|
Greetings!
Although Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive has been online only since March, this is the traditional time to look back over the past year's accomplishments. So, at the bottom of this message you'll find links to all seven previous issues of Virtual Pillow Views, with highlights of online videos that you might have missed. But first, please take a glance at some other news and recently-added clips from the past three seasons, with a special emphasis on those related to the inimitable Merce Cunningham, whose company takes its final bow this month.
Norton Owen
Director of Preservation |
|
 KNOW DANCE
In connection with the award-winning documentary Never Stand Still, directed by Ron Honsa and filmed at Jacob's Pillow, the KNOW DANCE project aims to stimulate discussion through the provocative question answered by many artists in the film:
"What do YOU want people to know about dance?"
We're offering you a preview before the project's official launch in January. Click on the thumbnail here to see the KNOW DANCE video and create your own individual response. You don't have to be a performer or a dance professional to participate, and we actively encourage one and all to answer this question and join the conversation.
|
|
|
 Merce Cunningham Dance Company
As the Cunningham Company presents its final performances this month, we wanted to share this clip from their 2009 Pillow engagement, which turned out to be the last in Cunningham's lifetime. In this clip from Sounddance, the company's Director of Choreography (and former Pillow student) Robert Swinston appears in the role Merce originally made for himself. And you'll also find a link to a rare 1955 film of Cunningham's Pillow debut in the surprisingly jaunty Banjo.
|
|
 Jonah Bokaer
The youngest dancer ever to join Merce Cunningham Dance Company was also a former Pillow student, and Jonah Bokaer has been attracting notice worldwide for his choreography as well as for his many other remarkable artistic pursuits. The two works he presented in the Doris Duke Theatre this past summer were both U.S. premieres, and the one seen here featured several thousand ping-pong balls in addition to a much smaller number of dancers.
|
|
 Armitage Gone! Dance
Another former Cunningham dancer, Karole Armitage, has enjoyed remarkable success since returning to New York after more than a decade working in Europe. She created a new work for students in the Pillow's Ballet Program in 2010, and brought her own dancers back to the Pillow for a full-evening work inspired by Brian Greene's book, The Elegant Universe. This marked her company's first weeklong engagement in the Ted Shawn Theatre after an appearance at the 2006 Gala and a week in the Doris Duke Theatre that same year.
|
|
 Monica Bill Barnes & Company
Departing from the Cunningham theme of the clips above, we look back on another highlight of the 2010 season with a delicious excerpt from Another Parade by Monica Bill Barnes. If you're intrigued by the quirky and original brand of humor displayed in this work, you might also enjoy hearing Monica discuss her unique point of view with Scholar-in-Residence Maura Keefe in a PillowTalk entitled "What's So Funny About Dance?". This is just one of the talks now available on Fora.tv, and you can find the whole collection assembled here.
|
 |
|
 Alexandra Danilova in The Nutcracker
We highlighted this video when it was first added to Dance Interactive this past summer, but couldn't resist the temptation to let Danilova's Sugar Plum Fairy help us celebrate the holiday season. This is from a 1952 silent film which was resurrected a half-century later when the Pillow commissioned John Sauer to add the accompaniment so that the clip could be used in the Dance Heritage Coalition's touring exhibit on America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures. It's worth noting that Danilova's performance seen here predates George Balanchine's landmark Nutcracker production by two years.
|
In Case You Missed It (Previous Virtual Pillow Views - Click on month to view)
- NOVEMBER : Jerome Robbins, Rasta Thomas, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Louise Lecavalier
- OCTOBER : Ted Shawn, Trisha Brown, Suzanne Farrell PillowTalk, Larry Keigwin
- SEPTEMBER : Bessie Schönberg, Jiří Kylián, Jomar Mesquita, Dances for iPhone PillowTalk
- AUGUST : Crystal Pite, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Cleo Parker Robinson, Yin Mei
- JULY : Chunky Move, Alexandra Danilova, Pichet Klunchun, Katherine Dunham PillowTalk
- JUNE : Frederic Franklin, Antony Tudor, Hubbard Street, Vanaver Caravan, Eric Foner Talk
- MAY : Matteo and Carola Goya, Camille A. Brown, Doug Varone, Savion Glover
|
|
    
Header Photo Credits (left to right): Ted Shawn, photo Shapiro Studios; Drew Jacoby, photo Liza Voll; Cynthia Gregory, photo ©Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos; Savion Glover, photo Len Irish; Shantala Shivalingappa, photo C.P. Satyajit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
