Trey McIntyre Project at Jacob's Pillow
Related Events for June 25-29
By: Pillow - Jun 07, 2014
A bold company with a strong Jacob’s Pillow history including five engagements since 2005, Trey McIntyre Project will make its final appearance as a fulltime dance ensemble June 25-29 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Called “engaging and provocative” by Karen Campbell of The Boston Globe, Trey McIntyre’s dances overflow with fresh intelligence, unabashed physicality, and spirit. TMP’s Festival 2014 program features The Vinegar Works: Four Dances of Moral Instruction, a new work inspired by the surreal art and writings of Edward Gorey, and the East Coast premiere of Mercury Half-Life, set entirely to the music of legendary rock band Queen.
This engagement marks the last performances of Trey McIntyre Project as a fulltime dance company before artistic director Trey McIntyre shifts his focus to choreographing for a variety of companies, as well as other creative endeavors. McIntyre comments, “There is a great poetry to TMP having its final performance as a fulltime dance company at Jacob’s Pillow. Ella Baff was one of the very first presenters to take a chance on us.” An official statement from the company offers that “Trey McIntyre Project has fulfilled what we set out to do as a dance company and because of this success we are shifting focus by ending the fulltime dance company and embarking on new projects.”
Ella Baff, Jacob’s Pillow Executive and Artistic Director, comments:
“The Pillow seems the perfect place to close this chapter of Trey McIntyre Project… Audiences connect with Trey’s work – and the exceptional dancers in his company – in a way I have not seen in many years. We are honored to host the farewell performances of the Trey McIntyre Project. It will be a very special week and a homecoming of sorts. Trey is deeply creative in many ways, and I’m sure this new artistic direction will be interesting and prolific. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for him and his fabulous dancers.”
Inspired by the surreal imagination of writer and illustrator Edward Gorey and his characteristic pen-and-ink drawings, The Vinegar Works is McIntyre’s final work for the fulltime company. Taking place in a dark and decadent world brought to life by Bruce Bui’s costumes with puppets and props designed by Dan Luce and Michael Curry, whose work is featured in The Lion King on Broadway and various Cirque du Soleil productions, this suite of dances acknowledges Gorey’s affection for the ballet and includes recordings of Gorey poems read by acclaimed actor and 1998 Tony Award winner Alan Cumming. The Vinegar Works: Four Dances of Moral Instruction will have live accompaniment by Trio Solaris, a prestigious group comprised of the Music Institute of Chicago’s top Fellow Laureates, performing “Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor” by Dmitri Shostakovich. Trio Solaris features violinist Gallia Kastner, 17, gold medal winner of the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; cellist Nathan Walhout, 16, a 2014 Ars Viva Symphony Concerto Competition winner; and pianist Andrew Guo, 15, a first prize winner of the Society of American Musicians Competition.
In Mercury Half-Life, which premiered in Boise in 2013, the exceptional performers of Trey McIntyre Project dazzle in daredevil partnering through duets and trios, and let loose with infectious, propulsive movement. Mercury Half-Life’s score, entirely by the band Queen, includes beloved ballads “We Will Rock You,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “We Are the Champions” as well as lesser-known songs such as “Love of My Life,” “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy,” “Millionaire Waltz,” and a tap number set to “Bring Back That Leroy Brown.” This exuberant crowd-pleaser is a fitting capstone to TMP’s years as an audience favorite at the Pillow.
Trey McIntyre Project first appeared at the Pillow in 2005 as a summer pick-up troupe comprised of top ballet dancers from across the country. The group returned the following year in the Ted Shawn Theatre, and made its debut as a fulltime company in 2008, with subsequent engagements in 2010 and 2012. Of the company’s 2010 appearance, Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times wrote: “The dancers move their whole bodies with a mixture of freedom and precision that’s startling, and they look motivated in every moment. The connection of classical form to personal impulse…is unusual…there’s a fertility of invention and a modernity of spirit here that are all Mr. McIntyre’s own.” In celebration of the company, a panel of friends and fans will show and discuss favorite video clips from McIntyre’s repertory in a free PillowTalk on Saturday, June 28 at 4pm.
Performance and ticket information
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, June 25 — Saturday, June 28, 8pm
Saturday, June 28 & Sunday, June 29, 2pm
- Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholar-in-Residence Nancy Wozny are offered in Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before each performance
- A Free Post-Show Talk with artists from Trey McIntyre Project will take place onstage immediately following the performance on Friday, June 27
- Tickets $39-75. Now on sale online at jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, or in person at the Jacob’s Pillow Box Office. $19 Under 35 tickets are available for Friday, June 27 (limited availability).
- Box Office hours: Sun, Mon, Tues, 11am-5pm; Wednesday- Saturday, 11am-8pm
Pillow Members receive exclusive benefits. To become a Member, call 413.243.9919 x125.
