In its final month, the esteemed 9-week Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, located in Lee, MA, wraps with typically generous and well-considered curation. Performances, pre-show talks, workshops, studio observations, special events, exhibits, and parties are scheduled daily; many free, many family-friendly, many community-oriented.
Five highlights are outlined by Pam Tatge, Executive & Artistic Director:
Complexions Contemporary Ballet, running through August 13, was founded by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson who met while dancing with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Their racially diverse, gender inclusive company, known for extreme physicality, present a one-act tribute to the music of rock star David Bowie, entitled STARDUST. Says Tatge: “This remarkable company has taken ballet vocabulary and combined it with popular music. Some describe the experience as a happening in a performance.”
From August 16-20, the Martha Graham Dance Company, "for which Jacob's Pillow has been an artistic home,' remarks Tatge, brings two astounding Graham classics and one contemporary commission. Cave of the Heart and Errand into the Maze, choreographed in 1946 and 1947 respectively, alongside Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter’s 2022 work, CAVE, (a Cave of the Heart take off) offer perspective on time and importance. The deeply emotional Graham works contrast with a frothed dance Rave that depicts a techno club scene. Noguchi sets, "it's so rare to see scenery on stage,” adds Tatge, accompany the Greek mythological classics while the new Cave inspired a dance party to electronic dance music on Saturday night.
The culminating performance of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, on August 19, spotlights the Tap
Dance Performance Ensemble. This group, comprised of apprentices, trainees, pre-professionals, and early-career professionals from around the world, performs the repertory of esteemed choreographers who act as faculty, in this case, the much-acclaimed Dormeshia, Michelle Dorrance, and Derick K. Grant. Happily, graduates return to Jacob’s Pillow as members of international dance companies.
August 23-27, the final week of the festival, headlines two intriguing groups, Compangnie Käfig, performing in the Shawn, and Tulsa Ballet, performing on the Leir stage.
At the intersection of Hip Hop, circus, martial arts, video, and live music, the Lyon-based,
Compangnie Käfig present their signature work Pixel, a seamless integration of
dance and technology, seen by audiences in more than 30 countries. “The pixilation is like a
character on the stage that the dancers interact with. (Pixilated) superpowers move the
dancers around,” according to Tatge.
Tulsa Ballet, one of the premiere regional ballet companies, “of the highest caliber,” declares
Tatge, brings original repertory, as well as ballet classics. An Oklahoman of the Peoria and Eastern Shawnee tribes, founder Moscelyn Larkin, was one of the Five Moon Ballerinas, Native Americans from Oklahoma, born in the 1920s, who went on to international success. All boasted Pillow connections.
Catherine Tharin danced with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. She teaches dance studies and technique, is an independent dance and performance curator, choreographs, writes about dance for Side of Culture, and is a reviewer and editor for The Dance Enthusiast. She also writes for The Boston Globe. Catherine lives in Pine Plains, New York and New York City.
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