Ella Baff News

This summer the Music Institute of Chicago's prestigious Trio Solaris, comprised of the Institute's top Fellow Laureates, will travel to the internationally renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, to perform live alongside Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) in The Vinegar Works: Four Dances of Moral Instruction, a Harris Theater-commissioned work. Trey McIntyre Project will present its final six performances at Jacob's Pillow, June 25-June 29, in a program that will include The Vinegar Works and Mercury Half-Life, a ballet set entirely to the music of rock band Queen. Thanks to the generous support of a Harris Theater benefactor, all travel-related costs for the members of Trio Solaris will be covered during the trip.

Interdisciplinary choreographer David Neumann will present an evening of solos April 26 at 8pm at MASS MoCA's Hunter Center for the Performing Arts. A co-presentation by Jacob's Pillow Dance and MASS MoCA, the retrospective evening spans Neumann's career from his first choreographic endeavor, DOSE, to his current work-in-progress, I Understand Everything Better. The program, also including tough the tough (redux) (2008) and You Are In Control (2009), captures Neumann's exploration of lines between theatre and dance, audience and performer, movement and voice, mundane and theatrical.

This June, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival will host the final farewell performances of Trey McIntyre Project as a full-time dance company. Following its six-show engagement in the Ted Shawn Theatre, June 25-29, the company will broaden its focus to include other new artistic projects.

Following the record-breaking attendance of Festival 2013, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival announces the 2014 Festival schedule. Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Noted dance writer Jennifer Dunning has called the Pillow "the dance center of the nation, possibly the world."

The opening night reception of the highly anticipated U.S. premiere of the Royal Ballet's production of The Metamorphosis at The Joyce Theater, starring acclaimed Royal Ballet principal dancer Edward Watson, directed/choreographed by Arthur Pita, is set for Tuesday, September 17 at 9:15pm at the Chelsea restaurant (address given upon RSVP).

Winner of Best Documentary at both the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the Dance Camera West Festival in Los Angeles, Dancing at Jacob's Pillow: Never Stand Still will have its television premiere on THIRTEEN's Great Performances tonight, July 26 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

Winner of Best Documentary at both the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the Dance Camera West Festival in Los Angeles, Dancing at Jacob's Pillow: Never Stand Still will have its television premiere on THIRTEEN's Great Performances

Winner of Best Documentary at both the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the Dance Camera West Festival in Los Angeles, Dancing at Jacob's Pillow: Never Stand Still will have its television premiere on THIRTEEN's Great Performances Friday, July 26 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

Jacob's Pillow presents Dorrance Dance and the world premiere of The Blues Project, July 24-28 in the Doris Duke Theatre. Founded two years ago by 2013 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award recipient Michelle Dorrance, the company features some of today's best tap artists including co-choreographers of The Blues Project Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards. Award-winning musician, composer, and founder of the band BIGLovely Toshi Reagon created the music for The Blues Project, which will be performed live by Reagon and four other musicians on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion, and violin.

L-E-V, the contemporary dance company founded by Israel-based co-creators and artistic directors Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, will make its U.S. debut in the Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival July 24-28. The company performs the U.S. premiere ofHOUSE, a hypnotic evening-length work originally commissioned by the Batsheva Dance Company. With a score by the popular composer Ori Lichtik and lighting by acclaimed designer Bambi, the exquisite dancers of L-E-V, including Sharon Eyal herself, perform this compelling and mesmerizing work.

Jacob's Pillow presents preeminent Kuchipudi dancer Shantala Shivalingappa from July 3-7 in its Doris Duke Theatre. Born in India and raised in Paris, Shivalingappa 'erases cultural boundaries with her lightness, wit, and musicality' (The New Yorker). Her vivid interpretations of the classical South Indian dance style, Kuchipudi, are steeped in expressive narrative with flowing lines, nimble leaps, and percussive footwork. Joined by four master musicians, Shivalingappa presents the U.S. premiere of Akasha, a program showcasing her artistry with five solos, all inspired by ancient Hindu poems.

Jacob's Pillow presents preeminent Kuchipudi dancer Shantala Shivalingappa from today, July 3-7 in its Doris Duke Theatre. Born in India and raised in Paris, Shivalingappa 'erases cultural boundaries with her lightness, wit, and musicality' (The New Yorker). Her vivid interpretations of the classical South Indian dance style, Kuchipudi, are steeped in expressive narrative with flowing lines, nimble leaps, and percussive footwork. Joined by four master musicians, Shivalingappa presents the U.S. premiere of Akasha, a program showcasing her artistry with five solos, all inspired by ancient Hindu poems.

Jacob's Pillow presents preeminent Kuchipudi dancer Shantala Shivalingappa from July 3-7 in its Doris Duke Theatre. Born in India and raised in Paris, Shivalingappa 'erases cultural boundaries with her lightness, wit, and musicality' (The New Yorker). Her vivid interpretations of the classical South Indian dance style, Kuchipudi, are steeped in expressive narrative with flowing lines, nimble leaps, and percussive footwork. Joined by four master musicians, Shivalingappa presents the U.S. premiere of Akasha, a program showcasing her artistry with five solos, all inspired by ancient Hindu poems.

Winner of Best Documentary at both the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the Dance Camera West Festival in Los Angeles, Dancing at Jacob's Pillow: Never Stand Still will have its television premiere on THIRTEEN's Great Performances Friday, July 26 at 9 p.m. on PBS

Jacob's Pillow, National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts recipient, and home to America's longest-running dance festival, will soon unveil new seats in its historic Ted Shawn Theatre (1942) and Doris Duke Theatre (1989). The new seats are part of a $1,000,000 challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation, enabling the Pillow to implement long-needed improvements to its theatres and residential buildings and to seed a facility reserve designed to address long-term maintenance issues. The new seats in the Ted Shawn Theatre will be officially unveiled at the Pillow's June 9 Member Appreciation Film Event, highlighting the final months of the "Name a Seat, Sustain a Landmark" fundraising campaign.

Jacob's Pillow announces today that Executive and Artistic Director Ella Baff will soon present the seventh annual Jacob's Pillow Dance Award to Michelle Dorrance, an acclaimed tap dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance. Praised as a "talented choreographer, the most promising one in tap right now" by Brian Seibert of The New York Times, Dorrance is among the most respected tap performers of her generation.

Single tickets for the 81st Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival go on sale to the general public on April 8 at 10am. Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts; Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times has hailed the Pillow as "the dance center of the nation, possibly the world." Tickets can be purchased by visiting jacobspillow.org or calling 413.243.0745. Further programming announcements will be made in late April for more than 200 free events, including Inside/Out performances, PillowTalks, exclusive art and photography exhibits, and free community events.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and recipient of the National Medal of Arts, will present American Repertory Ballet as part of its Festival 2013 Inside/Out performance series on August 16 at 6:15pm on the open-air Henry J. Leir Stage, described by The New Yorker as "a breathtaking outdoor stage overlooking the lush Berkshire hills." American Repertory Ballet will perform Patrick Corbin's Follia and Resident Choreographer Mary Barton's Straight Up with a Twist.

Jacob's Pillow Dance and MASS MoCA co-present world-renowned contemporary ballet ensemble Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal March 2-3 at MASS MoCA's Hunter Center for the Performing Arts. The Montreal-based dance company blends a variety of dance styles, influences, and music in three diverse works by prominent, international choreographers: Wen Wei Wang of Canada, Spain's Cayetano Soto, and Israeli-American dancemaker Barak Marshall. This co-presentation coincides with the final month of MASS MoCA's Oh, Canada exhibit, the largest survey of Canadian contemporary art ever produced outside of Canada.