Choreographer Liz Gerring to Receive $25,000 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award

This year's Jacob's Pillow Dance Award, a prestigious honor carrying an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize, will be presented to contemporary choreographer Liz Gerring in recognition of her talent and outstanding contributions to the dance field. Active in the dance world for nearly 20 years, Gerring regularly garners acclaim for her "enthralling and important" works (Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times) that also "reveals the dancers as the splendid athletes that they are" (dance critic Deborah Jowitt). Gerring will accept the Award and members of Liz Gerring Dance Company will perform at the Pillow's Season Opening Gala on Saturday, June 20 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. The company will return to perform the evening-length work glacier in the Doris Duke Theatre August 19-23. Previous recipients of the Jacob's Pillow Dance Award include tap artist Michelle Dorrance, the legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham, 2013 MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham, and Tony Award winner and director of New York Live Arts Bill T. Jones, among others.

"It is a pleasure to recognize Liz Gerring for her distinguished work," says Jacob's Pillow Executive and Artistic Director Ella Baff. "She is a fascinating dance-maker. While you are enjoying the impressive athleticism and rigor of her dances, your eyes and mind open up to the creative inner workings of how dances are made. She is adventurous, super-intelligent, and a true original."

"It's wonderful to be recognized for all the hard work our company has put in," comments Gerring. "It's an honor to receive this recognition from the Pillow, an organization that, for me over the many years of my work in choreography, has always been an icon in terms of representing the best of dance in America. Ella's efforts and commitment have obviously been a large part of this, and we want to thank her and the staff for this Award. I am hoping everyone can come out and see us at the Festival this summer."

The Jacob's Pillow Dance Award was created in 2007 through an annual anonymous gift of $50,000, of which $25,000 is given to an artist of exceptional vision. In commemoration, the honoree receives a custom-designed glass award sculpture by Berkshire-based artist Tom Patti, whose work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among other prominent institutions worldwide. The inaugural Award was given in 2007 to Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, co-directors of Big Dance Theater, who will return to the Doris Duke Theatre for Festival 2015. Subsequent awardees are Alonzo King (2008), Artistic Director of Alonzo King LINES Ballet, also appearing in Festival 2015; Merce Cunningham (2009), whose company gave its final performances during his lifetime at Jacob's Pillow later that season; Bill T. Jones (2010), who accepted the Award weeks after receiving his second Tony Award for the Broadway hit FELA!; Crystal Pite (2011), international choreographer and Artistic Director of Kidd Pivot; Kyle Abraham (2012), dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of Abraham.In.Motion; and Festival 2015 artist Michelle Dorrance (2013), dancer, choreographer, and Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance. The 2014 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award went to John Heginbotham, who presented the world premiere of Chalk and Soot in the Doris Duke Theatre that same season. Another new work of Heginbotham's will be premiered by Kristen Foote Dance Company as part of the Pillow's 2015 Inside/Out series.

The donor's annual gift of $50,000 also provides for $25,000 of annual support for Jacob's Pillow commissions, presentations, and the Creative Development Residency Program, which has funded residencies for numerous dance artists including John Heginbotham, Michelle Dorrance, Andrea Miller, Adam H. Weinert, Kyle Abraham, Camille A. Brown, Suzanne Farrell, MADBOOTS DANCE, Big Dance Theater, zoe | juniper, Stephen Petronio, Kimberly Bartosik, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Reiner, and many others. During Creative Development Residencies, artists are invited to spend one to three weeks at the Pillow creating or rehearsing new work, with free housing for the company, unlimited use of studio space, and access to the Pillow's rare and extensive Archives and other Pillow resources. In the beautiful, retreat-like atmosphere of the Pillow, the Creative Development Residencies are rare opportunities for artists to focus on the creative process without distraction.

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 such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carmen de Lavallade, Mark Morris, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villella, Rasta Thomas, and hundreds of others.

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