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Jacob's Pillow Announces 2008 Season - February 11, 2008
BECKET – Dedicated to its mission to support dance creation, presentation, education, and preservation; and to engage and deepen public appreciation and support for the art of dance, Jacob’s Pillow presents its international 2008 season of significant, ground-breaking and inviting dance.
This year, in its 76th season, the Pillow introduces to the U.S. numerous artists and works, such as England’s Hofesh Shechter Company and Ko & Edge Company of Japan; brings innovative companies and programs including Ballet Boyz, Trey McIntyre Project and David Michalek’s Slow Dancing, whose inventive and wide-ranging creativity appeal to a variety of audiences; and artists that push boundaries and break new ground, such as Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in the intimate, affecting and sometimes disturbing Chapel/Chapter and Compagnie Heddy Maalem’s contemporary Rite of Spring, with a company from Mali, Benin, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The 2008 season runs June 14 through August 24, and features more than 100 ticketed events and 200 free events, including performances on three stages, moderated interviews with artists, talks by experts, film showings, exhibits, receptions, tours, and over 75 community dance classes and master classes. This year Jacob’s Pillow presents 20 companies from four continents and nine countries, including a company world debut, two United States company debuts, and at least three world premieres and eight American premieres. Five of the programs are performed to live music, and five engagements offer special “Pillow Exclusive” programs which will not be performed anywhere else. The visual arts are a motif of this year’s Festival: elements of film, set design by visual artists, and latest in visual technology appear throughout the season.
Ella Baff, Jacob’s Pillow Executive Director, comments, “This season is an intensely colorful kaleidoscope of extraordinary artists and dance forms from ancient classical traditions to state of the art visual media and technology. The Pillow’s additional offerings such as talks with artists, community classes, exhibits, film showings, and the ability to watch dancers take class are all meant to engage people with the art and deliver a creative experience for everyone both on stage and off.”
Companies presented during the 2008 season include: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet; Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet; Ballet Boyz; Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; Compagnie Heddy Maalem; Conny Janssen Danst; David Michalek’s Slow Dancing; Garth Fagan Dance; Hofesh Shechter Company; Kate Weare Company; Keigwin + Company; Ko & Edge Company; Lar Lubovitch Dance Company; Maureen Fleming; Mimulus; Natural Dance Theatre; Shantala Shivalingappa; Stockholm 59° North; T.P.O. (Teatro d’Piazza d’Occasione); and Trey McIntyre Project. Approximately twenty more companies performing on the Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Stage (Inside/Out performances are free and open to the public) will be announced at a later date, along with additional free events, exhibits, talks, and classes.
THE 76TH SEASON PERFORMERS
2008 Season Opening Gala
The season kicks off with a gala on Saturday, June 14, featuring Garth Fagan Dance, which opens the season a few days after the gala, as well as an exclusive solo appearance by eminent choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones. Additionally, Ballet Austin Artistic Director Stephen Mills presents a world premiere performed by the dancers of the Ballet Program of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, and a special montage of film clips from the Pillow Archives will be screened. The evening includes cocktails, dinner, a live auction, and dancing to live music on the Pillow’s Great Lawn. Additional performers and personalities to be announced. Call 413.243.9919 ext. 24 for more information and to purchase tickets.
Garth Fagan Dance
June 18 – 22
Ted Shawn Theatre
Garth Fagan Dance returns to Jacob’s Pillow with Griot New York, an eight-part evening-length work rarely seen in its entirety. With music composed by jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and sets by noted sculptor Martin Puryear, Griot New York is often cited as choreographer Garth Fagan’s greatest creation. The term “griot” refers to honored West African storytellers, poets, or musicians, and this work explores contemporary urban life as well as human anguish, exaltation, and triumph. Jamaican-born Fagan, widely known for his Tony Award-winning choreography for Broadway’s The Lion King, marries African, Caribbean, modern, and ballet movement in a dance language that is recognizably unique. (This program includes brief partial nudity.)
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, June 19, artistic personnel from Garth Fagan Dance participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.garthfagandance.org.
