2012 marks the 80th Anniversary of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. It was founded in 1933 by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn as a retreat for his dance company and currently ranks as America’s longest-running international dance festival. located in the Berkshire Hills, “the Pillow” is known around the world for it’s creative and artistic performances, long-running history and unique location that creates an artist’s oasis hidden in the forest. The international celebration of dance, music, visual arts, and culture begins June 16, 2012 with the 80th Anniversary Season Opening Gala and continues through August 26.
Here is a look at the upcoming season:
Saturday, June 16: The Season Opening Gala opens the 80th Anniversary Festival with style.
June 20-24: From Brazil, Mimulus blends winning social dance, contemporary choreography, and imaginative visual design in the U.S. premiere of Por Um Fio (By a Thread). Australian circus-arts company Circa performs daredevil acrobatics, aerial work, and moving physical theatre.
June 27-July 1: In its Pillow debut, Morphoses performs a stylish world premiere by acclaimed Swedish choreographer Pontus Lidberg. Back by popular demand, Kidd Pivot returns with Dark Matters, the theatrical thriller choreographed by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient Crystal Pite.
July 4-8: Vertigo Dance Company, from Israel, performs Mana, a compelling, athletic exploration of contrast. LeeSaar The Company blurs the lines between reality and perception through a physical and sensual dance language.
July 11-15: Back by popular demand, Tero Saarinen Company performs Borrowed Light, Saarinen’s powerful, moving work inspired by the Shakers, with live music by The Boston Camerata. The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth brings together today’s most extraordinary male dancers and choreographers in an exclusive homage to Pillow founder Ted Shawn.
July 18-22: The Hong Kong Ballet makes its Pillow debut in a gorgeous program of works, merging exquisite classical technique with contemporary vision. Luna Negra Dance Theater performs exciting new contemporary dances with the powerful energy of Latino and Afro-Caribbean dance styles.
July 25-29: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company returns with Story/Time, narrated by Jones himself and set into motion by his renowned company of incredible dancers. The Pillow is pleased to present the full company debut of Jessica Lang Dance, an engagement full of Lang’s gorgeous, lyrical contemporary ballet works.
August 1-5: Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet performs a diverse program including Carmina Burana to Carl Orff’s famous score. Contemporary dance artist Jonah Bokaer and ballet superstar David Hallberg perform together in a premiere U.S. engagement.
August 8-12: Trey McIntyre Project returns with its winning brand of contemporary ballet including a new work based on the seminal 1970s series Free to Be…You and Me. John Heginbotham, an acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group performer, dances with his own company Dance Heginbotham in lively, witty works.
August 15-19: Compagnie Käfig brings a sensational program showcasing astonishing acrobatic skills and virtuosity in a combination of athletic samba, hip-hop, and capoeira dance styles. Liz Gerring Dance Company performs Gerring’s new work she dreams in code, an intensely physical and poetic dance that crisscrosses through space and time.
August 22-26: The 80th Anniversary Festival concludes with a week of stunning works by the historic Joffrey Ballet performing to the music of Philip Glass and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Back by popular demand, Doug Elkins and Friends’ Fräulein Maria is a hilarious and brilliant take on The Sound of Music, set to the original film score.
For more information, to purchase tickets and watch videos of performances, check out JacobsPillow.org.
Columbia County Current 