Jacob’s Pillow, the summer dance festival that takes place in the Berkshires, has announced this year’s season. Highlights (to me) include a summer-long dancer photo exhibit by Annie Liebovitz and the Paris Opera Ballet. I don’t have much time to write today, so am including the whole press release here. Click on the link below to view it.
JACOB’S PILLOW ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL 2011: JUNE 18 – AUGUST 28
160 PERFORMANCES FROM CUBA, FRANCE, NORWAY, SOUTH KOREA, AND BEYOND
MORE THAN 300 TOTAL TALKS, PERFORMANCES, EXHIBITS, AND EVENTS SPAN THREE MONTHS
January 12, 2011 – (Becket, Mass.) In 2011, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival will present more than 160 ticketed and free dance performances by companies from Argentina, Cuba, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, and across the United States. Executive Director Ella Baff has crafted an international festival of dance, music, and the visual arts spanning three months and including six world premieres, seven U.S. premieres, five engagements with live music, three U.S. company debuts, and more than 300 total ticketed and free events, talks, performances, classes, and tours.
Performance highlights of Festival 2011 include the U.S. debut of 3e Étage: Soloists and Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, the world premiere of Beauty by Jane Comfort, the U.S. debut of DanzAbierta, one of Cuba’s leading contemporary dance companies, exclusive joint engagements, one featuring Jodi Melnick and David Neumann and another with Kyle Abraham and Camille A. Brown, and celebratory appearances honoring the significant company anniversaries of Trisha Brown Dance Company and Mark Morris Dance Group.
“The Pillow is so much more than performances; it is a center for art and culture of many kinds and a gathering place for many different groups of people. Dance connects with and is inspired by so many art forms and sources – the visual and media arts, fashion, music, science, literature, and theatre,” comments Ella Baff, Executive Director of Jacob’s Pillow. “This season the choreography spans ballet, contemporary, tango, dance-theatre, social dance, and martial-arts inspired movement. The music is just as eclectic, including works composed by Sergei Prokofiev, Astor Piazzolla, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann, as well as music by Toshi Reagon, Iggy Pop, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, and many, many others. Whether you’re a dance aficionado or have never attended a dance performance before, there is something for everyone at the Pillow.”
At the Season Opening Gala on June 18, Jacob’s Pillow will open an Annie Leibovitz dance photography exhibit. Created specifically for the Pillow, this exhibit will be open to the public throughout the Festival in the Blake’s Barn gallery, free of charge. One of the most widely-known portrait photographers, Annie Leibovitz has long been interested in capturing the human body, photographing dancers such as Suzanne Farrell, Darci Kistler, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, and David Parsons. Leibovitz has worked with choreographer and Festival 2011 artist Mark Morris and his company on numerous occasions. The exhibit will officially open to the general public on June 21.
“We are truly excited to share with the public the uniquely beautiful and insightful dance images of Annie Leibovitz. She is a great artist, and she has captured many of the most interesting, if not iconic, people and circumstances of our time. Her connection with Mark Morris is especially meaningful for Jacob’s Pillow, as Mark and the Pillow share a long history. So this Annie Leibovitz exhibit, during a season when we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Mark Morris Dance Group, is a perfect combination, a way of honoring two acclaimed artists – and as always at the Pillow, of bringing more people to dance,” comments Baff.
“An important part of Jacob’s Pillow’s mission is to engage and deepen appreciation for dance, and this includes encouraging new and younger audiences to become involved,” notes Baff. “We host more than 200 free performances, exhibits, talks and events every Festival. ’Virtual Pillow’ offers behind-the-scenes features, online talks with artists and other fascinating people, and a video tour of the Pillow. And this year we’re happy to expand our popular ‘Under 35’ ticket program, encouraging more young adults to try something new and experience dance at Jacob’s Pillow.”
The Pillow’s “Under 35” ticket program was first launched in 2009 to engage younger audiences. New this season, a limited number of Under 35 tickets (for individuals ages 35 and younger) will be available for every Friday evening performance, for each of the 20 Festival companies. Under 35 tickets are available at special rates of $35 in the Ted Shawn Theatre and $19 in the Doris Duke Theatre. This program is sponsored in part by Blue Q. Tickets go on sale for Under 35 Fridays on April 4; see jacobspillow.org for details.