Compagnie Heddy Maalem
June 25 - 29
France/Africa
Ted Shawn Theatre
Choreographer Heddy Maalem’s precise yet unrestrained movement style delivers a new and contemporary interpretation of Stravinsky’s timeless score, The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps). Created for fourteen dancers from the African continent, including Mali, Benin, Nigeria, and Senegal, with striking imagery from award-winning French filmmaker Benoit Dervaux, Maalem’s contemporary take on this classic re-imagines the danger and celebration of nature’s rebirth.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, June 26, artistic personnel from Compagnie Heddy Maalem will participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.heddymaalem.com.
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
June 26 – 29 and July 3 – 6
TWO WEEK ENGAGEMENT
Live Music
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
Tony Award-winning Bill T. Jones presents Chapel/Chapter, an exploration of society’s negotiation with the news of the world and everyday life. This acclaimed production, which won a 2007 Bessie Award, is performed in-the-round, as it was originally conceived, transporting the audience into an intimate and affecting theatrical experience. This unusual two-week engagement features a live ensemble of two classically trained singers, a cellist, and a “voicestrumentalist,” with a score composed and arranged by Daniel Bernard Roumain, Christopher Antonio William Lancaster, Alicia Hall Moran, and Lawrence “Lipbone” Redding. (This program includes adult content.)
* Tickets are $45; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, June 27 and Friday, July 4, artistic personnel from Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.billtjones.org.
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company
July 2 – 6
Ted Shawn Theatre
The great American contemporary dancemaker Lar Lubovitch celebrates his company’s 40th anniversary with a special program that includes Concerto 622, Little Rhapsodies, and Dvorak Serenade. The company has significant history at the Pillow, having been championed in 1971 by Pillow founder Ted Shawn himself and since then appearing here in 1980, 1981, 1991, and 2004. Rasta Thomas, formerly of the Kirov Ballet, Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out on Broadway, and known for launching the Bad Boys of Dance last season at the Pillow, performs with the company.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts. $10 Youth matinée tickets.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, July 3, artistic personnel from Lar Lubovitch Dance Company will participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.lubovitch.org.
Hofesh Shechter Company
July 9 – 13
United States Company Debut
Live Music
England
Pillow Exclusive Program
Ted Shawn Theatre
Jacob’s Pillow presents Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter, one of London’s most dynamic young contemporary choreographers, in his company’s U.S. debut with Uprising, a work that addresses themes of power and rebellion, and In your rooms, a recent new work co-produced by prestigious London venues The Place, South Bank Centre, and Sadler’s Wells. These two energy-charged dances connect with audiences with their dramatic and physical intensity. Called “the most important new dance work to be created in Britain since the millennium” by The Observer, In your rooms features an original music score composed by Shechter himself, performed live.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, July 10, Hofesh Shechter Company artistic personnel participate in a Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.hofesh.co.uk.
Natural Dance Theatre and Ko & Edge Company
July 10 – 13
United States Company Debut of Natural Dance Theatre
United States Premieres
Japan
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
The range, diversity and inventiveness of Japanese contemporary dance-theatre is celebrated in this double bill program. First, Natural Dance Theatre makes its U.S. debut with Alice, transporting audiences to a strange and humorous wonderland, and exploring the differences between imagination and reality. Then, choreographer Ko Murobushi, one of the most prominent names in Japan’s iconoclastic Butoh art form, presents Ko & Edge Company in the U.S. premiere of Dead 1, a journey into the strange, intense, and beautiful world of Butoh. (This program includes partial nudity.)
* Tickets are $29; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, July 11, artistic personnel from Natural Dance Theatre and Ko & Edge Company will participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org.
Ballet Boyz
July 16 – 20
United States Premieres
England
Ted Shawn Theatre
Former stars of The Royal Ballet, Ballet Boyz founders Michael Nunn and William Trevitt have swiftly established themselves as leaders in innovative contemporary dance. They come to the Pillow with a cast of both male and female dancers and a diverse repertory showcasing some of today’s most adventurous European choreographers including three U.S. premieres; award-winning Russell Maliphant’s Broken Fall, Raphael Bonachela’s Amox, and Craig Revel Horwood's Yumba vs Nonino, a brand new tango work with music by Astor Piazzolla. Nunn and Trevitt are well-known for short films that pepper their performances, adding life and humor to the show and demystifying the art of ballet.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, July 17, Ballet Boyz artistic personnel participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.balletboyz.com.
