Greetings! 

With centuries-old roots and a still-unsurpassed golden period when Diaghilev led the Ballets Russes, stage design has often played an integral part in the creation of dance works.  Two new additions to Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive, both from the 2011 season, feature unusual stage pictures which elevate the dance onto an entirely different plane. 

In addition to these newest offerings, we have taken the opportunity to look back at some notable designs from years past and re-introduce them to you in a different context.  If you can imagine any of these dances without the striking visual components seen here, you will better appreciate the important contributions of these particular artists.

Norton Owen 

Director of Preservation

Recent Additions

In the Clouds with DanzAbierta
The projections employed in this full-evening work were extraordinary, giving audiences the feeling that they had actually visited Havana rather than simply witnessing one of that city's most influential dance companies in its U.S. debut.  The section of the dance seen here features some remarkable ensemble work, and a dizzying manipulation of one particular dancer that is guaranteed to make your head spin!     

The Unique World of zoe│juniper
The Doris Duke Theater's technical resources have rarely been used as imaginatively as in this striking new work, conceived during a Creative Development Residency at the Pillow and seen here in its world premiere.  With action taking place on both sides of a semi-transparent scrim, the dance employs unusual costumes and elaborate make-up to create its own special environment. 

Around and Around with Chunky Move
Audiences in 2005 were amazed by Tense Dave, in which the stage rotated for the work's entire length of more than an hour.  Berkshire audiences can enjoy this Australian company once again on March 24-25 in a Pillow-sponsored engagement at MASS MoCA, and film-goers in San Francisco, Montreal, and upstate New York will see the group profiled this month in a new documentary about the Pillow, Never Stand Still. 

Beth Soll Looks at the Shakers
Ironically, one of the most elaborate sets ever to be seen on Inside/Out was the backdrop for a work about the Shakers, who memorably believed "'tis a gift to be simple."  After viewing an excerpt from Beth Soll's work, you can follow a link on her Dance Interactive page to Tero Saarinen's Borrowed Light, an important Shaker-inspired work which will be returning to the Pillow by popular demand in 2012.  

Ballet Rambert's U.S. Debut in 1959
As if it were not enough to ponder how this elaborate set could fit on the Ted Shawn Theatre stage (then a dozen feet shallower than it is now), this Antony Tudor classic has two scenes with different settings, and it was on a program with four other ballets.  What's more, this program was only one of those presented by Ballet Rambert in a three-week Pillow season, the others being the full-length story ballets Giselle and Coppelia.   

In Case You Missed It... (still more notable designs in Dance Interactive - click text to view)

 

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