barack Obama presented the National Medal of Arts to Jacob's Pillow at the White House last year, the Pillow became the first dance presenting organization ever to receive this distinction. The medal itself and the signed presidential proclamation are on display here along with some of the other awards received by the Pillow and its founder, Ted Shawn, including the Capezio Award, the Commonwealth Award, Shawn's medal from the King of Denmark, and other treasures. FREE
Anniversary Highlights, Part 2
Bakalar Studio
Open to the public whenever classes or rehearsals are not in session
Photos from past Pillow seasons traditionally line these walls, and the current 80th Anniversary Festival offers a special opportunity to look back at memorable images from the Festival's history. Following last year's survey of the Pillow's first 40 years, this exhibit picks up the story in 1973, just after founder Ted Shawn's death, and brings it all the way up to now. FREE
Jacob's Pillow Archives
Blake's Barn
Open Tues-Sun, noon to approx 9pm
This informal library and reading room allows impromptu visitors to view videos, browse through books, access the Pillow's computer catalog, or peruse permanent collections of Pillow programs and photographs. Pillow Interactive, the popular touch-screen kiosk, provides instant access to rare film clips ranging from the present day back to the 1930s, and the Dance Heritage Coalition's new Secure Media Network features videos from other archives throughout the country. FREE
80TH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL 2012 PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
Members Only Film Event – Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance
Sunday, June 10, 3pm
The annual Members Only Film Event will feature a new documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance. Chronicling the legendary and groundbreaking Joffrey Ballet, the film has been described by The Washington Post as “a colorful, fast-paced tribute to founder Joffrey and his wish to create a truly American entity: a modern-leaning ballet company.” Tickets are free for Jacob’s Pillow Members; call 413.243.0745 to become a Member and reserve seats.
80th Anniversary Season Opening Gala
Saturday, June 16, 5:30pm
WORLD PREMIERE
The 80th Anniversary Season Opening Gala kicks off Festival 2012 with style and glamour. In honor of the occasion a world premiere by acclaimed British choreographer Michael Corder, former Royal Ballet principal dancer and Director of Dance at English National Ballet School, will be created, rehearsed in just four days, and performed by dancers of the Ballet Program of The School at Jacob’s Pillow. An exclusive program of performances will also feature Circa, a captivating movement and circus arts company from Australia, a duet by Brazilian dance company Mimulus, and American Ballet Theatre and Bolshoi Ballet star David Hallberg in Nacho Duato’s Kaburias. The 2012 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award will be presented to an exceptional artist. Dinner, dancing to live music, and a live auction on the Pillow’s Great Lawn follow. The 80th Anniversary Season Opening Gala is a benefit event; funds raised support the artistic and educational programs of Jacob’s Pillow, a not-for-profit organization. Tickets and tables available for purchase at jacobspillow.org/gala.
Mimulus
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, June 20 – Saturday, June 23, 8pm
Saturday, June 23 & Sunday, June 24, 2pm
BRAZIL
U.S. PREMIERE
Mimulus blends Brazilian social dance with contemporary choreography and imaginative visual design, under the artistic direction of Jomar Mesquita. The company made its U.S. debut at Jacob’s Pillow in 2007, prompting Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times to write “Mesquita and his Mimulus dance company ought to be bottled and sold as elixir.” Mimulus opens the 80th Anniversary Festival with the U.S. premiere of Por Um Fio (By a Thread). Por Um Fio is an energetic multimedia tribute to Arthur Bispo do Rosário, an outsider artist who became well known in the contemporary visual art world after his death in 1989. Bispo do Rosário spent much of his life in a Brazilian asylum devoid of social contact, where he created art by embroidering and transforming found objects such as garments, sheets, sashes, and other materials. Mesquita uses the artist’s work and life as inspiration to play with light and shadow, control and disorder, madness and memory while dancers interact with an ingenious graffiti-adorned set of fabric, lights, wire, and thread. The dancers’ exchanges with one another are spectacular, as Mesquita and his company display their mastery of inventive partnering, spins, and lifts. Tickets $39-64, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
CIRCA
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, June 20 – Saturday, June 23, 8:15pm
Saturday, June 23 & Sunday, June 24, 2:15pm
AUSTRALIA
