Hubbard Street Dance Chicago to Close Jacob's Pillow Festival Season

Concluding Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival's 94th summer season, the acclaimed company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will return for the first time since 2022 with performances Wednesday, August 26 through Sunday, August 30 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. For its mixed repertoire program at the Pillow, the company will perform Nacho Duato's Gnawa (2005), a suite of works by Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse, and the newest work commissioned by Hubbard Street from acclaimed choreographer Aszure Barton, LubDub (2026). Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is one of the most original forces in contemporary dance today, a cultural force that “ought to bottle itself as a cure for the ills of the era” (The New York Times). 

Visitors to Jacob's Pillow are invited to join dance pioneer Dianne Mclntyre and Hubbard Street Artistic Director Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell for a free PillowTalk moderated by Pillow Scholar Maura Keefe in Blake's Barn on Saturday, August 29 at 4pm. These powerful voices will come together to discuss how dance continues to evolve, and the role that artists play in this evolution.

“It's hard to believe that we're at the final week of our 2026 summer Festival, but happily we have invited Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for the best sendoff we could think of,” said Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge. “This is a company that has become a fan favorite at Jacob's Pillow. I had the chance to experience Nacho Duato's Gnawa earlier this year in Chicago with their home audience. And their suite of works by Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse exemplifies the virtuosity and adaptability of these dancers between styles. The program closes with Aszure Barton's latest work for Hubbard Street, titled Lubdub. The last time the company performed at the Pillow, their program closed with Busk by Aszure Barton, so we're eager to once again close the program with an impressive work by this versatile choreographer. The final week of Festival 2026 will showcase magnificent dancers and on-point artistry, representing what we love to celebrate here at Jacob's Pillow.”

Pre-Show Talks with Pillow Scholars will be offered 30 minutes before show time for all performances in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Talks before Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performances will be led by Scholar-in-Residence Maura Keefe in Blake's Barn. A Post-Show Talk with the artists, also moderated by Keefe, will be held onstage following the Friday afternoon performance in the Ted Shawn Theatre.

All performances are now on sale. Tickets to Hubbard Street Dance Chicago begin at $71.50 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. For more information for tickets and reservations, visit jacobspillow.org.

ABOUT HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO

Founded in 1977 by dancer and choreographer Lou Conte, and now led by former Hubbard Street and Ailey dancer Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, Hubbard Street has brought top choreographers and works to Chicago and beyond for almost half a century. At home in Chicago, Hubbard Street performs 20 times a year and delivers renowned education programs in dozens of classrooms across 17 Chicago schools.

 

Over more than four decades, Jacob's Pillow has been an artistic home for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The relationship between the company and the Pillow has been particularly close, encompassing more than a dozen engagements since 1983, and including an unusual two-week season in 1990 and a 40th anniversary celebration with founder Lou Conte in 2018.

 

Click to watch clips from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago on Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive:

• As the Wind Blows, 2022

• The 40s, 2018

 

 

PERFORMANCE & TICKET DETAILS
Tickets are on sale now; online at jacobspillow.org and via phone at 413.243.0745. Pricing listed is inclusive of fees. 

 

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
August 26-30: Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 7:30pm; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm
Ted Shawn Theatre | Tickets starting at $71.50              

                                                                                        

 

ADDITIONAL EVENTS

 

Morning Classes

June 24–August 28; Wednesdays through Fridays, 9-10am

Sommers Studio | $15 per class; $60 for 5 class card

Open to all dance experience levels, ages 16+. Offered each week through the summer in Sommers Studio. Pay via online pre-registration or cash/card at the door.

• Modern/Contemporary: Wednesdays

• West African Dance & Spiritual Well-Being: Thursdays

• Ballet: Fridays

 

PillowTalk: Dianne McIntyre and Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell in conversation with Pillow Scholar Maura Keefe

Saturday, August 29, 4pm

Blake's Barn | FREE

Dianne McIntyre is an artistic pioneer whose impressive career spans five decades with choreography for dance, theatre, opera, television, and film. Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell is one of the newest generation of artistic directors at major American dance companies, and this year she celebrates her fifth year as the first alumna, woman, and person of color to lead Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, performing this week in the Ted Shawn Theatre. In this conversation with two celebrated dance artists, they will discuss the importance of lineage in dance and how we move it forward.

 

 

Pre-Show Talks with Pillow Scholars

Gain insight into the performance you are about to see with 15-minute Pre-Show Talks led by Pillow Scholars-in-Residence. Pre-Show Talks will precede all Ted Shawn Theatre performances, held 30 minutes before show time in Blake's Barn. Pre-Show Talks are free and open to the general public.

Post-Show Talks with the Artists
Participate in free discussions with Festival artists just after they step off stage, moderated by a Pillow Scholar-in-Residence. Post-Show Talks with the artists follow every Friday afternoon performance in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Post-Show Talks are free and open to attendees of the performance being discussed.

