Jacob's Pillow Dance Hosts Inside/Out: Chance to Dance Contest

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival invites artists of all styles to participate in the first ever Inside/Out: Chance to Dance viewers' choice contest. An exciting opportunity to perform on the Pillow's iconic outdoor stage, the Chance to Dance contest is a viewer-selected online competition that allows the public, peers, and fans of artists to vote on their inclusion in the Inside/Out Performance Series for Festival 2017. Submissions to the contest will be accepted from February 6-20, 2017; voting is open to the public on PillowTV, the Jacob's Pillow YouTube channel, from February 21-26. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 7 and will perform on July 21, 2017 as a part of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival's 85th Anniversary Season.

Inside/Out performances occur every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 6:15-7pm throughout the annual Festival. Performances take place at the Marcia & Seymour Simon Performance Space on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage, a setting that is described by The New Yorker as "a breathtaking outdoor stage overlooking the lush Berkshire hills." An essential part of the Pillow's mission and beloved tradition, Inside/Out is free and open to the public, featuring dance styles ranging from classical ballet and hip-hop to tap and folkloric dance. It is a venue geared especially toward educating audiences about dance in a casual outdoor setting, and giving the opportunity to all people, regardless of their financial means, to experience dance.

The Inside/Out Performance Series includes both new and established dance companies in a variety of genres from across the United States. The highly-selective series receives hundreds of applications each year, offering approximately 30 positions to artists. During Festival 2016, Inside/Out performances included tap, swing, and lindy-hop fusion company Caleb Teicher & Dancers; Gaga-based artist Danielle Agami's Ate9 dANCEcOMPANY; traditional Indian dance artist Preeti Vasudevan & Thresh Performing Arts; Utah-based ballet ensemble Christopher Ruud & The Stars of Ballet West; the folkloric Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble; and a lecture demonstration by Urban Bush Women, among many others.

Applicants can submit their video to the Jacob's Pillow website between February 6-20. All submissions will go through an initial vetting process by Jacob's Pillow. Up to 10 videos will be hosted on the PillowTV YouTube page and will be open for public voting from February 21-26. Video submissions must be no more than three minutes in length. Content of submissions must be family friendly, and suitable for the outdoor setting.

To learn more and apply please visit jacobspillow.org.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until Monday, February 20 at 11:59pm. Winner(s) will be announced March 7, 2017.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, 358 George Carter Road, Becket, MA 01223.

ABOUT JACOB'S PILLOW: Jacob's Pillow, celebrating its 85th Festival in 2017, is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest-running international dance festival. Each Festival includes more than 50 national and international dance companies and 350 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, and events. The School at Jacob's Pillow, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S., encompasses the diverse disciplines of Ballet, Cultural Traditions, Contemporary, and Musical Theatre Dance, as well as an Intern Program in various disciplines of arts administration, design, video, and production. The Pillow's extensive Archives, open year-round to the public, chronicle more than a century of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and videos. Notable artists who have created or premiered dances at the Pillow include choreographers Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Kevin McKenzie, Twyla Tharp, Ralph Lemon, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Wally Cardona, Andrea Miller, and Trey McIntyre; performed by artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carmen de Lavallade, Mark Morris, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villella, Rasta Thomas, and hundreds of others. On March 2, 2011, President Obama honored Jacob's Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the highest arts award given by the United States Government, making the Pillow the first dance presenting organization to receive this prestigious award. For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.

Photo credit: Jamie Kraus