T.P.O. (Teatro d’Piazza d’Occasione)
July 17 – 20
Italy
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
T.P.O. (Teatro d’Piazza d’Occasione), a visual theatre dance company from Tuscany, takes interactivity to a new level with two different programs, The Japanese Garden and The Painted Garden. Dancers perform on an elaborate, technologically sensored ‘carpet,’ and each body contact activates a new and different light, sound or image. Through narration and movement, this interactive program invites audiences, seated close to the action, to explore the relationship among dance, animated images, perception of space and the dynamics of childhood play.
* Tickets are $29; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts. Youth tickets are $10 for ALL performances.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, July 18, artistic personnel from T.P.O. participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.tpo.it.
Jacob’s Pillow Community Day
Sunday, July 20, 10am – 1pm
Jacob’s Pillow hosts its twelfth annual Community Day, with free performances, dance workshops, crafts, family friendly games and activities, giveaways, and an Archives bazaar with unique items. This event invites all ages to appreciate dance in many forms as the entire Pillow site becomes an “open campus,” in a community-wide celebration of dance.
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet
July 23 – 27
Ted Shawn Theatre
Called “one of the few bona fide visionaries in the ballet world today” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Alonzo King brings his aptly named company to the Pillow. The program includes Migration: The hierarchical migration of birds and mammals, a work that investigates awakenings of numerous varieties, with music by jazz innovator, Pharoah Sanders; and RASA, with music by the renowned tabla master Zakir Hussain, which premiered in November of 2007. After 25 years of dance-making, King continues to create work that takes the exacting rigor and beauty of classical ballet to an utterly contemporary place.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts. $10 Youth matinée tickets.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, July 24, LINES Ballet artistic personnel participate in a Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.linesballet.org.
Conny Janssen Danst
July 24 – 27
The Netherlands
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
Conny Janssen Danst’s Rebound makes its East Coast premiere at the Pillow. This unusual and witty contemporary work explores what happens when six men are trapped by three, ten-foot tall padded white walls. As they interact, Janssen’s dancers are athletic, technically impressive, funny, and real, tackling intricate contemporary movement with the grace and precision of ballet dancers. Janssen creates a dance language that is supple, virtuosic and surprising, and has been recognized as an important artist in The Netherlands and throughout Europe.
* Tickets are $29; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts. $10 Youth matinée tickets.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, July 25, artistic personnel from Conny Janssen Danst participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.connyjanssendanst.nl.
Mimulus
July 30 – August 3
United States Premiere
Brazil
Ted Shawn Theatre
After making its American debut at the Pillow in 2007, Mimulus, the Brazilian dance troupe whose vernacular is Latin social dance, returns by popular demand to the Ted Shawn Theatre. Described by The New York Times as offering “infectious wit and energy as well as intriguing dance invention,” Mimulus presents the U.S. premiere of Dolores. Inspired by the films of director Pedro Almodóvar, Dolores is a life-affirming work about absurdity, desire, elegance and kitsch, and life’s big and little pleasures and pains.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, July 31, Mimulus artistic personnel participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org.
David Michalek’s Slow Dancing
July 31 – August 3
Pillow Exclusive Program
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
The New York Times calls filmmaker and photographer David Michalek’s Slow Dancing "…an unforgettable dance-meets-film-technology evening." Seen in the U.S. as a giant outdoor installation at the Lincoln Center Festival, Jacob’s Pillow presents an exclusive theatrical version of Slow Dancing, demonstrating the beauty of dance, dancers, and the body in motion. The dancers’ short movement phrases are captured at 1,000 frames per second in hyper-slow-motion video portraits and contrasted with live performances of the portraits, in real time. Jill Johnson of The Forsythe Company (William Forsythe, artistic director), and classical Indian dancer Shantala Shivalingappa are among the artists who appear live and on screen. The program includes commentary with Michalek and the artists on stage.
* Tickets are $29; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, July 25, Slow Dancing artistic personnel participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.slowdancingfilms.com.
Stockholm 59° North
August 6 – 10
World Premiere
Pillow Exclusive Program
Sweden
Ted Shawn Theatre
The dancers of Stockholm 59° North are soloists of the Royal Swedish Ballet, one of the oldest dance companies in the world, who created their own troupe in order to perform new and contemporary works, predominantly choreographed by Swedish dancemakers. Stockholm 59° North made its American debut at the Pillow in 1997, the company returns in a rare U.S. appearance with this exclusive program that includes the world premiere of Cicada by choreographer Christina Caprioli; The Apartment and Pointless Pastures, both by the iconic Mats Ek; and the powerful Castrati by Nacho Duato, of Spain.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, August 7, artistic personnel from Stockholm 59° North participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.stockholm59north.com.