Community Dance Day, the Pillow’s annual “open house” event, will take place on July 10 with free performances, activities, and dance workshops especially well-suited for teens and adults. During the second annual “Weekend OUT” August 5-7, Jacob’s Pillow welcomes LGBT individuals and families with a full schedule of free and ticketed events, including a special behind-the-scene tour spotlighting Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers on Sunday, August 7 at noon.
Festival 2011 runs June 18 through August 28. In April, the full schedule of more than 200 free events will be announced, including PillowTalks, pre and post-show talks, and presentations on the newly reconstructed Inside/Out stage, the Pillow’s free outdoor performance space. The grand re-opening of the Inside/Out stage will be held June 22.
THE 2011 FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES
Season Opening Gala
Saturday, June 18
The Season Opening Gala kicks off Festival 2011, marks the private opening of the new Annie Leibovitz dance photography exhibit, and includes an exclusive program of performances by Festival artists. A world premiere created by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch, learned in four days, will be performed by dancers of the Ballet Program of The School at Jacob’s Pillow. The prestigious 2011 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award will be presented to a distinguished artist, to be announced at a later date. Dinner, dancing to live music, and silent and live auctions on the Pillow’s Great Lawn follow. The Season Opening Gala is a benefit event; funds raised support the artistic and educational programs of Jacob’s Pillow, a not-for-profit organization. For tickets and information call 413.243.9919 x126.
Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, June 22 – Saturday, June 25, 8pm
Saturday, June 25 & Sunday, June 26, 2pm
SWITZERLAND
U.S. PREMIERE
Following a critically acclaimed U.S. debut at Jacob’s Pillow in 2007, Ballet Genève returns to perform the U.S. premiere of Romeo and Juliet, an evening-length contemporary ballet by French choreographer Joëlle Bouvier. Created in 2009 for twenty-two classically trained dancers and set to Sergei Prokofiev’s classic score, this contemporary ballet is full of drama and style. Traditional sets are reimagined, the familiar balcony is replaced with a sweeping stage-wide circular ramp designed by Rémi Nicolas and Jacqueline Bosson. Tickets $59.50-64.50. $10 Saturday/Sunday matinee youth tickets (sponsored by ALEX®; must be accompanied by an adult).
Keigwin + Company
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, June 22 – Saturday, June 25, 8:15pm
Saturday, June 25 & Sunday, June 26, 2:15pm
Larry Keigwin’s fresh, witty work stretches from contemporary dance and cabaret to New York Fashion Week and MTV, and bears his distinct choreographic style Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times calls “a parcel of pure explosive energy mediated by impressive technical skills.” Keigwin + Company’s program includes Megalopolis, danced to “Sextet-Six Marimbas” by Steve Reich; Runaway, which “exemplifies true fierceness, and laser focus, utilizing poses to go beyond poses into new enigmatic terrain” (James Wolcott of Vanity Fair), and Love Songs, comprised of three sets of duets danced to the songs of Nina Simone, Roy Orbison, and Aretha Franklin. Tickets $34.50-37.50.
Carte Blanche
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, June 29 – Saturday, July 2, 8pm
Saturday, July 2 & Sunday, July 3, 2pm
NORWAY
FULL COMPANY U.S. DEBUT
Norway’s award-winning National Company of Contemporary Dance performs a program of contemporary works by Hofesh Shechter and Sharon Eyal, both former members of Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company. Inspired by the 2006 suburban riots in France, Shechter’s dramatic all-male work Uprising is danced to a pulsating percussion score he composed. Pillow audiences are familiar with Shechter’s work; Hofesh Shechter Company made its U.S. debut at Jacob’s Pillow in 2008 and he served as a faculty member for The School at Jacob’s Pillow in 2010. Originally choreographed for Batsheva Dance Company in 2003, Eyal’s work Love is a multi-layered study of movement, structure, and physical power. While members of Carte Blanche performed as part of Houston’s Dance Salad Festival in 2009, this six-performance Jacob’s Pillow engagement marks the U.S. debut of the full company. Tickets $43.50-64.50.
