Jacob’s Pillow, founded by Ted Shawn in 1931, presents another month of world-class dance under the direction of Pam Tatge and her team, featuring 21 companies. Jacob’s Pillow accomplishes in one month what other festivals take an entire season to achieve. The line up spans celebrated homegrown and international companies to beloved regional artists. The dance experience is unmatched: it is possible to attend the performances by two or three different companies in one day. Between performances, Bowen’s Barn offers a glimpse into Norton Owen’s fifty years at the Pillow. As its visionary archivist, Owen has not only preserved the Pillow’s history but also dance history from across the globe. Testimonials speak of Norton’s foresight and indefatigable work identifying and safeguarding papers, costumes, film, and memories that might otherwise have been overlooked. Owen says, “if we only attend to what’s happening now, that’s a narrow universe. The past and the present are in dialogue with each other which makes it more dynamic.”
Sekou McMiller & Friends headlines in the Ted Shawn Theatre, the Pillow’s primary theater, this week through August 3, alongside Eun Me Ahn from Korea in the newly rebuilt, state-of-the-art Doris Duke Theater. The Duke now meets the demands of cutting-edge technology, and Eun Me Ahn’s Dragons puts its capabilities to the test with 3D holography paired with live dance. Outside at the Henry J. Leir Theater—and what a treat it is to view dance amid the verdant green Berkshires—four companies explore their cultural roots representing Taiwanese, African diaspora, and Hawaiian traditions. Kuma Hula (or master teacher) Vicky Holt Takamine adds depth in a paired PillowTalk, sharing insights into her Hawaiian customs and tradition.
Sekou McMiller delivers the propulsive Urban Love Suite, a fusion of African, Afro Latin and African American traditions set to music by Duke Ellington, Chick Corea, and Arturo O’Farrill.
From August 6-10, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company plus Shamel Pitts/Tribe headline, joined by three out-of-doors performances: American College Dance Association, Ice Theatre of New York, and tap virtuoso Michela Marino Lerman.
Afrofuturist Shamel Pitts/Tribe stages a male duet inside a boxing ring, confronting notions of Black masculinity, expressing what Pitts calls “the power of vulnerability.”
Ballet BC and Faye Driscoll round out the third week. Driscoll’s award-winning Weathering stands as one of the most acclaimed works of 2023. Also featured is Benjamin Akio Kimitch, whose trio for three women, Tiger Hands, melds Peking Opera and experimental dance. Community Day, New York Theatre Ballet, and The School at Jacob’s Pillow Tap Dance Performance Ensemble—with choreography by the incomparable Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia—complete this segment of the program.
As the festival draws to a close, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre headlines in the Shawn, with three former members—now choreographers—Yusha Marie Sorzano, Matthew Rushing, and Hope Boykin presented outdoors on consecutive nights. If you’ve never experienced Ailey, go; this is your chance to see some of today’s most commanding performers. On the program is Revelations (1960), Ailey’s seminal work, carrying a powerful message of freedom, redemption, and transcendence and viewed by 23 million people in 71 countries. Offering a bold contrast, pioneering Taiwanese choreographer Huang Yi presents dancers in the Duke moving alongside robots and holographic projections inspired by ancient calligraphy.
Catherine Tharin danced with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company touring nationally and internationally. She teaches dance studies and technique, is an independent dance and performance curator, choreographs, writes about dance for Side of Culture and Interlocutor, and is a reviewer 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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