Susan Marshall News

Jacob's Pillow Director Pamela Tatge recently unveiled Vision '22, a strategic approach for the Pillow's development over the next five years, through 2022. Vision '22 is a blueprint for enabling the Pillow to become a year-round center for dance creation and to more robustly serve artists and audiences alike.

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.

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.”

A world-class summer immersion bringing together Strictly Seattle summer dance intensive and the International Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI). Maximum Velocity is the premiere west coast summer dance festival.

Drawing from all-too-familiar experience dreaded by many, choreographer and visual artist Laura Peterson examines the eponymous FAILURE  in the context of both personal and national experience of America, circa 2017.

Peak Performances, the renowned series at Montclair State University that plays a key role in the global performing arts landscape by introducing major new stage productions and critical innovations in the development and presentation of contemporary theater, dance, performance art and music, is proud to announce that its 2017-18 season will consist entirely of new works by women. The season as a whole, and the nine premieres that comprise it, make a timely contribution to national and international conversations about women's agency. All performances will take place in the state-of-the-art Alexander Kasser Theater in Montclair.

DEVON CARNEY, artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet, will be teaching a master class for the Classical Ballet Theatre in Herndon, Virginia on April 23, 2017 from 10 A.M. – 12 Noon. For more information contact Classical Ballet Theatre at www.ctnva.org

Peak Performances, the renowned series at Montclair State University that plays a key role in the global performing arts landscape by introducing major new stage productions and critical innovations in the development and presentation of contemporary theater, dance, performance art and music, is proud to announce that its 2017-18 season will consist entirely of new works by women.

Peak Performances, the renowned series at Montclair State University that plays a key role in the global performing arts landscape by introducing major new stage productions and critical innovations in the development and presentation of contemporary theater, dance, performance art and music, has announced that its 2017-18 season will consist entirely of new works by women.

Drawing from all-too-familiar experience dreaded by many, choreographer and visual artist Laura Peterson examines the eponymous FAILURE  in the context of both personal and national experience of America, circa 2017. The new installation/performance, showing June 29-July 1 at Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South, Manhattan), takes Peterson's signature formal rigor and visual wizardry to the previously unexamined territory. Tickets are available on “pay what you can” basis and can be obtained online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/failure-by-laura-peterson-choreography-tickets-32996413160 or at the door.

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.

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.

Peak Performances will present the world premiere of Quixote, from composer-librettist Amy Beth Kirsten and director-designer Mark DeChiazza, March 23-26.

Pixvana partnered with the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) to explore the unprecedented possibilities for dance and performance within virtual reality (VR), resulting in the 3-minute VR film Silent Resonance.

Juilliard Dance, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, continues its season with Juilliard Dances Repertory featuring Richard Alston's Sheer Bravado; Nacho Duato'sPor Vos Muero; and Mark Morris's V. 

Green Space is pleased to offer a diverse roster of new/emerging artists in March.
Fertile Ground will present new work by various artists and Take Root will present an evening of work by mishiDance and Sans Limites Dance.

Two Person Operating System will be performed by Susan Marshall & Company. The performance is on a loop so please feel free to drop in at anytime.