Jane Comfort and Company
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, June 29 – Saturday, July 2, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 2 & Sunday, July 3, 2:15pm
WORLD PREMIERE
For more than 25 years, Jane Comfort has challenged the boundaries of dance and theatre. Deborah Jowitt of The Village Voice comments, “Few of Comfort’s peers who are into dance drama have her gift for melding singing, vocalizing, speech and movement into an inseparable whole…Words, music and movement seethe together, united, their rhythms whirl the morsels of meaning into life stories.” This engagement will include the world premiere of Beauty, a serious and funny dance-theatre work that explores the American notion of female beauty and its metamorphosis over the last 50 years, through the lens of the iconic Barbie doll. The company will also perform Comfort’s Underground River, originally commissioned by Jacob’s Pillow in 1998 and honored with a Bessie Award that same year as a “risk-taking and profound theatrical tour de force.” Underground River exists in the fantasy world of a young girl, with melodies by singer/songwriter Toshi Reagon and puppets by Basil Twist. Tickets $34.50-37.50.
Tangueros del Sur
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 6 – Saturday, July 9, 8pm
Saturday, July 9 & Sunday, July 10, 2pm
ARGENTINA
LIVE MUSIC
Artistic Director Natalia Hills, an original member of the Broadway and London hit Forever Tango, leads an ensemble of some of the world’s best tango artists in Romper el Piso (Break the Floor). The company showcases the intricate footwork, partnering, sensuality, and drama that comprise this classic Argentinean dance style, from its traditional beginnings to its modern ballroom interpretation. Featured performers include Hills and Gabriel Missé, one of the great milongueros of his generation; Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times calls Hills “a completely appealing and stylish dancer: delightful at a brisk tempo, sensuous at any pace” and Missé, “one of the most intoxicating dancers I have seen.” Onstage master musicians perform the rhythms and melodies of composers from Juan D’Arienzo to Astor Piazzolla, on bandoneón, cello, guitar, piano, and percussion. Tickets $59.50-64.50. $10 Saturday/Sunday matinee youth tickets (sponsored by ALEX®; must be accompanied by an adult).
Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 6 – Saturday, July 9, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 9 & Sunday, July 10, 2:15pm
CANADA/GERMANY
Crystal Pite is widely regarded as one of the most talented contemporary choreographers of today and her company is now based in both Vancouver and Frankfurt, where she danced for 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 her own company. Her full-evening production 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 world of puppetry, contemporary dance, theatre, fantasy, humor, and thrilling twists and turns, set to compellingly ominous original music by Owen Belton. Tickets $34.50-37.50.
Community Dance Day
Sunday, July 10, 10am-1pm
Jacob’s Pillow will again offer its community-wide “open house” event on the morning of July 10, aimed at encouraging participation in dance. Community Dance Day will include free performances; open dance classes and workshops especially suited for adults and teens in a variety of movement styles including Pilates, social dance, and more; a master class and meet and greet with Doris Duke Theatre artists Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM; music; raffles; food and drink; and other attractions. All performances, classes, events, and workshops are free.
DanzAbierta
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 13 – Saturday, July 16, 8pm
Saturday, July 16 & Sunday, July 17, 2pm
CUBA
U.S. COMPANY DEBUT
Cuba’s preeminent dance company, DanzaAbierta, was founded in 1988 by Marianela Boán and is currently led by Artistic Director Guido Gali. In its first ever U.S. engagement, DanzAbierta performs Mal Son, choreographed by Susana Pous. Awarded the Villanueva Critics Award in 2009, Mal Son is set in an imaginative, virtual world with videos and music by X Alfonso, one of South America’s most innovative Afro-rock/fusion composers. In this high-energy dance of love and longing, dancers interact directly with choreographed film vignettes of people, places, and movement including Cuba’s busy streets, cityscapes, and the sea. Originally from Barcelona, Spain, and now based in Havana, Pous studied at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and Limón Institute, and graduated from Catalonia’s Center of Cinematographic Studies. Tickets $43.50-64.50.
