Dance world on fire, at Jacob’s Pillow

Architecture & Design · Dance
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Heart-rending sight, courtesy BerkshireEdge.com The dance world responded with shock and sorrow on Tuesday to the news that an early-morning fire had completely destroyed the Doris Duke Theater at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.  Located on a bucolic 220-acre campus in the Berkshire area of Massachusetts, the internationally-known Festival had added the more intimate Duke ...

REVIEW: Sara Mearns’ deep dance-dig at the Pillow

Dance
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Sara Mearns in Christopher Williams’ excerpt from “Daphnis & Chloé​” Being present for the career arc of a singularly distinctive and memorable dancer is a wonderful privilege. And it’s been a privilege to observe the initial 15 years of Sara Mearns’ career on our dance stages. Primarily, she is a leading light of New York ...

Dance-movie delirium, as vibrant posters invade Pillow 1

Dance · Film
Four years have passed since Mike Kaplan, an art director, marketing strategist, film producer and friend of arts·meme (FOAM), shared his hugely popular collection of dance movie posters at Jacob’s Pillow, GOTTA DANCE. Now, in certified Hollywood tradition, that exhibition has spawned a sequel. GOTTA DANCE TOO now hangs in the Pillow’s Blake’s Barn, displaying ...

Thank you for your art and for reading arts·meme, Burt Barr 1

Visual arts
At this time of sadness over the death of the great post-modern-dance choreographer, Trisha Brown, it stung to learn that Brown’s husband, video artist Burt Barr, too, passed away just last November. I met Barr when he accompanied Trisha Brown for her company’s performances at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the summer 2011.  At the ...

‘PillowNote’ for BODYTRAFFIC @ Jacob’s Pillow

Dance · Ideas & Opinion
Excerpt courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow: Of the companies vying for the attention of Los Angeles’s newly fervored dance audience, BODYTRAFFIC, making its second appearance at Jacob’s Pillow, naturally aspired to top prominence. Lately, however, co-artistic directors Lillian Barbeito and Tina Berkett have adjusted that goal. “When people thought of Los Angeles, we wanted to BODYTRAFFIC ...

Recommended: “Never Stand Still” on Great Performances Friday night

Dance · Film
An award-winning documentary on the influence and importance of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival will broadcast on PBS Friday night. Legendary dancers and choreographers appear alongside new innovators to reveal the passion, discipline, and daring of the world of dance in Never Stand Still, directed by Ron Honsa. This documentary, filmed at the Pillow and narrated by Bill ...

Kyle Abraham brings BODYTRAFFIC talent

Dance
It can be sweaty, painstaking, unglamorous. The steps are stymieing when they won’t knit together. You’re half dancing, half hanging around. It’s always the same people; they never go away. It takes incessant tweaking to get it right. Welcome to the art of choreography, a labor-intensive affair that requires real-time interaction, patient collaboration. This honorable ...

BODYTRAFFIC to share wares at Jacob’s Pillow

Dance
Some hugely happy news, we’ve learned that L.A.’s hard-dancing, home-grown repertory dance troupe, BODYTRAFFIC, now in its fifth year, will perform next summer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. The Pillow, whose tony hilltop campus in the Berkshires houses two theaters, a summer dance program, picnicking grounds and a wonderful archives, has hosted a huge swathe ...

Dance preservationist Norton Owen honored with ‘Dance in Focus’ award 1

Dance
On 20 January 2012, the Dance on Camera Festival, now powering up in New York, honored Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Director of Preservation, Norton Owen, for his outstanding contribution to the dance film genre. [click on photo for detail] Said Marta Renzi, board president of the Dance Films Association, which runs the annual Lincoln center ...

Met @ Jacob’s Pillow: post-modern dance pioneer Trisha Brown

Dance · Visual arts
trisha brown, burt barr, jacob’s pillow dance festival What an honor to meet the great Trisha Brown, who graced Jacob’s Pillow with a three-day visit in tandem with her company’s 40th anniversary performances here. Accompanying the influential post-modern-dance choreographer was Burt Barr, the video artist, and also Brown’s husband.   In the photos: Trisha Brown, ...