 

Workshop with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Sunday, August 30, 10am-11:30am

Ted Shawn Theatre Stage | $25 per person

Join Alumnus of The School at Jacob's Pillow Craig D. Black Jr, Rehearsal Director for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, for a commercial jazz class designed to get you sweating and ready to star in a music video! The class will start with a jazz inspired warm-up followed by a combo where you can live your best life. Come dressed in your best music video outfit, comfortable enough to move in. Socks or dance sneakers are recommended. Pre-registration encouraged.

 

 

FESTIVAL EXHIBITS & ARCHIVES – ONGOING

 

Martha Graham: Call to Action

Curated by former Graham Company member Oliver Tobin, this multimedia exhibition features archival photographs, films, texts, and costumes that illuminate this pivotal period and the legacy of the Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest continuously operating dance company in the United States. As the Martha Graham Dance Company marks its centennial, this exhibition reflects on the formative years of Martha Graham's artistic journey through training and performance. In Blake's Barn Tuesdays and Sundays noon through 5pm; Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays noon through 30 minutes after final curtain; Fridays noon to 5:30pm.

Parable of Portals: The Acorn Archives

This installation is part of an ongoing “performance constellation” developed by trans-media storyteller, d. Sabela grimes, and interdisciplinary artist, Meena Murugesan. Integrating dance, sound, video, sculpture, and emerging technologies, this work explores the prophetic insights of the Parable series by Black science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, particularly the Earthseed doctrine, where change, adaptability, and collective becoming shape the conditions for survival. Through collaged moving images, textured soundscapes, and sculptural elements, Parable of Portals: The Acorn Archives offers audiences an immersive and multisensory experience centered on Black speculative thought, embodied Afrofuturism, and collective imagination driven by movement. In the Doris Duke Theatre Gallery, Wednesdays through Sundays noon through 30 minutes after final curtain.

 

Illuminating the American Experience: Groundbreaking U.S. Women in Dance

Curated by Jacob's Pillow Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge and Associate Artistic Director Kim Chan, this exhibit features women whose creative practice illuminates the American experience of their times and reveals new possibilities for the generations who follow. They include Pearl Primus, Rokafella, Emily Johnson, Chea Samy, and more. The paths forged by the women in this exhibit collectively demonstrate there is no one singular American experience. By celebrating the variety of their expressions, we experience the richness of dance and civic life in the United States. In the Ted Shawn Theatre Lobby Wednesdays through Saturdays noon through final curtain; Sundays noon through 5pm.

Online Exhibit: Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive

This evolving online resource features breathtaking video highlights of Pillow performances from the early 1930s through today, with an expanded section of multimedia essays featuring talks, photos, and other exclusive content organized into various themes. Explore JPDI here.

 

Jacob's Pillow Archives/Norton Owen Reading Room

This spacious, abundant library and reading room allows visitors to view videos from the online catalog, browse through books, meet the Pillow archivists and historians, or peruse permanent collections of Pillow programs and photographs from the Archives on their own time. The Reading Room and Special Collections Room feature recent donations, archival treasures from the Stephan Driscoll Collection, and exhibits curated by the Pillow Archives Interns. Blake's Barn; open Tuesdays and Sundays, noon through 5pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon through final curtain.

 

ABOUT JACOB'S PILLOW

Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest-running international dance festival, which celebrates its 94th season in Summer 2026. Jacob's Pillow acknowledges that it rests on the ancestral homelands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok or Mohican people. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors and elders past and present as we commit to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all. In addition, we acknowledge the Nipmuc, the Wampanoag and other tribal nations who also made their homes in what is now known as Massachusetts.

Founded by Ted Shawn in 1933, each Festival includes national and international dance companies and free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, events, and community programs. The School at Jacob's Pillow, a prestigious professional dance training center, advances the careers of the upcoming generation of performers and choreographers; during the Festival, 100 international dancers evolve as artists in ballet, choreography, contemporary, musical theatre, tap, and other genres; and year round, artist faculty and accomplished alumni nurture younger dancers in a series of Jacob's Pillow 360 Workshops and Intensives offered in partnership with leading dance institutions across the United States. The Pillow also provides professional advancement opportunities across the disciplines of arts administration through seasonal internships. Through its community engagement programs, the Pillow serves as a partner and active citizen in its local community. The Pillow's extensive Archives, open year-round to the public and highlighted online at jacobspillow.org/explore-dance, chronicles more than one century of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audio, 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, Min Tanaka, Savion Glover, and countless others. On March 2, 2011, President Barack 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. The Pillow's Executive and Artistic Director since 2016 is Pamela Tatge. For more information, visit jacobspillow.org.

MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR JACOB'S PILLOW IS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY: Arison Arts Foundation, Barr Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, and The Shubert Foundation.

 

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