Louise Lecavalier
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 13 – Saturday, July 16, 8:15pm
CANADA
TWO U.S. PREMIERES
An icon of Canadian contemporary dance, Louise Lecavalier is a formidable force on stage. In 1981 she joined La La La Human Steps, directed by choreographer Édouard Lock, and performed with the company for the next seventeen years. In 1985, she became the first Canadian to win a Bessie Award for her performance in Businessman in the Process of Becoming an Angel and in 1999 she received the Jean A. Chalmers National Award, Canada’s most distinguished dance prize. The duet Children, choreographed by DV8 Physical Theatre’s Nigel Charnock, is a vision of fervent physicality, opening a window into a relationship at its breaking point. In A Few Minutes of Lock, Lecavalier revisits the signature athletic choreography of Édouard Lock, including excerpts of 2 and Exauce/ Salt, set to soundscape of Iggy Pop music. Four performances only. Tickets $23.50-37.50.
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 20 – Saturday, July 23, 8pm
Saturday, July 23 & Sunday, July 24, 2pm
Lar Lubovitch has been hailed as a master of musicality for more than 40 years. This program features two new works from 2010 including Coltrane’s Favorite Things which reimagines the choreographic possibilities of jazz music, inspired by and danced to John Coltrane’s 1963 “Live in Copenhagen” interpretation of Richard Rodgers’ “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music. The Legend of Ten, also from 2010, is danced to the first and fourth movements of Brahms’ “Quintet in F Minor (Op. 34),” recorded by Glenn Gould and the Montréal String Quartet. One of the first contemporary concert dances set to music by Philip Glass, Lubovitch’s North Star was first performed in 1978, and this revival delivers a “trance-inducing aesthetic at its purest and most satisfying” (Boston Globe). Tickets $59.50-64.50. $10 Friday evening youth tickets (sponsored by ALEX®; must be accompanied by an adult).
zoe | juniper
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 20 – Saturday, July 24, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 23 & Sunday, July 24, 2:15pm
WORLD PREMIERE
Karen Campbell of The Boston Globe has called zoe | juniper’s work “…a crazy dream you just can’t shake. At the center of it all, there’s a furious little heart that pumps equal parts vitriol and grace.” The world premiere of A Crack in Everything, created by Seattle-based choreographer Zoe Scofield and visual artist Juniper Shuey, was commissioned in part through a Creative Development Residency at Jacob’s Pillow. This evening-length work uses movement, video projection, and lighting to explore the themes of justice and revenge in private and public universes, inspired by questions posed in the Greek tragedy The Oresteia. A Crack in Everything offers a surreal feast for the senses in movement and visual effects and Scofield makes a unique and energetic dance language from a range of contemporary movement, performed by an ensemble of seven dancers. zoe | juniper has produced numerous dance, film, and artistic collaborations, from their 2004 piece I am nothing without you to Dave Matthews Band’s 2007 music video for the song “Eh Hee.” Tickets $23.50-37.50.
LDP (Laboratory Dance Project)
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, July 27 – Saturday, July 30, 8pm
Saturday, July 30 & Sunday, July 31, 2pm
SOUTH KOREA
Founded in 2001 by the young choreographer Shin Chang Ho, this award-winning contemporary company from South Korea specializes in physically charged dance. The ensemble has performed around the world including the Venice Biennale (2006 and 2007) and will now make its Jacob’s Pillow debut. They perform a wide-ranging catalog of contemporary works, including the hip-hop and martial arts infused No Comment, in which seven men leap, lunge, flip, and fall in acrobatic euphoria, Are You Glad to See Me?, and Modern Feeling, which won the Grand Prix award at the Seoul International Choreographer Festival in 2008. Tickets $43.50-64.50.
Big Dance Theater
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, July 27 – Saturday, July 30, 8:15pm
Saturday, July 30 & Sunday, July 31, 2:15pm
WORLD PREMIERE
Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar have won multiple Bessie and OBIE Awards, and were the inaugural recipients of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award in 2007. Co-Artistic Directors of Big Dance Theater, Parson is a former member of Sincha Hong’s company, Laughing Stone, and has choreographed for stage, TV, and film including Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia; Lazar is a seasoned actor and director whose film career includes roles in Silence of the Lambs, Beloved, Lorenzo’s Oil, Philadelphia, and Henry Fool. The world premiere of their work Supernatural Wife is a modern take on the Greek tragedy, Alcestis, in which a king avoids his own death by sending his wife in his place. Legendary myths and timeless issues are explored through a free-wheeling combination of dance, theatre, music, song, and video in an inventive adaptation of this great dramatic literary work. Tickets $23.50-37.50.