Jacob’s Pillow is located at 358 George Carter Road in Becket, MA, 01223 (10 minutes east on Route 20 from Mass Pike Exit 2). The Jacob’s Pillow campus and theaters are handicapped accessible.
ALSO THIS WEEK
Sunday Film Event: Never Stand Still
Sunday, June 29, 4:30pm
Blake’s Barn
Never Stand Still is Ron Honsa’s award-winning documentary about Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, featuring interviews with legendary dancemakers and behind-the-scenes footage. This is the only opportunity to see this remarkable film onsite during Festival 2014. Tickets $10, available at jacobspillow.org and via phone 413.243.0745.
FESTIVAL 2014 FREE EXHIBITS — ON VIEW JUNE 14-AUGUST 24
Gotta Dance!
Blake’s Barn
Open Tues through Sun, noon through final curtain.
The art of the dance movie poster is celebrated in this extraordinary group of vintage posters from throughout the world, selected from the personal collection of one of the genre’s foremost experts, Mike Kaplan, an award winning campaign designer and producer. Among the star dancers featured are Gene Kelly, Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse, and Astaire & Rogers, with a special salute to Marge Champion on the occasion of her 95th birthday.
Denishawn Centennial
Ted Shawn Theatre Lobby
Open 60 minutes pre-performance
One hundred years ago this summer, the iconic dance soloist Ruth St. Denis married Pillow founder Ted Shawn and formed a company that spawned American modern dance. Their union was celebrated here with a lavish 50th Anniversary celebration in 1964 (despite their formal separation in 1930), and now their partnership is explored through treasures from the Jacob’s Pillow Archives.
104 Work Weeks: On Tour With Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Doris Duke Theatre Lobby
Open 60 minutes pre-performance
Visual artist Kenneth E. Parris III documented the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s final tour in a series of drawings and paintings focusing on the dancers’ backstage life, displayed here on the five-year anniversary of the company’s last Pillow performances and Merce Cunningham’s death that same week.
Jacob's Pillow Dance Archives
Blake's Barn
Open Tues-Sun, noon to approximately 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. Visitors may also sample videos from other Dance Heritage Coalition archives and companies throughout the country. FREE
FREE THIS WEEK
Free Inside/Out Performance: Sayat Nova Dance Company
Wednesday, June 25, 6:15pm
Marcia & Seymour Simon Performance Space
The Sayat Nova Dance Company of Boston (SNDC) was formed in 1986 as an independent, non-profit dance ensemble, under the direction of Apo Ashjian. SNDC performs traditional Armenian folk dance, which is recognized as a celebration and reflection of the life and legacy of the Armenian people. Each dance symbolizes livelihood, aspirations, legends, and an appreciation of beauty. FREE
Free Inside/Out Performance: Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Thursday, June 26, 6:15pm
Marcia & Seymour Simon Performance Space
Choreographer Nai-Ni Chen fuses dynamic modern dance with traditional Asian forms to create “endlessly proliferating forces of cosmic energy” (The New York Times). Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has toured internationally to Mexico, China, Korea, and Poland, presenting mesmerizing and dramatic works that defy cultural boundaries. FREE
Free PillowTalk: Gotta Collect!
Friday, June 27, 5pm
Blake’s Barn
Mike Kaplan, award-winning poster art director (A Clockwork Orange) and producer (The Whales of August) talks about poster design and his monumental collection highlighted in Gotta Dance!, an exclusive Blake’s Barn exhibition at the Pillow this summer. FREE
Free Inside/Out Performance: Buglisi Dance Theatre
Friday, June 27, 6:15pm
Marcia & Seymour Simon Performance Space
Artistic Director and former Martha Graham Dance Company member Jacqulyn Buglisi creates theatrical, emotional contemporary dances with multidisciplinary inspirations, saying: “using images, literature, poetry, heroic archetypes and a consuming physicality, I craft dances that explore human relationships revealing the bold visceral strengths, humor and exquisite vulnerabilities of the individual.” Buglisi Dance Theatre celebrated its 20th anniversary season last year. Since 2011, the company has presented an annual concert in commemoration of the 9/11 attacks called “The Table of Silence” at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan. FREE
Free PillowTalk: Trey McIntyre’s Best Moves
Saturday, June 28, 4pm
Blake’s Barn
In this final week of performances by Trey McIntyre Project, a panel of friends and fans pay homage and show clips from some of their favorite McIntyre dances. FREE
Free Inside/Out Performance: Tap Program, The School at Jacob’s Pillow
Saturday, June 28, 6:15pm
Marcia & Seymour Simon Performance Space
Dancers from the Tap Program of The School at Jacob’s Pillow present variations coached by program director Michelle Dorrance. Dorrance is a recipient of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award (2013), and her troupe Dorrance Dance performs for two weeks in the Doris Duke Theatre, July 16-27. FREE