Carmen De Lavallade News

Celebrating the power of Jacob's Pillow's natural setting, internationally acclaimed dance company Pilobolus Dance Theater will premiere a new work commissioned specifically for the Pillow's iconic outdoor Inside/Out performance space, set against the Berkshire hills. The program featuring the world premiere and On the Nature of Things will kick off the Festival's 2017 free Inside/Out performance series with an extended three-day run, June 21-23.

“A prolific choreographer of skillfully constructed dances that respectfully mesh with music and striking visual design” (The New Yorker), Jessica Lang and her company return to Jacob's Pillow for the ensemble's first Ted Shawn Theatre engagement, July 5-9. In addition to a Pillow-commissioned world premiere work, the program includes Lang's Thousand Yard Stare, a dance embodying the incredible pride and honor as well as the searing loss experienced by military veterans. The program will also include the East Coast and company premiere of Lang's Lyric Pieces as well as Solo Bach, Sweet Silent Thought, and The Calling. This season, the Pillow has formed a partnership with the Tanglewood Music Center, whereby Tanglewood Fellows and alumni will be providing the music accompaniment for this engagement.

Known for its "cutting-edge contemporary work" (Jason Vondersmith, The Portland Tribune), NW Dance Project makes its Jacob's Pillow debut, June 28-July 2 in the Doris Duke Theatre. Based in Portland, Oregon and led by former Royal Winnipeg Ballet principal dancer Sarah Slipper, the company is composed of a cast of classically-trained, versatile contemporary dancers. The program includes works by a range of accomplished choreographers and rising talents: Post-Traumatic-Monster by Felix Landerer, choreographer in residence for Scapino Ballet in the Netherlands; At Some Hour You Return by former Nederlands Dans Theater dancer Ji?i Pokorný; Le Fil Rouge by 2011 Sadler's Wells Global Dance Contest winner and NW Dance Project resident choreographer Ihsan Rustem; and MemoryHouse by Artistic Director Sarah Slipper.

The Jacob's Pillow 85th Anniversary Season kicks off with the Season Opening Gala, the Pillow's signature fundraising event, Saturday, June 17. The event embodies the start of the summer season in the Berkshires, and features exclusive programming, unique and delicious food and drink, and plenty of dancing and live music.

Terrence Mann Hosts the 27th annual CT Critics Circle Awards June 26 at the Edgerton Center for the Arts in Fairfield.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival has added two more opportunities for audiences to experience Trisha Brown Dance Company. Originally a five-performance run, August 16-19 in the Ted Shawn Theatre, the Pillow has added a Thursday matinee to the company's schedule. Members of Trisha Brown Dance Company will also perform the site-specific work Trisha Brown: In Plain Site at the Clark Art Institute on Sunday, August 13, a co-presentation of Jacob's Pillow Dance and the Clark. An icon of American dance with extensive Jacob's Pillow connections spanning more than 30 years, choreographer Trisha Brown died March 18, 2017. In a New York Times obituary, chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay wrote “Few dance inventors have so combined the cerebral and sensuous sides of dance as Ms. Brown did, and few have been as influential. Her choreography…helped shape generations of modern dance creators into the 21st century.”

The 2017 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival 2017, the first programmed exclusively by new Director Pamela Tatge, is full of exciting programming featuring world premieres, commissions, site-specific work, international artists, live music, and Pillow-exclusive engagements, all to celebrate a momentous 85th Anniversary Season. Running June 21-August 27, Festival 2017 includes more than 200 free events, performances, exhibits, and talks, as well as many new offerings and initiatives launched under Tatge's leadership. In keeping with the Jacob's Pillow mission to engage and educate the community through the depth and breadth of dance, the genres and styles presented as part of the 85th Anniversary Season are far-reaching and inclusive, encompassing modern, contemporary, ballet, hip-hop, improvisation, flex, tap dance, step, Brazilian social dance, dance theater, traditional Native American, Bharatanatyam, musical theater dance, classical Cambodian, Latin ballroom, capoeira, and traditional Korean movement styles.