3e Étage: Soloists and Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, August 3 – Saturday, August 7, 8pm
Saturday, August 6 & Sunday, August 7, 2pm
FRANCE
U.S. COMPANY DEBUT
Named for the third floor of the Palais Garnier, where young dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet start their careers, 3e Étage is a contemporary ensemble featuring some of the most exceptional dancers from the legendary French ballet company. Founded by Samuel Murez, who first joined Paris Opera Ballet in 2001, the company performs classical and contemporary repertoire with a distinct French style. This U.S. debut program is a lively blend of serious virtuosity and fun, with a wide variety of work including excerpts of William Forsythe’s Limb’s Theorem, the witty duet me2, inspired by the bilingual poem “Me Too” by Raymond Federman, and Les bourgeois, a solo from the one-act ballet Brel, in which choreographer Ben van Cauwenbergh translates one of the most famous songs of his fellow Belgian Jacques Brel. Tickets $59.50-64.50.
Jonah Bokaer
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, August 3 – Saturday, August 6, 8:15pm
Saturday, August 6 & Sunday, August 7, 2:15pm
U.S. PREMIERE
Jonah Bokaer is “contemporary dance’s renaissance man” (Roslyn Sulcas of The New York Times) and has been acclaimed internationally as a gifted performer, choreographer, and media artist. A former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, he has collaborated with some of today’s most respected artists including writer Ann Carson and theater director Robert Wilson. Bokaer brings a program designed by the much talked about visual artist Daniel Arsham and the design firm Snarkitecture, including RECESS and the U.S. premiere of Why Patterns, in which a single ping-pong ball initiates choreographic games and unpredictable events such as 10,000 more ping-pong balls cascading from above. Tickets $23.50-37.50.
Trisha Brown Dance Company
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, August 10 – Saturday, August 13, 8pm
Saturday, August 13 – Sunday, August 14, 2pm
40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Trisha Brown’s pioneering style is acclaimed as a cornerstone of modern dance. This 40th anniversary program celebrates the range of Brown’s invention and includes Set and Reset, a masterpiece of collaboration with fluid, geometric movement by Brown, set and costumes by famed visual artist Robert Rauschenberg, and music by Laurie Anderson. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times calls it “Brown at her most tantalizing…dartingly quick but so fluid that the body seems a conduit for flowing energy.” Additional works include Brown’s recent choreographic endeavor for the opera Pygmalion, with music by composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. Tickets $59.50-64.50.
Jodi Melnick and David Neumann/advanced beginner group
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, August 10 – Saturday, August 13, 8:15pm
Saturday, August 13 & Sunday, August 14, 2:15pm
PILLOW COMMISSION
WORLD PREMIERE
LIVE MUSIC
This exclusive engagement brings together two New York choreographers in a diverse program. Claudia La Rocco of The New York Times comments, “By now the line on Mr. Neumann is well established: He is the smart joker of dance. What’s not said as often is how deeply felt and deeply moving his work can be.” Deborah Jowitt of The Village Voice notes “Trying to convey Melnick’s brilliance is like trying to grasp a silver trout in a running stream. She is indeed a force of nature, but not the earth-mother type those words convey.” Bessie Award-winner Jodi Melnick performs Fanfare, a sophisticated dance of rhythm and gesture, set against a kaleidoscope of light and sculpture designed by visual artist Burt Barr. David Neumann and his company, advanced beginner group, perform works of signature wry humor and creativity, including Big Eater. The evening culminates in a world premiere duet commissioned by Jacob’s Pillow and choreographed and performed by Melnick and Neumann. Tickets $23.50-37.50.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, August 17 – Saturday, August 20, 8pm
Saturday, August 20– Sunday, August 21, 2pm
LIVE MUSIC
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is one of America’s leading mixed repertoire contemporary ballet companies, and a Jacob’s Pillow audience favorite. Founded in 1990 by Bebe Schweppe and currently directed by Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty, the company famously blends its dancers’ classical training with a variety of traditional and adventurous work by international choreographers including Jorma Elo, George Balanchine, Itzik Galili, Jiří Kylián, and Trey McIntyre. The Pillow program includes Spanish choreographer Cayetano Soto’s Uneven, which is performed to live onstage cello music composed by Maya Beiser. Additional works to be announced. Tickets $59.50-64.50.