Following an excerpt performance as part of the 80th Anniversary Season Opening Gala, Circa, a circus-arts company from Australia, opens the Doris Duke Theatre with its eponymous full evening program. In CIRCA, seven performers present daredevil acrobatics, aerial work, physical theatre, and astonishing, evocative contemporary movement. Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz has directed numerous cross-genre productions including opera, theatre, physical theatre, and circus; the company has toured across Australia, Europe, and South America. Lyn Gardner of The Guardian (U.K.) calls CIRCA “something extraordinary. It’s breathtaking, beautiful and sexy… But Circa is also astonishingly moving, its story of human co-operation and frailty emerging through an acro-ballet.” The Belfast Telegraph declares the production “a flying circus of dance and amazingly physical theatre.” Tickets $22-38, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Morphoses
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, June 27 – Saturday, June 30, 8pm
Saturday, June 30 & Sunday, July 1, 2pm
WORLD PREMIERE
Directed by former New York City Ballet principal dancer Lourdes Lopez, contemporary dance ensemble Morphoses makes its Pillow debut with the world premiere of WITHIN (Labyrinth Within), a work that merges dance-on-stage and dance-on-camera, created by prominent Swedish choreographer and filmmaker Pontus Lidberg. WITHIN (Labyrinth Within) integrates and expands upon Lidberg’s award-winning film “Labyrinth Within,” which took home top honors at the 2012 Dance on Camera film festival, focuses on a mysterious love triangle, and stars New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan, Giovanni Bucchieri, and Lidberg himself. In WITHIN (Labyrinth Within), brilliant film imagery, evocative music, and live dancing are creatively interwoven to create a completely unique and theatrical dance experience.
Complementing on-screen performances, the Jacob’s Pillow WITHIN cast will include New York City Ballet Principal Sara Mearns and Soloist Adrian Danchig-Waring, Gabrielle Lamb, Frances Chiaverini, and Jens Weber. David Lang, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and co-founder of Bang on a Can, will compose the original score. An internationally acclaimed choreographer and dancer, Pontus Lidberg has danced with The Royal Swedish Ballet and Ballet du Grand TheÌatre de GeneÌ€ve and has created more than 30 choreographic works for The Royal Danish Ballet, The Beijing Dance Theater, his own group Pontus Lidberg Dance, and others. Tickets $39-64, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM in Dark Matters
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, June 27 – Saturday, June 30, 8:15pm
Saturday, June 30 & Sunday, July 1, 2:15pm
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
CANADA/GERMANY
Performed at Jacob’s Pillow in 2011, Dark Matters is the first of the 80th Anniversary “Back by Popular Demand” presentations. An audience and critical success, Dark Matters is a mystery thriller told in dance, as unseen forces are at work when a lonely artist creates a puppet with fateful results. The dancers of Kidd Pivot lure audiences into a fascinating world of puppetry, contemporary dance, theatre, fantasy, humor, and thrilling twists and turns, set to a compelling original score by Owen Belton. Crystal Pite was the 2011 recipient of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, and she is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional contemporary choreographers of today. Her company is based in both Vancouver and Frankfurt, where she danced for several years with William Forsythe. Pite has created work for Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballett Frankfurt, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (where she was Resident Choreographer 2001-2004), Ballet British Columbia, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and for her own company. Tickets $35-38, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Community Dance Day
Sunday, July 1, 9:30am-12:30pm
FREE Community Event
Bringing the community together to celebrate the 80th Anniversary, Jacob’s Pillow will host its annual Community Dance Day. Featuring free beginner level dance and movement workshops ranging in social dance to yoga, along with an intergenerational workshop for children and families, the event encourages participation in dance for people of all ages. Family friendly performances will be held on the outdoor Henry J. Lier Stage throughout the morning. Free exhibits, class observation, and historical tours will also be available to the public. For intermediate and advanced dancers, a free Master Class led by members of choreographer Crystal Pite’s company Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM will be held at 10:00am. Pre-registration required for Master Class; call 413.243.9919 x5. An official schedule of Community Dance Day will be announced in May.