The legendary Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) returned to their “stage home” for their annual NYC season at the New York City Center, April 19-22, 2017. Some highlights of the season included a special performance by Grammy-Winning Recording Artist India.Arie, NY and DTH premieres by Robert Garland, Francesca Harper, and José Limón, and the return of other favorites by Dianne McIntyre and Darrell Grand Moultrie.

In celebration of the history and scope of Indian dance in America, From the Horse's Mouth will dedicate its next theater/dance performance event to this storied art form, including its early connections to Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Jack Cole, and the fascinating early Indian dancers in America Balasaraswati, Ragini Devi, Indrani, and many more. Live music will be included in this colorful tribute, curated by Rajika Puri, doyenne of Indian Dance in NYC.

Dance Theatre of Harlem Artistic Director Virginia Johnson and Executive Director Anna Glass. Choreographers Robert Garland, Francesca Harper. Performers/presenters/guests include Grammy Award winning singer and recording artist India.Arie; Artist and Icon Carmen de Lavallade; Co-Host of “The View,” Sunny Hostin; actress Karyn Parsons (“Fresh Prince of Bel Air”); Deputy Mayor Herminia Palacio; ABC 7's Kemberly Richardson; from José Limón Dance Foundation, Artistic Director Colin Connor, Executive Director Juan José Escalante and Legacy Director Carla Maxwell.  

Dance Theatre of Harlem (Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director; Anna Glass, Executive Director), is thrilled to announce that its 2017 hometown season will kick off on April 19 with a live performance by Grammy Award-winning recording artist India.Ariewith students from the Dance Theatre of Harlem School performing the world premiere of High Above, featuring choreography by DTH resident choreographer Robert Garland.

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) presents a World Premiere from playwright and director Ain Gordon, written and directed in partnership with percussionist and composer Josh Quillen.

Today's subject George Caldwell is currently living his theatre life as one of the composers and the onstage pianist for the creative dance troupe Urban Bush Women. The company performs Walking with'Trane this Friday and Saturday in the Eisenhower Theater at Kennedy Center.

The 2017 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award, a prestigious honor that carries a $25,000 cash prize, will be presented to choreographer, performer, writer, educator, and speaker Liz Lerman in acknowledgement of her vision and outstanding contributions to the dance field.  Long ago dubbed the “Democrat of Dance” by Alan M. Kriegsman of The Washington Post, Lerman's extraordinary career of the past four decades includes a wide range of groundbreaking work. Established in 2007, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Award's previous recipients include the legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham; MacArthur Fellows Michelle Dorrance and Kyle Abraham; and choreographer, performer, and artistic director Camille A. Brown, among others.

At its fourth annual Eight Over Eighty benefit gala The New Jewish Home will pay tribute to eight New Yorkers who, in their ninth and tenth decades, continue to live lives of remarkable achievement, vitality and civic engagement.

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) presents a World Premiere from playwright and director Ain Gordon, written and directed in partnership with percussionist and composer Josh Quillen.

Jacob's Pillow Dance announces a major expansion of its popular curated online video collection, Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive. Beginning today, the site will feature a series of multimedia essays from renowned dance scholars on three distinct themes: Tap, Women in Dance, and Dance of the African Diaspora.

At its fourth annual Eight Over Eighty benefit gala The New Jewish Home will pay tribute to eight New Yorkers who, in their ninth and tenth decades, continue to live lives of remarkable achievement, vitality and civic engagement. The event, at the Mandarin Oriental New York on Tuesday, April 4, is expected to attract more than 450 guests and raise more than $1 million for the nonprofit's rehabilitation, skilled nursing, and home health care programs, which together serve 12,000 older adults of all faiths and ethnicities each year.

After paying tribute to artistic inspirations during Fall 2016's DEMO, Damian Woetzel continues to unite artists from across fields around a common theme in performance on April 3, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. in the Eisenhower Theater. This installment of the multi-genre series brings together acclaimed artists for a special one-night performance to celebrate the combination of song and dance.

In celebration of the history and scope of Indian dance in America, From the Horse's Mouth will dedicate its next theater/dance performance event to this storied art form, including its early connections to Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Jack Cole, and the fascinating early Indian dancers in America Balasaraswati, Ragini Devi, Indrani, and many more. Live music will be included in this colorful tribute, curated by Rajika Puri, doyenne of Indian Dance in NYC.