David Dorfman Dance
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, August 17 – Saturday, August 20, 8:15pm
Saturday, August 20 & Sunday, August 21, 2:15pm
As Newsday notes, “Robust eccentricity and earthy humanism coexist harmoniously in David Dorfman’s ingenious works.” In his newest project, Prophets of Funk–Dance to the Music, Dorfman and company make sure audiences feel part of the vitality and revelry of the 1970s. This exuberant work is set to the popular funk music of Sly and the Family Stone, including “Turn Me Loose,” “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Dance to the Music,” and nine other songs. A vibrant dance revue, Prophets of Funk–Dance to the Music, is a full-evening work delivered with humor and heart by a cast of dancers who have been honored with eight Bessie Awards over the company’s twenty-five year history. Tickets $34.50-37.50.
A Jazz Happening
Sunday, August 21, 8pm
Benefit Event for The School at Jacob’s Pillow
LIVE MUSIC
This year marks the 5th anniversary of this one-night-only benefit featuring students of the Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance Program performing alongside Broadway stars after three weeks of intense study and preparation at The School at Jacob’s Pillow. Directed by Broadway’s Chet Walker, A Jazz Happening includes original choreography by the Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance artist faculty and live music by an onstage jazz band. Former guest performers have included Donna McKechnie, Andrea McArdle, Malcolm Gets, Teri Ralston, and Desmond Richardson, and this season’s event will feature an all-new program and cast. Proceeds benefit The School at Jacob’s Pillow. Tickets $100 (includes premium seating and reception with performers) and $75 (performance only).
Mark Morris Dance Group
Ted Shawn Theatre
Wednesday, August 24 – Saturday, August 27, 8pm
(Additional matinee)Thursday, August 25, Saturday, August 27 & Sunday, August 28, 2pm
30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
LIVE MUSIC
Mark Morris has been called “the most important choreographer since Balanchine” (The Boston Globe), and he and his company have a longstanding relationship with Jacob’s Pillow spanning the past three decades. In a rousing Festival finale, this program of classic revivals and new work celebrates the lush, witty movement that makes Mark Morris one of America’s most acclaimed dancemakers. The engagement includes Resurrection, danced to Richard Rodgers’ “Slaughter on 10th Avenue;” Ten Suggestions, the famous solo originally danced by Morris himself; V, a work for fourteen dancers set to the music of Robert Schumann; and Dancing Honeymoon, performed to a medley of classic tunes from the 1920s and 30s. Musicians from the Tanglewood Music Center participate in a complete evening of dance and music. Tickets $64.50-69.50.
Kyle and Camille
Doris Duke Theatre
Wednesday, August 24 – Saturday, August 27, 8:15pm
Saturday, August 27 & Sunday, August 28, 2:15pm
WORLD PREMIERE
New York based choreographers Kyle Abraham and Camille A. Brown have known one another for years but have never performed together. Both were breakout hits of Festival 2010 and now they are brought together along with their ensembles, Abraham.In.Motion and Camille A. Brown and Dancers, in this exclusive production titled Kyle and Camille. Abraham founded his company in 2005 and was awarded a 2010 Princess Grace Award for choreography and a 2010 Bessie Award for his work The Radio Show (performed at Jacob’s Pillow in 2010). Brown is also a 2006 Princess Grace Award recipient for choreography (the first woman to receive this award), and has choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, Ballet Memphis, Philadanco, and others. Both choreographers perform with their own ensemble of dancers and then join up for the world premiere of an Abraham/Brown duet commissioned by the Pillow. Additional works to be announced. Tickets $34.50-37.50.