Sunday Film Event – Lost Action: Trace
Sunday, July 1, 4:30pm
NEW Festival Event
Mouvement Perpétuel’s newest film Lost Action: Trace is a stereoscopic (3D) live action/animated dance film, directed by Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer, created in collaboration with celebrated choreographer Crystal Pite and animator Theodore Ushev, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Pillow Scholar-in-Residence Philip Szporer, co-founder of the arts film production company, and Crystal Pite will lead a discussion following the film screening. Tickets $10, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Vertigo Dance Company in Mana
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 4 – Saturday, July 7, 8pm
Saturday, July 7 & Sunday, July 8, 2pm
ISRAEL
Vertigo Dance Company is one of Israel’s top contemporary dance troupes. They have performed internationally and received numerous awards in Israel and abroad. Founded in Jerusalem in 1992 by Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha’al, the company makes its Pillow debut with Mana, choreographed by Wertheim. Mana is a compelling exploration of contrast, energy, and transformation. The dance is packed with spiraling movement, symbolism, and the fluid athleticism that has become a hallmark of contemporary dance from Israel. Dancers leap into gravity-defying barrel turns, twist in off-kilter backbends, and reveal new ways of moving at every turn. A dramatic set and costume design places the dancers and audience in a faraway abstract world, where shadow, light, and mysterious doors both set boundaries and lead to escape routes. A vibrant score by composer Ran Bagno incorporates march and waltz rhythms into klezmer-like tones, adding to an atmosphere that The Jerusalem Post calls "intimate, soft and intensely powerful.” Tickets $39-64, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
LeeSaar The Company
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 4 – Saturday, July 7, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 7 & Sunday, July 8, 2:15pm
Actress, director, and writer Lee Sher and dancer/choreographer Saar Harari founded their dance company in Israel in 2000. In 2004, they relocated to New York City where they have been intriguing critics and audiences and receiving numerous prestigious awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship. Rosyln Sulcas calls the company’s performers “never less than remarkable to watch” (The New York Times). In their newest dance theatre work FAME, an international ensemble of six dancers from Taiwan, South Korea, the United States, and Israel strive to reach moments of acclaim, viewed through pop culture filters and reference points. The lines between reality and perception are blurred as truths are told and secrets revealed through a physical and sensual dance language that is created by Sher and Harari. Tickets $22-38, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Borrowed Light by Tero Saarinen
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 11 – Saturday, July 14, 8pm
Saturday, July 14 & Sunday, July 15, 2pm
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
FINLAND/LIVE MUSIC
Created by Finnish dancer and choreographer Tero Saarinen, Borrowed Light debuted in the U.S. at Jacob’s Pillow in 2006 to audience and critical acclaim. Inspired by the history, music, and dances of the Shakers, Borrowed Light is performed to a score of beautifully-powerful traditional Shaker spirituals, performed live by the preeminent early music group The Boston Camerata. Saarinen does not attempt to re-create Shaker dances; instead he invents a language all his own by drawing on the sect’s traditions and culture. Tero Saarinen Company dancers are dressed in flowing black costumes and don heavy boots as they twist, turn, and stomp in serious and ecstatic movement. The integration of lighting and set design by Mikki Kunttu along with music and dance culminate in a highly theatrical experience. Karen Campbell of The Boston Globe called Borrowed Light “a powerful, strikingly original evocation of communal devotion unlike anything this reviewer has experienced.” John Rockwell of The New York Times commented, “The movements evoke religious austerity and ecstasy.” He also proclaimed, “considering the…deep Shaker tradition in this part of the country, Jacob’s Pillow is the ideal spot to see and hear this dance.” Tickets $59-64, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 11 – Saturday, July 14, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 14 & Sunday, July 15, 2:15pm
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT
d choreographer Bill T. Jones and includes performances and interviews with acclaimed dance artists including Suzanne Farrell, Paul Taylor, Judith Jamison, Merce Cunningham, Rasta Thomas, Shantala Shivalingappa, and many others. Tickets $10, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
The Hong Kong Ballet
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 18 – Saturday, July 21, 8pm
Saturday, July 21 & Sunday, July 22, 2pm
CHINA
In a rare North American engagement, The Hong Kong Ballet makes its Pillow debut under the direction of Madeleine Onne, former Artistic Director of the Royal Swedish Ballet. The program is international in scope and style, displaying the dancers’ exquisite classical technique and contemporary vision. The company will perform the U.S. premiere of Kinsun Chan's contemporary ballet Black on Black. This arresting work explores the timelessness of the color black; striking costumes, staging, and lighting reflect the facets of its symbolism and multiple meanings. Black on Black is danced to “String Quartet No. 2, Op. 64 ‘Quasi Una Fantasia’” by Polish composer Henryk Górecki. The program continues with the emotionally charged, sensual work Luminous, by Canadian choreographer Peter Quanz, danced to “Affairs of the Heart” by composer Marjan Mozetich. Symphony in Three Movements, by Dutch choreographer Nils Christie, rounds out the evening with an eponymous score by Igor Stravinsky, embodying the power and intensity of his acclaimed “war symphony.” Tickets $65-70, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Luna Negra Dance Theater