Shantala Shivalingappa
August 7 – 10
Live Music
India
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
The beauty of classical Indian dance and music in the quicksilver Kuchipudi tradition is embodied in Shantala Shivalingappa and her ensemble of master musicians. The Pillow presents Gamaka, a landscape of imagination, story-telling, dance and music in harmony. Shivalingappa’s talent is recognized by some of the greatest artists of her time, and she has performed with the likes of Peter Brook, Bartabas, Maurice Béjart, and Pina Bausch. The Village Voice comments, "she's a wonder, accomplished in every aspect of this demanding form."
* Tickets are $29; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts. $10 Youth matinée tickets.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, August 8, artistic personnel from Shantala Shivalingappa’s ensemble participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.shantalashivalingappa.com.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
August 13 – 17
Pillow Exclusive Program
Ted Shawn Theatre
The grace and elegance of classical ballet coupled with a repertoire full of sharp new works makes Aspen Santa Fe Ballet one of the most eclectic contemporary ballet companies in the world today. Lauded by the Boston Herald as the “classically trained company of the future,” Aspen Santa Fe Ballet performs an exclusive East Coast program including Itzik Galili’s Chameleon with music by John Cage, William Forsythe’s Slingerland, and 1st Flash, by Jorma Elo.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts. $10 Youth matinée tickets.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Thursday, August 14, artistic personnel from Aspen Santa Fe Ballet participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org or www.aspensantafeballet.com.
Kate Weare Company and Maureen Fleming
August 14 – 17
World Premiere
Live Music
Pillow Exclusive Program
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
The Pillow presents two very different and unusual artists from New York City in this exclusive double bill. Dubbed “wonderfully ingenious” by The Village Voice, Kate Weare presents the world premiere of Bridge of Sighs, created at Jacob’s Pillow during a recent Creative Development Residency. A quartet for two women and two men, Bridge of Sighs looks at the instincts that drive people toward love. Performance artist Maureen Fleming’s world of “surreal movement poetry” transforms how audiences think of the human body and its communicative power. The Baltimore Sun calls her, “part dance, part sculpture, and part dream.” Fleming’s program includes The Stairs, with a score by Phillip Glass, performed live by Peter Phillips, Dialogue of Self and Soul and Sphere. (This program includes partial nudity.)
* Tickets are $29; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Studio Theatre Porch 30 minutes before every performance.
* On Friday, August 15, Maureen Fleming and Kate Weare Company artistic personnel participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk directly following the evening performance.
* For additional information visit www.jacobspillow.org, www.kateweare.com, or www.maureenfleming.com.
Special Benefit Event: A Jazz Happening
August 17, 8pm
Live Music
Ted Shawn Theatre
Chet Walker, who co-conceived the Tony Award-winning Fosse and serves as director of The School at Jacob’s Pillow’s Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance Program, brings a celebration of the art of Broadway jazz dance to the Pillow. This benefit for The School at Jacob’s Pillow showcases The School’s professional-level dancers performing side-by-side with renowned Broadway artists and faculty musicians. The event debuted in 2007 and was an instant sellout; this year’s performance features a brand new mix of stars and students, to be announced, and includes a reception with the artists.
* Tickets are $100.
Trey McIntyre Project
August 20 - 24
Full-Time Company Debut
World Premiere
Ted Shawn Theatre
Dubbed “one of ballet's most surprising talents” by The New York Times, Trey McIntyre launches his full-time company with this engagement. With more than 70 ballets under his belt, and having brought his work to the Pillow’s Doris Duke Studio Theatre in 2005 and to the Ted Shawn Theatre in 2006, this au courant choreographer has decided to stake a permanent claim on the dance scene. Formerly a temporary pick-up group, Trey McIntyre Project debuts as a fully employed company of performers with a program that includes a world premiere with music by renowned American folk artist, Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary. McIntyre’s winning, accessible ballets appeal to all audiences, from the dance connoisseur to the novice.
* Tickets are $58; Jacob’s Pillow subscribers receive discounts.
* Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
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