2011 Ticketing Information
Subscriptions: Jacob’s Pillow Subscribers receive early ordering privileges, free ticket exchange (up to 48 hours prior to performance) and 10% off ticket orders. Subscription options are: Full Season Subscriptions, in which subscribers purchase tickets to all ten Ted Shawn Theatre or Doris Duke Theatre performances, and Flex 5+ Subscriptions, in which subscribers create their own schedule choosing five or more performances, any day, any time. Refer to the Ticket Ordering Calendar at jacobspillow.org for details.
Members: Jacob’s Pillow Members receive earliest ordering privileges and other benefits. Memberships are available at any time, starting with donations of $60/year and $40/year for students. To become a Jacob’s Pillow Member, call 413.243.9919 or donate online at jacobspillow.org.
Single Tickets: Single tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, April 4. Single tickets go on sale to Jacob’s Pillow Members beginning March 7. Refer to the Ticket Ordering Calendar at jacobspillow.org for details.
Contact Information: Box Office phones open to the general public April 4 (as early as January 24 for Subscribers and Members, depending on level) Monday-Friday, 10am – 4pm, with additional hours during the Festival. Box Office: 413.243.0745 or jacobspillow.org.
For complete ticket information and Box Office policies, visit jacobspillow.org.
Free Public Programs During the Festival
Free Performances: Of the more than 50 dance companies to be presented at Jacob’s Pillow in 2011, more than half can be seen performing on Inside/Out, a unique outdoor performance space nestled in the bucolic hills of the Berkshires, for free. The Inside/Out series includes presentations of emerging dance companies, artists from all over the world, and informal showings by the professional-track students of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 6:15pm. Roster of performers to be announced in April; visit jacobspillow.org for additional information.
Exhibits and Archives: Annual exhibits in four venues throughout the Pillow’s National Historic Landmark grounds display photographs, video, artifacts and other engaging visual material that enrich the visitor’s experience. The Archives, documenting dance and Pillow history from 1894 to the present, welcome the general public to view videos of recent performances or historic films from years past, and browse dance or related art and history books. Two interactive touch screen kiosks, one in Blake’s Barn and another in the Welcome Center, offer video clips, photos, and information spanning the Festival’s history. The full resources of the Archives are available to the public free of charge on a drop-in basis Tuesdays through Sundays during the Festival, from noon until final curtain.
Talks: More than 155 enlightening and informative talks range from in-depth hour-long PillowTalks, to brief Pre-Show Talks which introduce audiences to the performance they are about to attend, and Post-Show Talks with the artists just after they step offstage. PillowTalks take place in Blake’s Barn, Thursdays at 5pm and Saturdays at 4pm, providing varied opportunities to gain insight from dancers, choreographers, musicians, filmmakers, visual designers, historians, and other experts. Pre-Show Talks are given by Pillow Scholars-in-Residence and take place in Blake’s Barn and on the Doris Duke Theatre porch 30 minutes before every performance. Post-Show Talks with artistic directors and dancers are moderated by Scholars-in-Residence and take place following the performances on Thursdays in the Ted Shawn Theatre and Fridays in the Doris Duke Theatre. All talks are free and open to the public.
Tours, Classes, Observations, and More: During the season, free guided tours of the 163-acre campus leave from the Welcome Center every Friday and Saturday at 5:30pm, and patrons can pick up a self-guided tour map anytime to explore the grounds on their own. Patrons are also welcome to visit The School at Jacob’s Pillow and observe renowned artist faculty working with emerging professional dancers, either on a drop-in basis or pre-arranged for groups larger than four. Dance and Pilates classes are offered to the public Mondays through Thursdays at 8am and are open to all experience levels (class fee required). Master classes with artists of the Doris Duke Theatre are offered every Sunday at 10am for intermediate to advanced dancers (class fee required). Master classes are also open for public observation, without charge. For Community Class information call 413.243.9919.
Dining: Jacob’s Pillow offers many dining options including the Pillow Café, a full-service open air restaurant on the Great Lawn; the Pillow Pub offering casual fare, ready-to-go picnics, and a full bar; the Coffee & Ice Cream Bars, and catering services for groups and events.
The Pillow Store: Visitors can shop onsite for logo items, clothes, gifts, books, and music; all proceeds benefit Jacob’s Pillow.