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 18 – Saturday, July 21, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 21 & Sunday, July 22, 2:15pm
Luna Negra Dance Theater produces a unique contemporary movement style with elements of Latino culture, serving as a platform for contemporary Latino choreographers. The company’s first Pillow engagement is a varied program that includes the work of up-and-coming Latino dancemakers. Bate, by choreographer Fernando Melo, was inspired by the melodrama of Brazilian soap operas and the masculine side of Samba; the work plays with male bravado and vulnerability. Spanish choreographer Fernando Hernando Magadan originally created Naked Ape for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2009. This exploration of the need for physical interaction in a technological age combines fierce dancing, multimedia effects, and music by jazz trumpet player Erik Truffaz, Mexican electronica recording artist Murcof, Johann Sebastian Bach, and instrumental duo Jónsi & Alex. Tickets $22-38, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in Story/Time
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 25 – Saturday, July 28, 8pm
Saturday, July 28 & Sunday, July 29, 2pm
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 30 countries on every major continent. Today, the company is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the contemporary dance world. Multi talented director and choreographer Bill T. Jones—whose major honors include a 1994 MacArthur "Genius" Award, the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors, two Tony Awards for Best Choreography, and the 2010 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award—returns to the stage with his company in Story/Time, a new evening-length work inspired by artist and composer John Cage's “Indeterminacy” (1958). Governed by chance procedure, Jones creates a performance experience with a complete landscape of dance, music, and narrative. Story/Time explores the inexorable passage of time and our memory of it, as Jones engages audiences in the art of storytelling while surrounded by his renowned dancers and choreography. Original music composed by Ted Coffey will accompany this new work, along with 70 one-minute short stories written by Jones that range from poignant to playful, humorous and provocative. Adult content. Tickets $39-64, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Jessica Lang Dance
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 25 – Saturday, July 28, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 28 & Sunday, July 29, 2:15pm
FULL COMPANY DEBUT
LIVE MUSIC
A former member of Twyla Tharp’s company THARP!, Jessica Lang is known for her artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary ballets. She has created more than 75 works for companies including Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Ailey II, and ABT II, among others. Lang recently founded her own ensemble, Jessica Lang Dance, and her Pillow program marks the first full-evening engagement for the company. A program chock-full of variety shows Lang as a prolific dance maker, and will include the duet Among the Stars, called an “exquisite lyrical performance filled with sensual chemistry” (Marilee Vergati, Dallas Dance Examiner); the dramatic and rigorously structured work Lines Squared; and The Calling (from Splendid Isolation III), a gorgeous solo set to the music of Trio Mediaeval; among other works. Tickets $22-38, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Arts Educator Weekend
Friday, July 27 – Sunday, July 29
In honor of passionate arts educators across the United States, Jacob’s Pillow will offer special ticket rates and events for arts educators of all genres. A networking event will be held Saturday afternoon. Details to be announced at jacobspillow.org in May.
Sunday Film Event – Never Stand Still
Sunday, July 29, 4:30pm
NEW Festival Event
Winner of “Best Documentary” prizes at Dance Camera West and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, the dance film Never Stand Still has been screened at film festivals and theatres across the U.S. and Europe. This feature-length documentary about dance, filmed over many seasons at the Pillow, is directed by Ron Honsa, narrated by acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones and includes performances and interviews with acclaimed dance artists including Suzanne Farrell, Paul Taylor, Judith Jamison, Merce Cunningham, Rasta Thomas, Shantala Shivalingappa, and many others. Tickets $10, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Wednesday, August 1 – Saturday, August 4, 8pm
Saturday, August 4 & Sunday, August 5, 2pm
CANADA
Under the artistic direction of André Lewis, versatility, technical excellence, and captivating style are hallmarks of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, returning for the first time to the site of its historic 1964 U.S. debut. The company will perform Argentinean choreographer Mauricio Wainrot’s contemporary Carmina Burana, a feast for the senses set to Carl Orff’s famous score. The full-company work is packed with visual drama and theatricality, and Wainrot’s choreography is strong, passionate, and full of lush lyricism. The program also features Peter Quanz’s In Tandem, deliciously matched with composer Steve Reich’s “Double Sextet”; Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times describes it as “full of social charm and fleeting suggestions of social and love relationships.” Founded in 1939, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet is the longest continually operating ballet company in North America. In 1953, the Company received its royal title, the first granted under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Tickets $65-70, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
Jonah Bokaer & David Hallberg, in collaboration with Daniel Arsham
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, August 1 – Saturday, August 4, 8:15pm